Top: Justin knows all the best roads and trails, having spent a couple years learning the area he now calls home. Bottom: Dirt roads in this region are plentiful, and every single one of them offers up postcard views.
A Few DayS EarLieR
I felt the sting of tall grass smacking my right knuckles as I threaded my Honda XR650 between a line of mostly stopped cars and the edge of the road. My tires bounced between asphalt and gravel while I tried to hold a line that barely existed, dodging mirrors and arms that extended from windows. The ditch to my right disappeared into thick vegetation. Going off the road wasn’ t an option.
At first, it felt chaotic and unpredictable. Then it didn’ t. After a few miles, something clicked. That’ s when you stop overthinking it and start flowing. We moved with the traffic instead of fighting it. Slipping between cars, sometimes along the shoulder, sometimes splitting the centerline between vehicles moving in opposite directions. Just like a Tico( a local).
Five hours later we rolled into Tronadora. The ride should have taken half that time. Growth had outpaced infrastructure – something I understood well coming from Nashville. Same story, different place. I was just glad to be on a motorcycle and not stuck in a car, like our friends who were driving the same route in a Bronco. It took them 9 hours.
CojOneS
I woke before opening my eyes. A sound that didn’ t belong in any normal morning routine was coming from outside our second- floor window. Howler monkeys. When I finally got up to look outside, I couldn’ t see anything. The house was wrapped in thick fog. The lake, the trees, everything beyond a few feet had disappeared into it. The monkeys kept calling loudly, as if they couldn’ t see each other either.
Later that day, we were chasing our friend turned Costa Rican local, Justin, down a gravel road when he suddenly stopped on a narrow bridge and got off his bike, pointing up in the trees. Six monkeys sat high in the branches. A couple carried babies clinging tightly to their
44 / JULY 2026 / RIDERMAGAZINE. COM