*** WARNING: Sensitive souls beware, this article contains explosive content***
Which is to say that the article includes speech fit for a sailor. On the flip side, appreciative ears may enjoy this article to a soundtrack provided by Sébastien himself. Have a good listen and a great read!
Véro Altitude
Flooded in Costa Rica
Hello my friends,
For those of you who assume that I’m tanning in the Sun, surfing through life surrounded by chicks in bikinis as you're stuck in a cold, wet fall: let me lift your spirits a little.
For two weeks now it’s been raining harder and harder with each passing day. I came down yesterday to see a friend I had been wakeboarding with this past summer in Santa Theresa, Costa Rica. It is such a dead season here that most of the shops and restaurants have closed for an indeterminate length of time due to the rain. It’s been pouring at least twenty to twenty-two hours a day. The sound of the rainfall is no longer soothing, and three of the four routes out of where I’m staying collapsed yesterday.
Beached Boat
I departed Nicaragua yesterday morning at 8 am. The border crossing lasted from 9 to 10:30 as our bus was searched top to bottom. We carried on until Barranca, where I was ejected from the bus in an incredible downpour. On the brightside, I narrowly avoided a five kilometre traffic jam where construction was underway further up the road. They’re developing a new auto route where they’ve blasted through the mountain and, as well organized as they are, the protective fencing on the cliff side was overlooked. So, with the recent rainfall (109 cubic meters this month as opposed to the usual 25), there have been massive landslides in several locations and others where the pavement has simply crumbled, creating impassable gaps in the road. Could someone please tell the Gods that we’re still 2 years from 2012 for Christ’s sake?
So there I am with my pack, my surf board and my guitar on the side of the road hoping for an empty taxi to materialize and take me down the other fork in the road to a sketchy little town called Puntarenas where I can catch a ferry. The hotels all rent by the hour there, and just yesterday morning a corpse was observed floating down the river, its head and feet missing. An enormous alligator recently emerged from the marsh due to flooding and, after having killed it and cut it open, some locals found a stomach full of human bones.
If you love the concept of relaxing in all-inclusive hotels, and the most you’ll walk is from your beach chair to the bar stool, then this trip is NOT for you! If on the other hand you are a decently active person who isn’t scared of the unknown, then I highly suggest going the route less traveled. Sure you’ll be stinky at times, your ass will be somewhat sore from all the riding and you’ll be so hungry you’ll feel like passing out. But it will be the trip of your lifetime. Here’s how it goes.
We’re trying out a new concept at altitude-blog.com. Janick Altitude and I are going to share a hiking story with you. We’ve chosen five key words that we must use in our texts: Rain, Wind, Garbage, Cheese and Running. The rest is totally our point of view. We wrote our respective articles without having the read the other’s. Enjoy!
*Please note that Janick’s article is currently in French. Translation coming soon.
It’s morning. It’s raining. It’s cold. Janick asks me with a worried look whether we’re still on for the hike. Fearing she’s having doubts, I answer: “Yeah!” Her response warms me up: “Sweet!”
The plan was to hike up Mont-Tremblant. I was looking forward to it. I also was hoping for a rigorous experience. You know, to kick up the intensity a notch or two. It started off well, what with the rain and the cold. As we started hiking, we realized that we were simply generating too much heat. The sweat was going to wet us more than the drizzle. So off went the shells. I was covered in merino wool, a little rain wasn’t going to faze me. I also decided to shed the bottom legs of my convertible pants. God bless convertible pants. With clothes set at breathable, I was more comfortable than a warm hug from someone you love. Ok, I wasn’t that comfortable, but close enough.
