Monteverde Dirt – The Two “Miradors” Where You Usually Can’t See Jack

Leaves as big as bikes

Just above our place there is a place called El Mirador (the lookout point). It is located on top of the continental divide and when you’re up there you can look down onto the Carribean Slope and there is (sometimes) a great view of Arenal Volcano. Arenal is currently very active and, when it’s clear, you can usually see it erupting and spewing all kinds of crazy pyroclastics (ya, I’m a geologist so I can use words like that!). In the day time it’s usually just a big plume of ash that is visible, but at night you can actually see house-sized glowing hunks of magma being shot into the air and then smashing into a million pieces as it it’s the flanks – pretty damn cool. Anyway, a ride to El Mirador is a pretty good one if you like the steep stuff. A lot of this ride is along tracks that follow the crest of the “divide” so sometimes the wind is howling and other times you are getting slammed by clouds rolling up the slope. It’s about 30 minutes from the house to the divide through coffee and banana farms on a few double track sized roads - unfortunately there is never a whole lot of time to soak in the scenery since there is usually this very loud distracting sound of your heavy breathing and the pounding of squishy sound blood pumping in your ear drums. The other day I decided to check out El Mirador to see what was spewing. I do the long climb and get there…….dammit! clouds!.....can’t see shit. OK, well good thing there is another “Mirador” just a few KM’s down the road near the Santa Elena Reserve (National Park) so I head there and again, frickin clouds! Bastards! – turn of the damn cloud machines already this ain’t no frickin’ Great White concert. After waiting 15 minutes or so and getting a few glimpses of the flanks of the volcano, I bail back home – fast-as-hell downhill all the way. The route for this one was Los Tornos-Las Nubes-Los Olivios (Mirador #1) - Santa Elena Reserve (Mirador #2) – Santa Elena – Los Tornos. Probably a 15 mile loop that is pretty much an ass-kicker. Bring a few Colones if you want to stop in SE or Las Pavas Bar for a beer and a boca.

While cranking up this hill I look to my right and notice somebody has displayed a page out of "La Teja" (the Costa Rican version of the National Enquirer). Hmmmm, interesting.

June Random 10

Fiddlin’ John Carson – Goin’ Down to Cripple Creek
Built to Spill – Shit Brown Eyes
Mirah – We’re Both So Sorry
Scarce - Obviously Midnight
The Jazz Butcher – The Bath of Bacon
Pela – Anytown Graffiti
The Chrome Cranks – No. 1 Girl
The Chemistry Set – Underground
Yo La Tengo – Moon Rock Mambo
Stereo Total – La Diabla

Taco Review #12 – Alejandros Taqueria – The Capital City Taco Ma-Sheen

In February I made it out to Cali to visit Dad and the Davis Bike Borrachos (Starbacks and Cocks) and also took in a couple days of the miserably soggy Tour of California. Dad and I went to Sac to check out the prologue and after watching a few of the lower seeded racers we started to get the taco jitters and decided we had enough time for a couple of tacos before the big boys (the juicers) were up. Just a couple of blocks north of the Capital Plaza Place (whatever they call it) and were the race was being held, was Alejandro’s Taqueria……chinga score! I ordered up the gold standard carne asada taco plate which included the typical rice and beans and condiment bar. Man, I just love those taqueria condiment bars….jalepenos, your choice of salsa, cilantro, frickin limes and onions (if you’re into that). Alejandro’s is your one-step-above the typical taqueria because 1) they have a lot more than just tacos and 2) the tables and floors were not sticky with half-dried menudo juice and 3) I’m sure Arnold eats here. “Solid” is a good way to describe Alejandro’s – not super kick ass but really good solid and authentic Mexican food. The tacos were double-torted, and steamed as they should be. The meat was well done and a bit crispy….check. The beans were authentically runny and the rice was cooked with only a few molecules of chile powder giving it a faint pinkish color – again, the way it should be. (hey man, I didn’t make up these criteria – those are just the facts bro)

The Review:

Authenticityness (food) 4.5/5.0
Atmosphere (sterile) 2.5/5.0
Condiment Bar (bad ass) 4.5/5.0
Carne (crispy goodness) 3.8/5.0
Location (close to the race) 4.0/5.0

Total: 3.86/5.0

As we left Alejandro’s, guts bustin’ with tacos, back to the bike race we realized we had missed the end which we had waited all day to see….shit! Oh well, we weren’t too bummed because Alejandro had treated us good……had missed the race after eating at some shit hole like Chili’s® there would have been blood in the streets.

New Web Site Blog Thingy – Que Pasa Monteverde

This is a site where Jen and I a putting random stuff about living in Costa Rica. It’s rated PG-13 as to no offend too many people. Just like PG-13 movies, it can be a little boring and cheesy at times and you’ll be waiting a long time before you see any decent titties, but if you are interested at all in what we’re up to, you might check it out. Here’s the link: http://que-pasa-monteverde.blogspot.com/

Monteverde Dirt – Big, Hot and Sticky San Luis Lollipop

Los Tornos – Santa Elena – San Luis – Santa Elena – Los Tornos. Note to self: never do this ride when it’s really sunny – wait for clouds, even rain – or stay home and booze.

So, this is a great ride - again for a dirt road ride (not much single track here in Costa Rica) but it does have some monster climbs and descents and if you plan it poorly like I did last week, you will be taking on the monster-est of climbs in the blazing sun……oh, don’t forget it’s like 400 percent humidity too – so if you are not used to it after living in like zero humidity the past 15 years, think twice about this ride Holmes.

Not sure of the mileage of this one but I’m guessing it’s around 25-ish.

The ride from Los Tornos to Santa Elena is pretty strait forward, lots of ups, a few downs, loose rocky shitty roads that this area is known for. From Santa Elena you basically head out of town towards the Monteverde Preserve, but about half way there you will see a small road on your right to San Luis. Take it. It immediately drops into an abyss and is actually paved in a few sections otherwise vehicles would not be able to make this grade if it was loose rock. It’s a great screamin’ downhill that is really easy to loose control – one of those deals where you a cruising along just fine and then you’re like “oh wow, that’s a cool bird” and then you snap out of it and realize you’re going WAY to damn fast and you’re like “sheeeeeeeIEEEEETTTTT!!! – and then you barely pull out of it.

Anyway, at the bottom of this canyon is the small town of San Luis (beer?) where there are a couple of small pulperias (tiny stores usually in somebody’s living room) to get some fuel. Once you cross the river at the center of town you are now in for a treat: about 1.5 hours of non-stop climbing back to Santa Elena. For me last week, it was brutally hot and my legs were actually dripping sweat – so plan accordingly. The halfway (ish) point of this climb is the intersection with the main road from the Pan Amercicana to Santa Elena – hang a right to get back. From this point it’s less steep but less shade as well. As you are climbing, just remember – there is BEER in Santa Elena, and LOTS of it!