Yesterday, in the heart of Costa Rica’s rainy season, my friends Robert, Fritz, and I were blessed with a day without tropical downpours and with very little traffic. It’s so nice to ride when there are few cars out!
We first went to the little town of La Estrella for breakfast at Soda La Amistad, so that I could show them this lovely little route into the village and out to route 2 at El Roble (though there are other roads out, which we will traverse in future rides). I didn’t stop for photos along the way, but below is one from one of my trips there. The first part of the gravel route out has been fixed a bit. The ruts across the road are gone. Nice!
We then took route 315 to La Cima and down to Copey. It has sections with a lot of potholes, but I enjoyed doing something different.
At Copey, we started out going towards to Providencia, but I got flooded with anxiety. The rains have been so heavy these days that I did not feel safe riding under those cliffs at the top where there was a terrible landslide earlier this year, click here. Fortunately, Robert agreed, and we turned around to head towards Cerro Dragón. Great fun!
We headed through the picturesque towns of Sta Maria, San Marcos, and San Pablo and took Calle Abejonal from San Antonio to San Francisco. This little route always makes me happy. 🙂
Coming out of Calle Abejonal, one takes a sharp right to go up route 313, which is gravel, to traverse Cerro Dragon down to La Legua. It is more compact now than before. There is one curve which is always hard for me, but I get through it awkwardly. 🙂
The views are amazing on this road, incredibly big at the top
For me, the only thing I don’t like about this amazing route is riding down to La Legua because of all the sharp, downhill turns. The road is not in good shape, though it has much less loose gravel than in the past. I did not stress out much this time, perhaps because of having done San Francisco to Parrita for the fourth time a couple of months ago, which is non-stop, steep downhill hairpin curves (to get over my fear of it after my third time doing it! Hahaha!).
At Monterrey, we decided to head over to San Andres and to San Antonio, to La Casa del Cafe. There were landslides everywhere on this route, one after another, as well as most of the way back. Seeing all of them I was doubly relieved we had not gone to Providencia.
Finally, we headed back through Corallilo. Part of route 228 is completely gone now, but there is a gravel detour which connects back to it. It was fun to take.
Coming into Quebradilla, we had intended to go up to the road that goes to Mirador Coris and Pattara, but got confused along the way, so came home through the usual Interamerican highway.
But I still enjoyed going through Quebradilla and being in this rarely-visited area. (Next time: Patarra! Or just need to find a new way to get to and from Highway 2. Looks like there are other options.)
Anyhow, it was a deeply enjoyable and satisfying morning, spent on the winding curves of Los Santos, with kind and caring, and fun-loving riding buddies! Yay! Life is just so good
RIDING IN COSTA RICA: FEEL THE BEAUTY. KNOW THE LOVE. LIVE THE POWER.
Song: Landslide
Oh, mirror in the sky
What is love?
Can the child within my heart rise above?
Can I sail through the changin’ ocean tides?
Can I handle the seasons of my life?
Date of ride: Sunday, October 2, 2022
Riding in Costa Rica 
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