26.05.09
Cartago to Turrialba
43,3km, 2:43h, Ø 15,9km/h, 594hm
I took it easy this morning (I‘ m good at that!) and it was already 9:30am when I left after a good breakfast and saying goodbye to Louis and Maida. It was great staying at their B&B and I wish them all the best for the future!
The first 10km were basically downhill, the last 10km as well. That means that I climbed almost 600 hm over only 20km! The road was up to 14% steep, not much fun. But everything is so nice and green here and I got some nice mountain-views. The road was winding, there was no shoulder and heavy truck-traffic. The trucks are all going to/ coming from Puerto Limon.
I arrived in Turrialba around 1:30pm, just when the first thunder rolled. A few minutes later I checked into the Hotel Interamericano. My bike safe in the garage and I‘ m in a room with shared bathroom for 11$. Though the currency in Costa Rica is Colon you can pay at every hotel (at least those I‘ ve been to) in US $. And usually that‘ s even the first price they tell you. If you wanna pay in Colon they have to get their calculator out!
As soon as I was inside it started to rain heavily. I took a warm shower and passed out on my bed for a few hours. Last night I didn‘ t sleep very good, probably because I didn‘ t do much the last two days. So this nap was just the right thing to do.
I think Turrialba is a very nice city (at about 600and some m above sea-level, Cartago was at about 1400m) , but when I woke up at 5:30pm it was close to getting dark and I just walked to the grocery store.
Then I saw the Tico-Chino-Rstaurant, obviously partly chinese, and stopped there for dinner. You get your silverwear hear wrapped in plastic, kind of like on an airplane. I‘ ve seen that already at the place where I stopped for a coke on my way today. It‘ s obviously for hygienic reasons. The beer (
Imperial) was good, but forget about the rest. Toasted white toast with butter for an appetizer very appetizing. The meals on the menu sounded pretty chinese, so I ordered Shop Souey (I don‘ t even know how to write it;-)) with chicken, chorizo and ham. I already wandered what the ham and chorizo had to do in there. It was a huge plate full of food which I didn‘ t like :-(. The noodles were like Rahmen-Noodles, all 3 kinds of meat I didn‘ t like and there was way too much sauce on it. I felt like paying and leaving after the first bite, but I couldn‘ t really do that and had to finish my beer, can‘ t waste that;-). So I picked out the noodles from under the veggies, meat and sauce-pile and regretted that I didn‘ t go to the place the woman from the hotel recommended which had local food.
Now I‘ m back at the hotel, sitting on the balcony and writing this. Turrialba is in a valley and I can see and hear the trucks and cars coming down the mountain. It‘ s only 7:25pm, no internet here and I don‘ t have a book. So I guess I‘ ll call it an early night.
Anja