OUR RETIRED ADVENTURE
qUEREMOS VIVIR AL SOL
KSha
Costa Rica is amazing! Beauty abounds.
Panama is "home" for now. Loving life!
South America is next! Columbia here we come.
Costa Rica is amazing! Beauty abounds.
Panama is "home" for now. Loving life!
South America is next! Columbia here we come.
Yep, Sha woke up today and had another vision. Cacique (ka-see-key) hill was where her vision was going to take us. I previously had talk about "the hill" that we didn't make it to the top of; a few weeks back. Well we found out how to spell its name; and today was the day we were going to reach the summit! We had a beautiful day for the climb and as we headed out it was in the low 80's at 8:09 AM. 1st incline at start of Cacique Hill (Original attempt picture-didn't get this shot today). Looking back at Coco from the 1st curve of Cacique Hill. Looking up to second curve of road on Cacique Hill. Looking up at third stretch of Cacique Hill. Trucks at the first of four different construction sites. Looking back down to Coco bay. Fourth stretch...still going up. We had to investigate a dirt road that led off of main road and then went upward...and this was what we saw-what a view! Freshly cleared and leveled; $1Million+ lot waiting for a house. Returning to the road...we were not at the top yet; stretch number 5! 5th stretch look back to Coco bay. Water seems a ways off. The final stretch to the top of the hill! Sha beat me to the top so she could document the bald guy making it there! I have to say...we were both proud of ourselves for making it to the top. If we only knew what was still in store for us...
The Information Desk had previously given us directions to the hill; and had also described a fellow Sombras owner walking the hill and then continuing on down into Coco and then back home. This was the secondary part of Sha's vision for the day...continue on and into town. After a brief rest at the top to get our bearings, we continued on the road into the Los Alto del Cacique residential area. As we went on, we encountered another stretch of hill (that I didn't think was fair), but soon lost that feeling as we looked at the houses along the road that had views overlooking the valley and Bay. We followed the road and ended up at the entrance to the area. We both wondered, what road was this that we were approaching-frequent traffic was seen going both ways on it as we approached. From gathered bearings, we knew we had to go right to get back to town and our condo. So off we went on the nicely paved road. We quickly realized that this was one of the main roads, and Sha identified it as Ruta Nacional 159! Trucks, cars and buses were soon cruising by in both directions. You may recall my descriptions of Costa Rican roads from last year's posts...there is about a foot of asphalt outside the white lane lines at the edge of the road. So, we are mainly walking in the "grass" next to the road when vehicles approach. We were both keeping our eyes open for any road branching off to the right to take us directly back to the Bay, and home. [We were going south on the road, which was the correct direction; but needed to veer west to get to the water and home.] The temperature was rising, and we kept seeing the road continue onward. We then came across two structures that we remembered passing on the road trips we took from Playa Hermosa to Playas del Coco. Oh, crap! Realization came into focus that we were a long way from home. At this point we had been walking on the road for more than a half an hour; we had also backtracked to a residential area we thought was our road back to the water--only to find it dead end, forcing us back to the road to continue onward and realizing there was no turning back. So we kept walking. Luckily the sun was covered by light clouds as we had walked this last stretch so the asphalt wasn't baking us alive. Recalling remembered stretches of road while driving doesn't translate well into figuring out distances when you are walking those same roads. We knew we had to get to "Billboard corner" to reach the road that led back into Playas del Coco. It took us quite some time to reach that corner; and the clouds were clearing and the temp was going up. We saw a sign, 3km to the Supermercado; my math people will know that's 1.8 miles...water is pouring out of me and our water bottles are almost empty. I am having to ask Sha to stop to rest more often as we work our way down the road into town. At one of these stops I get a little dizzy and need to sit on the ledge outside a bar we came across. Sha saved the day by refilling our water bottles at the bar--even though we weren't sure they were open. We finally hit the Supermercado-I forgot to tell you there are two of these; and this one is the farthest one from our condo, so with a stiff upper lip, we kept walking. We finally got to the other Supermercado, where we walk to to shop, and then realized we could make it home. The back gate to our complex never looked so good as we rounded the final turn on the road home. Then I remembered we live on the second floor and there were still stairs... Opening up the door, Sha chuckled and told me it was 11:09 AM; three hours on the nose from when we left on our vision-quest. We figured we walked 10 or more miles today...my legs think it was a lot more than that! We both agree that that was a once in a lifetime vision. We do plan to climb the Cacique Hill again...but we will be walking back down next time!
3 Comments
Cindy
9/7/2022 08:01:23 pm
Wow! What an accomplishment and view! Absolutely breathtaking. Glad you found some water, sounds like heat stroke starting. Another check mark to tick off in the books.
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Kyky
9/9/2022 06:58:58 am
Oh nooooooo LMAO Nothing like a little unplanned adventure! Sounds like you guys almost accidentally made your way back to the states with all the walking you did, love and miss you!
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Jen Kolb
9/10/2022 08:35:19 am
Wow! What a view from the top! We love reading about al of your adventures!
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