The Dangers of Biking in Costa Rica

This is some REALLY scary shit that actually happened to me a few weeks ago.

October Random 10

Exorcisto - Girls Against Boys

Burning Skulls - Lydia Lunch

Wonderful Witches - Thurston Moore

Nights of the Earth - Chrome

Zombie Limbo Time - Beat Happening

Lottie the Human Log - The Residents

Devil Town - Daniel Johnston

Bloody Twins - Cocorosie

Black Cat - Broadcast

Bloodflow - Calexico

Now if that playlist don't scare the hell out of you - go out and rent the single best halloween movie EVER made, The House of 10,000 Corpses www.cinema.com/film/4010/house-of-1000-corpses/gallery/index.phtml .....you can thank me later

The Roads of San Antone'

The really cool thing about living in a new place is that you can just look a map, pick a place and go check it out - without knowing anything about it. I've been doing that a lot lately. Here are a few shots of a ride to San Antonio de Abangares - looked a lot bigger on the map. Exactly 3 houses, one school (can't bee too many students) and an old cemetry, that somehow contains more bodies than have probably ever lived in this place, and absolutely zero bars (read: not worth going there).

The ride from our place takes you through The Turns, past the funny farm and finally through Tall Onion before dropping you in past the Hippie House (hippies were outside admiring a tapestry that day) and the mud chutes. Fun going down - sucks climbing back out. Did not see a single person on this three hour ride although when I stopped to take a leak somebody from across the valley was yelling "Heeeeeey!......Heeeey!..........Hola!" Hmmmmm.

Downtown San An-tone

The Wide-open Spaces, Abajo de Alta Cebadilla

From our place it's about a 20 minute ride to a place called Alta Cebadilla - (not sure what the hell that is in English - maybe "tall onion" or something crazy like that) and a 1.5-hour pretty fun loop ride. Alta Cebadilla is really just a cluster of cattle ranches that sits on the edge of a giant area of deforestation that stretches from Monteverde on the east to the Pacific Ocean. From Monteverde, the ride is actually below Alta Cebadilla so it's another one of those "descend first and climb later" deals. It's a sad place to ride through because you can still see pockets of what the area used to look like before the American fast food industry threw down fat subsidies and paid these land owners to clear cut the area so it could instead be used for growing Big Macs and Whoppers. However, one nice thing about this area, and the fact that there are no more trees - there are now great views of the Pacific and with all the erosion taking place, it's makes for a much more fun and technical ride - something I'm diggin' - but I'd still rather see it the way it was. There's also the added "fun" of dodging all the cow shit..........nothin' like reaching for your water bottle and seeing the mouth piece covered in shit!

Lots of steep climbs, stream crossings, technical descents and riding through top-tube-high grass (hoping not to come across a Fer-de-Lance [a seriously deadly snake in these parts]), still makes this a decent mountain bike ride.........you just gotta pretend that you are riding in coastal California and not through a "tropical rainforest".

Afterwards, back in Santa Elena, you can hit Amigos Bar in Santa Elena for a beer and a burger.....or maybe make that a veggie burger. Salut!

Bring It, Ma Man!

Defying all kinds of crazy laws-of-physics