Rivas

As we packed up in Dominical and prepped Chomo to get back on the road, we decided our first stop would have to be Rivas. This sweet spot in the mountains was pulling us back before we head North. Over the past few weeks, Wendy and Alex have been our incredibly gracious hosts whenever we stop in for a visit. They have offered us their home, cooked us countless amazing meals with fresh local ingredients, and showed us around their little slice of paradise. Their sons Justin and Joshua are some of the nicest and best-behaved kids we’ve ever come across.

From the crazy suspension bridge you drive across to get to their property in Tirrá to their amazing stilt tree house on Alex’s private launch, this place is rad. We have had many fun flights here, with strong thermals and fun wispy clouds to play in. Wendy is nice enough to drive the car down and retrieve everyone, take photos, and look after Rok while we fly. And she’s a killer cook. Someday I want a wife like her.

From the landing area in Rivas’s futbol field, it’s a short walk to Tule’s Bar. Any establishment with a paraglider painted on their sign is alright by me. The surrounding area is beautiful—green ridges and valleys dotted with farms of every type. Within a short walk of Alex and Wendy’s house, you can find limes, oranges, mandarins, papaya, banana, guineo, mango, goiaba, chayote, coffee, chili picante, and all kinds of vegetables. There are also local Swiss cheese and chocolate makers just a quick drive up the valley towards Chirripo National Park. If you haven’t noticed yet, we haven’t found much that we don’t like about Rivas.

 

Unfortunately, right before we left Dominical, Chomo’s water pump developed a pretty serious leak, in addition to the power steering pump that has been leaking for a couple weeks. Ruh Roh. We limped it up to Rivas, and with Alex’s help we found a local mechanic who was willing to work on our Chevrolet. After a few hours and a couple phone calls, he found a replacement water pump and had us back on the road. He refused to swap out the power steering pump, however, so for now we’re stuck dumping lots of fluid in and keeping an eye on the levels. The further you get from Mexico, the harder it gets to find parts and willing mechanics that know Chevy’s. We’re thankful to be in as good of shape as we are at this point.

While we were in Rivas, we also wanted to check out Canaan. Our friend Zion, another young local pilot, lives in the cool little community there. Wendy and Alex needed to go down to San Isidro, the nearest city, to take care of Wendy’s mother. So we volunteered to take Justin and Joshua over to Canaan for the afternoon. For those of you who know us well, we’re not exactly the most frequent babysitters, but these kids are pretty rad. First stop: ice cream. Then we loaded up in Chomo and headed towards Canaan. The boys were awesome guides—they led us right to Zion’s house and gave us the tour along the way.

We were amazed as we entered the property—an open-air mixed material cement/bamboo/wooden house surrounded by a gorgeous garden, all set on a hill above a clear mountain stream. We wandered the yard and checked out all the plants—some ornamental, some medicinal, many edible. We met a few more folks from the community and Rok made a few new friends too. Across the road from Zion’s, we stopped in at the local Swiss cheese factory and felt like we’d died and gone to heaven.  We also paid a visit to Jose Lobo’s house, another impressive construction, built in to the rocks above the gorgeous river. One more stop at the local gourmet chocolate factory (died and gone to heaven squared) and it was time to head back to Alex and Wendy’s on the other side of the valley.

That evening, we managed to cook a vegetarian dinner that was suitable to Justin and Joshua (Costa Rican kids that like lentils!?) and didn’t burn the house down. We showed the boys lots of paragliding, speedflying, and BASE jumping videos and filled their heads with all kinds of bad ideas. They picked fresh limes and mandarins and chile picante from the garden for us and even washed the dishes after dinner.

Our final day in Rivas was perfect—and we don’t use that word lightly. Cade flew tandem with Justin and I cruised solo, playing paparazzi. The conditions were great—strong thermals, light wind, and just enough clouds. Wendy cooked a few more delicious meals and Justin even borrowed some Scorpion Peppers from a neighbor’s garden for us to try. They are among the hottest we’ve tasted anywhere. Kapow!

It’s not easy to say goodbye to Rivas, but we’re sure we’ll be back. We’ve found another home away from home with our new friends here in the foothills of Cerro Chirripo.

X Shot Photo of the Week 2

Enjoying a day of rest at Grandpa Ninja's B&B

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Dominical 2

El Abuelo y mi familia in happier times

 My week away from our Central American adventure was challenging. I won’t get too much in to the details, but I am really glad that I went home to spend a week with my family in California. Mi abuelito is one of the best human beings I have ever had the pleasure of knowing and when I got news that he wasn’t doing well, I knew immediately I needed to be there.

El Golfo de Fonseca

The trip home was bizarre. After months of SLOW travel—winding our way down the narrowing continent towards Costa Rica, being in close contact with local people, the smell and feel of the places, I felt really connected with where we were. Traveling over land roots you to the place. You use the same paths that the trucks and buses and cars and cows and horses use. You see very few tourists. I knew exactly how far from home we were—and that was pretty damn far. But when I got on a plane in San Jose, it tore me right out of that world and threw me high up in the sky; my face pressed against the plastic window, staring down at the landscape below. The people around me were Americans. They were excited to get home—to familiar restaurants and English and dollars and road signs. As we headed North, I picked out each landmark below—volcanoes, beaches, and lakes. In minutes, we cruised effortlessly over mountains that had taken a day to drive around. It took a mere 10 hours to get from the San Jose airport to my grandparents’ house in California. Never before have I been so aware of the surreal nature of airline travel.

