The road from Alajuela to Dominical was probably my favourite journey so far. The first part - past San Jose to Cartago - was nothing to write home about, but once we started rising into the mountains it became quite remarkable. It started to spit, so knowing we had at least 3 hours ahead of us, we stopped to put our waterproofs on. Thank god we did because it got increasingly heavy and didn't stop for the next 3 hours! The mist and cloud settled in as we wound up through the forest. Up at about 3000m we were soon pretty chilly, and our soaked-through gloves had turned our hands to ice blocks. We stopped on the side of the road in the torrential rain to fish out our winter gloves, and as we were doing so a guy in a big adventure bike pulled up to check we were OK. He was Tico (Costa Rican) and didn't speak any English, but we put our new Spanish to some use and told him we were fine, just cold! He offered us some hot coffee from his flask, and then asked if he could ride with us over the rest of the mountain road. So the three of us journeyed on, him with two cats in a box behind him on his seat! Covered in a bin bag they stayed a lot drier than we did.
A little while later our new friend pulled over into a little restaurant for a hot drink and we joined him. He insisted on buying us a hot chocolate each which was so lovely, and told us a little bit about what he was up to. We were so humbled by this man's openness, his joy in joining us and his kindness for treating us to a hot drink to warm us up – so unnecessary but so so welcome. There seems to be a real camaraderie amongst riders all over the world, it`is rather like being part of an exclusive club and I am so happy to be a part of it. We rode together for the next hour or so as the road began to descend. As we got lower, the rain eased and gaps in the cloud appeared, giving way to the most spectacular misty vista below. There was something so ethereal about dipping in and out of the clouds while we sailed around corner after corner, taking in the surroundings that were teeming with life and full of the most wonderful smells. It's hard to explain why this journey was so special, especially taking into account the rain and the cold and so on, but it really was such a memorable journey. Not taking anything away from the many other travelers we have met, but I think journeying by motorcycle really is making so much of what we are seeing quite so special. On the bike we are not just getting from A to B, but the journey itself becomes part of it all. Being out in the elements means you can really feel and experience what is going on around you, and even if that happens to be pouring rain and freezing cold, it adds a whole other element to travelling through these countries, one that really helps to understand what that country is all about.
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We said goodbye to our friend as he turned off to the town of Buenos Aires, and continued to descend towards the coast. The intermittent cloud (that was at times so dense we could just about see a metre ahead of us) meant that we had no idea how high we still were, until all of our sudden we came out onto a road that ran adjacent to the beach! Ten minutes later we arrived at Claudia's house in Domincalito. The next five days were some of the most enjoyable that we've had on our trip so far. With our own private local tour guides (Claudia and her Tico boyfriend, Jeudy) we got to see the real Costa Rica, from the pounding waterfalls via the mountain dirt tracks, to delicious local food, to beaches lined with caves or jungle or palm trees. The food was amazing, from getting fresh ripe fruit from a local man and his cart, or eating a typical Tico breakfast cooked lovingly every morning by Claudia and Jeudy's next door neighbour, to visiting the two restaurants our lovely hosts worked at, which boasted delicious food at ridiculously low prices thanks to our generous mates rates!
We rode up into the mountains on their little Chinese bikes, and right down to the beach where we (albeit a little bit illegally) careered up and down the sand (this might have been the happiest I have seen Tom on this entire trip). We ended our stay with a night full of tequila and dancing in the local bar, and a day hungover watching movies. I was genuinely sad to leave Dominical, our new friends and Costa Rica in general. It is the most stunning country full of the most wonderful people. A lot of travelers complain that it's too expensive, but if you read up about the country, its history, its lack of military, its amazing health, education and sanitation services you will understand why. Its people are so proud and so happy, they look after each other and their country so well, and it is more than worth spending the extra money to see what Costa Rica has to offer.
We leave here with big grins on our faces, ready to take on country number eight - our last in Central America!