Costa Rica Part 3 - Reptiles and a Flat Tire!

The morning we left our little accidental Christian camp cottage in Fortuna starts off with super size iguanas! 


There is a surplus of these gorgeous reptiles in the trees around the Iguana Restaurant.  I looked, none on the menu.  Kevin eats his breakfast while I wander..


I learned that the owner of the restaurant brought in several iguanas as his attraction and they seem to have multiplied quite a bit! They are everywhere!



I'm feeling slightly inadequate as I take photos of the same iguana as these guys from Austria..



We enjoyed watching the waitresses take photos of themselves with the bikes.  I think Kevin wanted to jump in!


It's a lovely ride through central Costa Rica..




We are winding our way down the mountains toward the west coast of Costa Rica again.



Near sea level (it doesn't take long in this small country!) we rode across this bridge and wondered what the heck we just saw below.  It was a long bridge, but we bothered to park the bikes and walk all the way back to have a look.

This is what we saw!  (really wasn't sure until we backtracked...)





I guess it makes sense there are crocodiles in tropical Costa Rica.. I just didn't think about it or expect to see them. They seem truly happy to see us and smile so nicely for the camera! ;-)

We got back on the bikes and continued on toward the coast.  My bald tire is feeling even worse in the turns.  Gee whiz, what a pain.  I just want to ride normal again!  I've never let my tires get this bald.  Wait a minute, it's getting really wobbly. Now it's more than a wobble.... And then I felt it. The rubber is off.  I was nearly stopped to check it out anyway, so it wasn't a dangerous thing. Kevin was ahead and didn't see me stop.  And he didn't come back anytime soon!  By the time he figured out I wasn't behind him, I had all my gear off the bike and preparing for whatever I am going to need to do to fix this flat tire.


I found the culprit!  A dag gone silver nail.  I am guessing I picked it up on the side of the road where we parked to see the croc's.  And with as bald as the tires are now, it's just too easy to pick anything up.  It is... OFFICIALLY my first flat tire on on the entire trip. Costa Rica is around my 35th country and I have been SO LUCKY, especially when I talk to other world riders.  I just knocked on wood so it doesn't happen again.  There was one flat tire in Australia before I left, but this is the first since I left my home in 2010 !!!  Add this flat tire to my spark plug problem I recently had in Nicaragua, I'm wondering if my good luck is running out....


We could fix it.  I have a spare tube, and Kevin has a pump.  His pump wasn't working well the last time he used it, so we don't have a whole lot of confidence.

Not long after I see a beautiful orange KTM pass by.  He turned around and came back to see what's up.  He's a local... cool!


His name is Eric and suggested we get the tire "fix-a-flat" sort of stuff and I told him I tried that on my only other flat tire in Australia. We tried twice actually, and it was useless.  Eric thinks it should work, he's had good luck with it in the past.  So I gave him some money and he rode off to get some.

He came back in about 20 minutes, I sprayed it in, and we used Kevin's dodgey pump which took forever to fill with air.  Felt good, looked good, we packed up and started down the road.  I wouldn't have gotten 5 feet, literally, and it was as flat as we started.. Nope... told ya!!

This man is so kind and says to wait here, he's going home to get his trailer and we'll take it in to the shop.  So lucky to meet this man and so grateful!!



Kevin is really cool about me having a second break down in such a short time.  I was feeling beyond guilty but he says, "Sh__ happens..!"  "It's all part of the adventure", is my way to say the same thing and I'm cool with it too.  I just hate holding others back.


So the great guy on the KTM, Eric, takes us just 5 miles up the road to a local service station where we are hoping we can change the tube.  I have a spare tube, thank goodness.  We are not anywhere near motorcycle shops or any shop that would sell my size.

Once we got to the service station, the workers there were keen and got stuck into changing out my tube straight away.  It's December 30th and officially their last job of the year before they go home.

I buy all the boys beers for an end of year treat and thank you.




Even though the tire is a problem, everyone is in a good mood and having a good time. 



Super huge thanks to Eric.  Gee whiz, he has taken a lot of time and effort to help me today.  He won't take any money except for the beers.  He tells me he has had his share of problems on the road and many strangers have helped him and it makes him feel good to pay it forward.


Once Kevin and I were on the road again it was getting late.  We did however manage to catch a gorgeous Costa Rican sunset.




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