Joe and Roger Bike to the Spring

---

---

March 2, 2014

Joe and Roger were up bright and early to hit the roads in the mountains north of town with their mountain biking guide Tallo and two Canadians. Joe and Roger thought that since they were all in the same age group that they'd be in the same league. Wrong. They were surprised when the Canadians rode quickly uphill away from them. That was when they learned one guy leads mountain bike trips in Nova Scotia and the other guy had been riding in the mountains near Puerto for the last six weeks. But Joe and Roger did their best to hold their own and they had a good day. They biked about 16 miles, climbing high enough that it actually started to feel cooler. They rode through several small villages and ended up at a farmhouse located at a pretty freshwater spring where they rested for about an hour. There the farmer's wife fed them freshly made tamales and cold pineapple drinks. It was a great ride and they finished it with a beer with Tallo in his shop.

We finally ate at Trip Advisor's #1 ranked restaurant in Puerto, Olita's, which is just a couple of blocks from our house. I had the shrimp crepe, Joe had the fish tacos and Roger had a burrito. All of the above got raves from us. I was also happy with the melon water. Our server and co-manager was a young woman from Norway and she entertained us with stories of her recent travels in Peru and elsewhere. When I meet people like her I'm always fascinated at how brave they are to leave the familiarity of their home country and live and work somewhere so foreign to them. Pretty sure we'll be going back to Olita's a few times more.

There was yet another carnival tonight so we three walked all the way uptown to watch the fireworks, the parade, and to walk around the booths and rides. No way to stay for the concert, the guys were so tired from the mountain biking.

---

Photos

The Sun in the Hands
This statue of hands is on Playa Zicatela.

Giant tree
This tree is reportedly over a thousand years old and is a local landmark.

They worked up a sweat.
It was a hot hard ride.

Playa Principal
Getting nets ready for another day.

Playa Principal
Always a lot going on here.

Concert at carnival
Looks like these two got here early to get the best seats.

A prize?
You might be lucky enough to win this at one of the carnival booths.

Comments

[Donna Childs]

And how did you spend the day while they biked?
Are you learning some drink and food specialities to bring back home?

[J J]

Food and drink
Yes, we are learning some new stuff. I may even take a cooking class one day. One thing we like is that here they mix mayonnaise with some of those canned chipotles and use it as a dip for tortilla chips or even on veggies. I think it would be good in a chicken sandwich. Crepes are in all the cafés so maybe I'll make more of those from now on, they really aren't that hard. They put cinnamon in the piña coladas...nice.

[Nancy]

Those two guys are animals!
I'm not surprised they went on that bike ride, right up their alley. I bet you hate to see Roger leave but it's so nice he could get you going there.

[J J]

Roger
Yes, we will hate to see our playmate/partymate leave tomorrow. We may actually get to see him again in AZ, not sure about that. He was so helpful and so much fun, of course. At least now we know how to get around and I'm guessing Joe will keep playing horseshoes.

[judy]

You are beginning to help us develop our plans for next winter. This does look perfect. We won\'t take the trailer, either. Canadians probably mt bike more than Americans, ALL of our friends up here mt bike and my skill level has gone from pretty intermediate, to something below advanced. It\'s what we do up here in the summer (or any time it isn\'t snowing!) Really enjoy reading this, esp. as I sit here watching it snow! Adios

[J J]

Mountain biking
If you come to this part of the world and want to bike, you should come earlier like in January. Joe thought it was very hot on the bike trip. I wouldn't bring your trailer either, and I'd recommend flying over driving for sure. We'd have a lot of do's and don'ts for you.