Costa Rica Olympians

After nearly a week into my stay in Costa Rica, I asked the owner of Casa Tranquilo Hostel, David, why weren't there any more Costa Rican Olympians. The constant up-and-down topography of the country and with elevation from sea level to 12,000 feet in less than 100 miles in width, the country would seem to be a fertile training ground.

His response with a smile was the only Olympics Costa Ricans could win would be drinking. As a recovering druggie - nearly four years clean to his credit - maybe David would know.

I, however, came back in much better physical shape than what I possessed when I arrived. It's safe to say I have gotten my cardiovascular system back to speed and my legs are - OK, I rarely toot my own horn - but they are like steel cables. Thing is I might have lost weight possibly, and I wouldn't consider that to be a bad thing.

And feeling the way I feel now, I don't want to lose - at all. After the long travel days on Friday and Saturday, my body pretty much crashed, going unconscious for 10 hours. It shouldn't be unexpected as I was probably getting 5-6 hours a night for 9 days. Hey, when it hits 6 am down there, the birds go crazy - AND THERE'S LOTS OF THEM!

So instead of the backcountry skiing I envisioned, I told my body "Screw you" in return for my lazy wake-up time. It was power hiking time up at White Ranch Open Space Park, located north of Golden. It was rather muddy in sections and, as expected, the north-facing aspecs still held snow.

Still had a great time, hiking about 10 miles with over 2,000 feet elevation gain in about 2 1/2 hours. It took a while to get going again after taking too long of a lunch break, but I was mesmerized by 7 paragliders and 1 , well, I don't know what he was riding but it looked pretty cool. Heck, there guys were able to climb back higher into the sky, masterfully playing the currents off of the foothills.

OK, onto the porn. I was messing with settings with the camera, trying to become all artistic and all.





I was amazed how far these guys were able to travel. They seemed to be thumbing their nose up at gravity most of the time with their aerial display.