On Sunday, November 28, my friends Robert, Fritz, Harold and I went to Parrita today via San Francisco de Leon Cortez. Get ready for lots of photos!
First we went to Quebradilla de Cartago via Coris. This bypasses the usual Cartago and highway 2 route. (I think there is a more direct route via La Colina.) I was delighted they were willing to try this (though they joked about my willingness to follow a drug addict who lead us through the slummy area to one of many correct lefts. Hahaha! Years of working at a treatment center has had its effects! I humanize addicts.)
At Quebradilla, we continued toward Corallilo. However, since I did not turn left onto route 228, we went on route 407 through San Juan. This was a new route for me. I liked it. I am glad for my tendency to not use Waze when most needed, for my mistakes take me to new areas. 🙂 (Though next time I do want to go up to Coralillo for the outstanding views.)
We had breakfast at Casa del Cafe before taking Calle Abejonal-San Francisco. This is a lovely little route that, as I have mentioned before, I took by accident one time when it was still gravel. 🙂
Calle Abejonal leads out to San Francisco de Leon Cortez. At the T, go right to Cerro Dragón (link to previous post) and La Legua (treachorous curves down to La Legua). To go to San Francisco, turn left. A couple of kilometers down is the entrance to Calle San Francisco down to Parrita.
This was my third time doing this route, and, for some reason, I found it TERRIFYING this time! Hahahaha!! Extremely steep, loose gravel, with hairpin curves along hair-raising drop-offs. 🙂
Fortunately, after a while, the road does turn into hard-packed dirt/gravel.
Despite how challenging it was for me, this route has a magical quality to it. It´s amazing that people live along all the tiny trails and steep mountainsides. Also, there are lots of waterfalls along it, and also some you can see down below from the road.
I was happy to stop by Blue Sky restaurant for a drink and to enjoy the view ahead.
Arriving on Route 34 (La Costanera), we decided to head over to Gamalotillo and up towards Bijagual de Carara.
The road to Gamalotillo has been recently scraped and was easy to ride.
We continued to Bijagual de Carara, hitting several places of scraped red clay which were difficult for Fritz since he does not have off-road tires and the drizzle made it slippery.
He is such a great rider to do all these trips with the Dunlop MixTour tires, which he loves. He will be amaziang when he gets off road tires! Hahaha!
Worn out, we took the Aguacate (route 3) home, and the day closed with lovel pink light on the East as the sun set in the West. (On Facebook everyone posted gorgeous photos of the sunset. These are the days while there are still clouds in the sky. I must take a ride to see the sunset soon!)
Yes. Third time was definitely NOT a charm for me on Calle San Francisco! Hahaha! But it was another fantastic adventure
RIDING IN COSTA RICA: FEEL THE BEAUTY. KNOW THE LOVE. LIVE THE POWER.
Sunday, November 28, 2021
Since my birthday ride, I kept the Whasapp group and titled it ¨Recon Tours.¨ Hahaha! If others can create riding groups, why can´t I? 🙂 I do wish to keep it relatively small. Here is the logo I made:
Riding in Costa Rica 