Montana de Oro, CA

As my week in CA came to an end and I prepared to get back on the plane to return to San Jose, I knew it would be difficult to jump back in to the rhythm of Central America. I left a little piece of my heart in California, but it was time to get back to Cade and Rok and Chomo the Chalk Van.

Sobre Mexico

The return trip was not quite as smooth. I just barely made it on my flight from Phoenix to San Jose. The US Airways employee that was in charge of checking everyone’s passport and onward travel information at the gate demanded a return ticket out of Costa Rica and was quite prepared to stop me from getting on the flight if I failed to produce one. I had asked about this very issue in immigration as I left Costa Rica a week prior and was told it wouldn’t be a problem. She thought it was a problem. After I told her that I had asked at immigration before I left, she reminded me repeatedly that I should have asked at immigration. She would not accept my entry visa from the land border crossing or my copy of our vehicle import permit as proof that I had onward travel plans. She has been doing this for 15 years. My visa is apparently not a ‘real’ visa. It’s just a stamp that they give you at the land border that allows you to be in the country for 90 days. She told her boss on the phone that my vehicle import permit “looked pretty official.” Finally, as the flight attendants were closing the doors, her manager called back and told her to let me on the flight. As I hurried down the jetway, I could still hear her yelling after me…. “They’ll hold you for questioning! They don’t have to let you in! They can send you back!” I spent most of the 5-hour flight remembering to appreciate the very friendly people at the land borders, even if their internet and printers and computers never work and they get to sit in their air conditioned offices as you sweat outside for hours in the sweltering sun. Upon arrival in San Jose, the immigration agent spent about 5 and a half seconds looking at my passport, smiled, stamped it, and welcomed me back to Costa Rica. Pura Vida.

Playa Dominicalito

Soaring over Dominical

Cerro de la M

Cade and Rok were waiting for me just outside the airport, where I sucked a big breath of sweaty tropical heat back in to my lungs. Time to find that rhythm again. We headed back to Dominical, where Cade showed me around. Although the transition back to Central America felt a bit harsh, it was nice to have the casita to settle in to. We spent the following week flying over palm trees, howler monkeys, and loud ass jungle white noise. We swam in the ocean and our little local waterfall swimming hole, Poza Azul. We hiked to launch (sweaty stairmaster), got an unexpected visit from our good friend Orly (love!), saw a sloth in a tree, and drank many papaya, passion fruit, pineapple, and mango smoothies. We made rice, beans, and tortillas in the casita and made a few new friends. We watched many a gorgeous sunset from our quiet little beach. We shared the sky with Grandpa Ninja and friends and Nick’s crews. We chased giant green grasshoppers with red wings out of the casita at night. We crossed paths with a fellow roadtripper, Wendy from LivetoFlytoRide, who is riding her moto solo to Tierra del Fuego. Awesome! We also took a drive up the Cerro de la Muerte, the highest road in Costa Rica. You can leave the coast, ascend 10,000 feet to the continental divide, and drive back to the beach in 4 hours round trip. Definitely one of the coolest drives we’ve seen yet.

Hanging with Wendy

Baño with a view

Grillo

Sea of dreams, Costa style

Orly and Cade launching

Sloth!

Love

Birds eye view of Playa Dominicalito

On glide to Dominical

Re-united

We also had some unique and necessary stops at the vet and mechanic. It turns out Rok’s heat rash was actually a skin infection due to the moisture and all that ocean swimming. He got some antibiotics and some antimicrobial shampoo, which seems to be helping. We also gave him a fresh mohawk. He’s not too excited about all the extra baths, however. The vet was really excited about our trip and gave us his brother’s number in El Salvador. He told us if we ever need anything there….

Just another sunset at la playa

We took Chomo to a local mechanic for a routine tune-up. After 5,000 miles, he was ready for some love. An oil change, tire balance and rotation and a coolant flush were in order. I also got to learn a whole bunch of new mechanical vocabulary words, although I still don’t understand how cars work.

Costa Rican Jiffy-lube

Cade and Carlos

We were excited to fly a few of our new friends tandem in Dominical. Our neighbor Carlos has been driving for Nick’s tours for years and has always wanted to fly. His son Stewart came all the way from San Jose to join him in the air. We had a perfect day to fly with them and they were two of the most appreciative and stoked people we have flown in a long time. We love flying with happy people, and it’s even more meaningful when someone can point out their house from the air. To return the favor, Carlos took us on a snorkeling tour in front of our local beach at Dominicalito, where we saw some crazy bright tropical fish and eerie alien sea snails in their conch shells. Gracias!

