Polyglot

Ride for Your Life: Costa Rica

By Guest Contributor on Wednesday, January 18th, 2012

Ten Costa Rican Peace Corps Volunteers and four Peace Corps staff met in San José de Upala the evening of January. 5, 2012 and prepared for a 5-day, 375 km. bike ride that would take them from the Nicaraguan border, through the center of the country, and then down to the Panama border along the Caribbean coast. Along the way, Volunteers planned to give talks in their communities on living healthy lifestyles, getting exercise, and eating right.

Thanks to the support from their Country Director, Steve Dorsey, they had two support vehicles that shadowed the two different groups, one with biking experience and one without.

The first day, they biked from the Nicaragua border, through Upala to Monterrey. It was an intense ride, as many bikers had never experienced the intensity of the hills and the constant wind and rain. All made it safely late in the afternoon and prepared for the 2nd day, a trip that would take them to Venecia. On day 3, they rode down windy roads through beautiful towns to Guápiles at which point, for safety reasons, Volunteers were loaded onto a bus to Limón. Staff then loaded all 12 bikes into the cars and headed to Limón to meet the Volunteers a few hours later.

Day 4, the bikers left Limón and biked a short 50 kms. to Cahuita. Day 5, they biked from Cahuita to Sixaola, the town that bordered Panama.

From a safety and security perspective, it was a very successful trip with only one flat tire, a few bruises, and many aches and pains. It was great to have arrived at the Panama border with 10 Volunteers and 4 Peace Corps staff, all of who were grateful for the opportunity to have ridden for their lives in order to promote a healthy lifestyle.

Participants: (Peace Corps staff) Allegra Troiano, Alonso Quesada, José Cerdas, & Natalia Mora

Peace Corps Volunteers: Beth Dove, Katherine Kreuger, Julia Riddell, Ken Farrell, Kristin Lucas, Nicole Budzius, Eric Smith, Carmen Lavit, Allen Wang, Peter Plaas, Marissa Strniste and Julia Lockamy, (the two organizers)

Thanks to former NPCA board member Allegra Troiano (Senegal 80-82) for contributing this post.

Add a Comment

169 queries in 3.786 seconds.