Michael: Travel Day

The little tigers
Crouched and scowled at each other
Then the fight began.

Thursday, August 4, 2016

We are now in Costa Rica, closer to Saturday’s race but still not quite sure how we’re going to get there.

Didier, the very accommodating and very French, if that’s not a contradiction in terms, proprietor of the Tiriguro Lodge is doing everything he can to help us out by looking on the net and calling his “pirate” taxi driver to take us to Turrubaras. But there seems to be some confusion as to whether there’s a direct route or if a more circuitous course will have to be mapped out. The difference will determine how early we’ll have to get up Saturday morning since my race starts at 5:30.

It could also have a slight subconscious influence on my pace, as we’ll need to be back at the hotel to collect our bags and then get to the bus station by 2p.m. if we’re going to catch our 4 o’clock bus to San Vito. That give me a good 6 hour window to complete the 50k, but I have very little idea of the difficulty of the course. But I do know that it’s an out and back with a largely downhill profile on the way back to the finish. That means if I can get the first 25k done in under 3 hours, we should be good to go.

Fortunately, many of our puzzles could be solved today. This morning we’ll hop on a bus and head to the Escazu Multiplaza where hopefully at packet pick up they’ll be able to help out both with directions and questions about the course and event. Then we’ll relay this information to Didier and he’ll confirm with his pirate when we’ll need to be ready to sail.

Outside of a grocery store visit, that’s all that’s on the agenda today.

As far as highlights of the long ride from Panama to this beautiful little area of Costa Rica:

*At the border there were hundreds of African refugees. I had no idea this was happening here. It appears that they come here without documentation, and aren’t willing to give out their proper identity or country of origin so they can’t be deported back to their home country. At the moment, they’re just languishing in camps near the border.

*Also at the border I exchanged dollars for colones, the Costa Rican currency. Chris, one of the ex-pats giving us a ride, gave me this tip for figuring out the exchange rate: double the amount of colones and instead of saying thousand, say dollars. For example; 40,000 colones doubled is 80,000, but instead of saying 80 thousand just think $80 and you’re in the ball park. An example working  the other way would be if you had $2, cut it in half, and that would mean $2 is worth about 1 mil or 1 thousand colones.

*The drive along the coast was mostly a long drive through oil palms that have replaced the large banana plantations that were started in the 30s. Occasional views of the old banana villages that were constructed around open grass squares are visible from the road.

*Our guides, Chris and John, who have homes and family in both Panama and Costa Rica, also told us that the oil palm plantations have gone back to using oxen and cattle to harvest the palms as it was discovered that tractors caused the soil to be compacted to the point of not being conducive to long term financial success.

*John also told us that for some odd reason Panama doesn’t follow the Spanish colonial norm of always building a plaza in the center of town with the Church on the eastside and the plaza on the west. Costa Rica does.

*We stopped at one of the few points where the road meets the ocean in a small village -----. It looked straight out of a tropical scene from the 60s/70s with the thatched roofed patio filled with Americans and Europeans with their pony tails, tank tops, and well tanned but now crusty skin ordering organic meals and treats. The chocolate chip cookie I had, or whatever it really was, was delicious.

*I didn’t expect much from the small village of Orotina, but from a quick view, it appears to be a very nice little town. Didier was kind enough to drive us to a brand new restaurant where we had a great dinner.

*From my initial impressions of the two countries, I would compare them to some of their popular cars. Panama is like a Suzuki Jimny while Costa Rica is like a Rav 4.