Monday, 21 January 2019

Razor ride into the mountains

Today, I was invited to go with a group of folks going into the mountains in their Razor ATVs.  We left at 10 a.m. and headed north down highway 200.


Heading onto the highway

We turned towards a small town called El Capomo (which Cam and I visited a few days ago) and then headed off on rough roads into the mountains.  



 Mules

 Dry jungle

Lovely forest

Lots of cattle along the road 

 Some narrow switchbacks

We had to back out a few times because the road was impassable in a couple of places due to washouts.  We went high enough to have my ears pop a few times.  We saw a lot of coffee trees.  One of the local people who works in the park grew up in this area and her family would pick coffee in December and January.  They camp out or build basic huts for shelter while they are up there.  The slopes are very steep.  She said that as kids their parents would tie a rope to a tree and lower them down the slopes to pick coffee.  Some of the coffee sold in La Peñita comes from here.  Sounded similar to the way families go picking blueberries or seneca root at home in Manitoba.  

 Coffee trees

 Lots of coffee

 Occasionally we went by small farms

 Coffee picker shelters

Some nice views

We encountered pieces of new highway along the way.   Curiously, even the dirt road parts had paper 40 km speed limit signs.  Felt a little like an "after the apocalypse" movie.  

 Hmm

 Then it becomes rough track again

 Then a bridge to nowhere that ended just beyond the overpass

On the overpass we met a guy hunting armadillos

 A tunnel

 Drove through it



 Another bridge





 There were open slots across this highway piece with just 2 metal plates for your tires to cross

Nice ranch



 Very well cared for horse



 Little river

Eventually we came to a small village called Mazatán where we stopped to fix a wheel sensor.





 El Tamarindo (Tamarindus indica) tree

 Friendly cowboys

 Even this little town has a bullring







 Leaving town


And so we headed off down the hill towards Las Varas and onto highway 200 for a fast ride home.


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