I am no kid anymore...

The B&B that the school put us into is located just a block off the beach, situated between the towns of Playa Flamingo to the South and Portrero to the North. There is a tiny super market (don’t buy any meat products here, there is a power failure pretty much every other day) across the street, but any other shopping, surfing the Internet, eating, etc. requires a 4km hike south or a 2 km hike north. The walk along the beach into Playa Flamingo is nice, but a 45 minute walk gets old really fast if the temperatures are way over 30 degrees Celsius and there is no shade to be found anywhere.

Other means of transportation were necessary. While there is a school bus that shuttles students every morning and afternoon between their residence and the school, there isn’t any other public transportation to speak of for a quick shopping run or dinner in the evening. Renting a car is prohibitively expensive, so a few of us resorted to a vehicle that none of us had used in years: We rented bicycles.

Growing up I have ridden my bicycle all over the place, so I figured it’d be easy to pick it up again despite not having ridden a bike for more than 6 years – after all they say it’s “like riding a bicycle”. And it’s true. Partially.

The actual act of riding really isn’t a problem whatsoever. I didn’t fall over, lose my balance, or crash into the nearest tree. What are a problem, however, are sore muscles. Not in my legs, or shoulders, or arms. I don’t know whether it’s really the fact that I am now 31, or maybe I or my saddle were a lot better cushioned when I was younger, but I don’t recall ever sitting down on my bike and thinking “My butt hurts.” I am sure both the simple bike (picture to follow) as well as the Costa Rican roads (more pictures to follow) are at least partially to blame, but at the end of the day you just take a sore butt a lot better as a kid – especially after spending the last four and a half years sitting in a comfortable office chair.

I already dread the ride back from school today. I only take comfort in the fact that our entire bicycle gang feels the same way. It’s the price to pay for mobility.


In the classifieds:

My Spanish is coming along splendidly; I watched a movie with Mel Gibson and Goldie Hawn today and understood at least 5 words (Anyone know which movie that was?).

There is an appalling amount of sand in the water here, which reduces the visibility to only a few feet. Not a whole lot of fun diving here. I’ll be going out farther soon to see if it’s better.

Rum is really cheap here, about the same price as Coca Cola.

Canopy tour next week. I am hoping for some cool pictures of flora and fauna.