La familia de Carlos

Becca and Stewart

Taking a break

Norkeling!

We’ve had a great time exploring this little piece of paradise. Unfortunately, the potential for setting up a business here for the remainder of the season has not presented itself to us. We did get some great news that Xshot has offered us sponsorship to cover our fuel costs for the trip. We are super thankful and excited to partner with this awesome company. Ebb and flow! We sat down with Rok for a family meeting and we’ve decided that it’s time to turn around and head back to Pana. We miss our Guatemalan family and the awesome flying we had over Lake Atitlan. We’ll take our time and explore some new places as we journey North. You know the old saying: “Cuando Costa Rica les da limones, vayanse a Guatemala para hacer limonada.” (When Costa Rica hands you lemons, go to Guatemala to make lemonade)

Onward!

Approach to paradise

Dominical!

Shortly after arriving in Costa Rica, Becca received word from home that her "abuelo" wasn't doing well and decided it was best to return to the states to be with him and her family for a week. After dropping her at the airport in San Jose, Rok and I had a 3 hour drive to settle in to our unexpected alone time. It was an eerie feeling to get used to after after 2 months in the close quarters our auto casa provides. It was a peaceful drive, continuing down the Pacific coastline with views of sandy beaches, big estuaries, jungle, and palm plantations. We were excited to reach our final destination of Dominical, where the mountains meet the ocean.

Playa Dominical

I met Nick Crane shortly after my arrival. He pointed me in the direction of a great place to camp right across the road from the beach break at a place called El Coco. Nick offers tours all season long in Costa Rica and takes clients of all experience levels to sites all over the country. He has been flying here for years and has helped to pioneer some of the best flying sites in Costa Rica. If you're looking to get a lot of airtime here I suggest joining one of his or Grandpa Ninja's tours. It's the only way to fly some of their lesser known, difficult access, and very beautiful sites.

We were hoping to settle in to Dominical for a bit and fly some tandems so I started to scope out some housing options and feeling out the town for tandem potential. In the meantime Nick was nice enough to let me tag along with one of his para tours to explore the local sites and get a feel for the area.

The local site above Dominical is a 1700ft ridge about a mile back from the coast. The flying is very consistent with mixed thermals and ridge lift. You fly over the jungle canopy and little developed properties below. You can sometimes even hear howler monkeys! Landing options are near the beach or on it at anything but high tide, and there is a sweet little 650ft ridge right on the coastline that you can soar most days.

Rok on launch at Dominical

We toured South about an hour to place called Foxes Leap. It's like Dominical, but on a grander scale. The access road is a gnarly 4WD track taking almost a full hour and climbs up through a cloud forest at the top. The launch is twice as high and its set back a bit further from the coastline. Many times you start above cloud base and on the clear days you can see all the way to the Osa Peninsula. It's a bit of mission to get there but provides some great potential for some friendly small cross country.

Fox's Leap with Nick

We also went up to Rivas, about an hours drive inland. There are two launches on either side of town. They are on separate ridges leading up toward Cerro Chirripo, the highest point in CR at 12,000ft. A soccer field in the quaint little town tucked into the bottom of the valley is the main landing. From there you are walking distance from the local bar and restaurant. I was pleasantly surprised to launch into some big mountain air with strong climbs and cooler temps. Flying up around higher peaks is pretty committing but there are a few good top landing options along the way before you feel too deep. It's an amazing area and not what I expected from Costa Rica; we will have to spend some more time exploring here.

Nick on Lobo's launch above Rivas

It has been a crazy week. I have learned a ton being forced to use my slowly improving Spanish. I found a little casita to rent a few kilometers down the road in Dominicalito. Its walking distance to a smaller beach with less traffic and a nice waterfall. The landlord, a little abuelita named Julia, wont stop cooking me rice and beans. Rok has enjoyed living a chuck-it's throw away from the waves, but has developed some sort of heat rash on his hindquarters and is generally a bit overheated. I think he is looking forward to having Becca back to give him a haircut.

Along this journey, we've crossed paths with multiple people overlanding solo, some all the way to Tierra del Fuego. Many of them don't speak any Spanish at all. After this week I have a reinforced respect for these solo warriors. As for me, I am very thankful to have such a great travel companion to share the experience with. I cant wait to have her back.

Above our casita in Dominicalito

Thank You XShot!

We are excited to announce our partnership with XShot!

This California-based company makes camera poles that we have been using to capture our adventures for the past few years. If you've ever wondered how we take all those aerial selfies, XShot is it. They have been generous enough to cover our fuel costs for the trip and we couldn't be happier. Their products are perfect for paragliding and adventure travel. They are lightweight, easy to use, and compact. XShot just released a Pro model with a built-in mount for the GoPro, no modifications required. We love our XShots and are so thankful for the support.



As part of their support XShot is offering our followers a special 20% off coupon on XShot.com. US customers will also receive free shipping. International shipping is available but costs a bit more.
To get the discount, enter coupon code: CADE at checkout

Here's our first Xshot Photo of the Week:

Flying over Playa Dominicalito, Costa Rica

Cheers XShot!