Yesterday morning, we rented a pair of bicycles from the place we’re staying and cycled down to the market for the week’s supplies. As usual it was a quite successful excursion, and the cycling was, perhaps unsurprisingly, a little easier, meaning I didn’t nearly fall on my face every time the cycle came to stop, nor did I need to walk the bicycle every time we crossed one of the small rail-less bridges. The cycles here break by reversing the pedal instead of handbrakes, which I’ve started to get used to.
However, it was extremely hot, really searing, and I was a bit worried about the Gentleman Friend’s back, but he seemed to make it without too much trouble. We did indulge in some coconuts to ward off the heatstroke. Then up to Rico for our usual brunch. The ride back was a little trickier as, of course, our cycles were now loaded up with bags in the front basket (or, strictly, paint cans lashed to the front) and bags on the handlebars. Anyway, we made it back and then had a quick chat with the GF’s mother about her househunting back in London.
The fierceness had abated when we left again. We cycled first to town to drink some coffee and then onwards to the south. This was the first time we’d gone past Cocles, and it was fascinating to see how different the southern coast was from the area around Playa Negra. It was very green, with many large mature trees lining the roads but it was also dominated by hotels, resorts and holiday homes. Playa Negra definitely feels more like a place where people live, but it also seems more bare, and perhaps even barer in the future as tracts of rainforest are cleared for houses.
There was, as is usually the case, an absurd variety of animal life, all of which I managed to miss as I prayed to survive to return. The GF at least saw anteaters and, overhead, the endangered great green macaws.
At any rate, we eventually arrived at Punta Uva which, we had been told, is perhaps the loveliest beach on the Caribbean coast. It seems plausible. It was a perfect, circular bay, with forest fringed cliffs to the south and a rock arch, like the azure window in Malta (which tumbled into the sea a few years ago, some time after we visited it), and mangroves and palms dense along the line of sand. We walked along the beach, scrambling over trees as we got further, and eventually came to Playa Chiquita, passing scalloped rock pools filled with fish and anemones. There were a good number of people there, far more than one sees on Playa Negra, and almost all Ticos rather than foreigners.
It was already getting a little dark so we had to abandon our swimming plan, unfortunately. On the return it did indeed get dark with tropical suddenness, making us amateur cyclists rather nervous, as the cycles have no lights, reflectors, bells or indeed helmets. Luckily the speed of cycling is slow and vehicles were almost all very polite to a nervous cyclist like myself (I should add, i’ve cycled a good bit over the years, but always with long periods between bouts). Eventually, when we got to Puerto Viejo it was pitch dark and Saturday night traffic was picking up, so we looped around the side roads. The final stretch to Puerto Viejo was very dark with the occasional glare from carlights, but anyway, here we are, safe and sound, though I’m afraid the GF was convinced that at some point I would fall off or crash into a car or something. With good reason; I’m not the most adept at anything physical, really. It doesn’t help that my legs are a little too short for adult bicycles so seeing me trying to get on, especially when the road is angled, does not inspire confidence in others.
This morning I had an arepa with honey, thoroughly confusing the hummingbirds which hovered around me throughout my breakfast. I also spotted what I think was a pair of yellow eared toucans (or something), which are not commonly seen, I believe.