{"id":48510,"date":"2026-05-26T07:37:55","date_gmt":"2026-05-26T06:37:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.alananna.co.uk\/blog\/?p=48510"},"modified":"2026-05-25T08:04:49","modified_gmt":"2026-05-25T07:04:49","slug":"costa-rica-coast-to-coast-reaching-the-caribbean","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.alananna.co.uk\/blog\/2026\/05\/costa-rica-coast-to-coast-reaching-the-caribbean\/","title":{"rendered":"Costa Rica Coast to Coast \u2013 Reaching the Caribbean"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Today was the day we would finally reach the Caribbean coast and complete our coast-to-coast journey across Costa Rica. The Pacific now felt a very long way away as we prepared for the final push.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Early Start<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

We had another early start, which suited me perfectly. Everyone else had been going to bed incredibly early \u2014 often around 7 pm \u2014 so it shouldn\u2019t really have been a struggle, but people are never at their best early in the morning.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Doty mentioned that I\u2019d apparently spent much of the night wandering around camp. I don\u2019t think I\u2019d been up all night exactly, but I had gone to the toilet a couple of times and then got distracted by wildlife and ended up roaming around with my torch watching frogs, spiders, and insects. My next toilet trip was around 4 am and, to me, that\u2019s a perfectly reasonable time to get up, so I didn\u2019t bother going back to bed. Instead, I relaxed in a hammock waiting for breakfast.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Breakfast once again involved an impressive spread, along with plenty of leftovers from dinner because the others hadn\u2019t really been eating properly. The same thing happened again at breakfast, so there was more than enough food to go around. Hopefully the camp staff and their families benefited from the leftovers afterwards.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Biking through Banana Plantations<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

It was then back onto the bikes for a mostly flat ride along rough tracks interspersed with river crossings. One crossing was more involved than the others, requiring us to dismount and wade through thigh-deep water over slippery boulders to reach the far side.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"The<\/a><\/figure><\/div>
\"Me<\/a><\/figure><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Not long afterwards we finally spotted another sloth \u2014 this time a three-toed sloth sitting in a roadside tree.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We continued along increasingly rough tracks through pineapple plantations, banana plantations with bunches wrapped in blue polythene sleeves, and vast palm oil plantations. The support truck leapfrogged us periodically, giving me something to chase, so I occasionally rode off ahead on my own.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Three-toed<\/a><\/figure><\/div>
\"Pineapple<\/a><\/figure><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

By now the others were visibly tired and not particularly enjoying the relentlessly bumpy terrain. Spotting a capuchin monkey in the trees briefly lifted everyone\u2019s spirits though.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Eventually we arrived at a small quay on the R\u00edo Madre de Dios where we stopped for snacks and changed into kayaking kit. That marked the end of the cycling section of the trip, so while the others rested, I did some bike maintenance and removed my pedals and saddle.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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