Cañas to Puntarenas (87 km / 54 miles)

Cool dinosaur on the side of the road!

Super cool watermelon helmet!

We slept in til 7 and I woke up even more sore from the hike than I was the day before.  So it was a hard day of biking.  Starting late is also bad, cause it means more time in the heat and sun.  We also had more hills than we expected.  There were several long, fairly steep hills.  We figured out that the route seemed flat on google maps cause they do their elevation changes in increments every 200m or something crazy like that!  It wasn´t too bad, but in my condition I tired out real quick.  We stopped about half way through at a roadside watermelon stand and split and watermelon and a coconut water.  To entertain myself I made a watermelon helmet, and Craig cut out ventilation holes.  I wore it for awhile, and it was rather refreshing!  Eventually too much watermelon juice leaked into my eyes and I had to take it off!  But temporarily it made me feel better.  We ended up taking quite a few breaks and didn´t get into Puntarenas until just after sunset.  There is a nice bike path the last 8 km into Puntarenas, it was flat and breezy and we saw lots of local families out getting exercise.  It was a pleasant end to the day.

We are going to try to start camping more to save money, cause the lodging here is just too much for what you get.  An average hotel is $24 and in Nicaragua was under $10!  It surprisingly more expensive here than Belize was!  I don´t remember it ever being this bad, prices have really sky rocketed in the last few years.

We have also started get more food from the grocery store, since food in Costa Rica is not cheap either, an average typical style meal is $6, where in Nicaragua it was $2!  So we´ve started eating bagged refried beans and chips, tuna and crackers, yogurt and fruit.  I also buy powdered milk, which I love, it is soo good down here!  It is made with whole milk, which I have never been able to find in the US (only non fat dry milk there).  Grain beverages are also really popular down here, like oatmeal and milk, or one called cebada, which is barely, vanilla and cinnamon.  One I really like is called pinolillo, which is cocoa powder, corn meal, vanilla and clove.  There all sound horrible, but I really like them.  They make a good breakfast mixed with water, powdered milk and sugar.

I have continued to deal with rash on my skin since Leon.  It keeps sort of going away and then coming back.  I have a cream from the pharmacy called Lotrederm, which is supposed to be antihistimine and help with itch. I´ve also decided to take benadryl the rest of the trip.  Currently neither medicine seems to be doing much of anything and I am miserable with itch.  It is currently mostly on my ankles and has thankfully gone away from my face.  I hope that the upcoming beaches don´t make it worse!