Ich bin ein Berliner!

  I was at the local soda a couple weeks ago, that is the name for a Tico mom & pop restaurant.  They are all over the country and the food so far has been fantastic!  My son and I were sitting down at a table waiting for an order of Burrito Suprema (me) and Pollo Fritos (KJ).  There was a soccer game on the TV and about six locals either eating or waiting on food while the owners were cooking in the back.
  So this kid, maybe in his early twenties, wearing a hoodie pulled over his black hair walks over to our table.  "Ingles?" he asked in kinda a shy voice.  I am a 6', 190# bald white guy from the Ozarks with a beard...so I was pretty sure he meant me.  "Si Americano, lo siento un poco Espanol"  I have no idea how bad my hillbilly accent sounds in Spanish but I am guessing it's bad.
  His face was an instant smile, "Wonderful!  I am learning Ingles, I try to talk to you?"
 "Absolutely, grab a seat."  I love chatting with new folk because you never can tell what you may find out.  This conversation is a great example, hoodie kid's name was Joel and his lives up on the crest of a ridge.  The little community is called Berlin and from there on a clear day you can see the Pacific ocean about 28 miles away.  "You must come see, it is the most beautiful vista!" he said,  obviously very proud of his home.  I asked for directions and he said to have the taxi follow the road past my house and go to the top of the ridge, when the road stops at the T, hang a left and about a kilometer later is the Berlin store.  "How far is it from here?" I asked  "Not far, 5 kilometers maybe.  The taxi will be cheap."  "Joel, I will just correr (run) up there this week and see it."  At this his eyes widened a bit, "Correr? But it is very...alto (high) much better to taxi!"  Right here is the reason why I think David Murphy should sell IRC business cards, or at least a waterproof membership ID.  Then all you have to do in these awkward social situations is whip out you proof of Idiotness and get on with your day.  "No doubt but I need the exercise, thanks for telling me about it."

Good food!

  Two days later and dressed in my running shorts and IRC grellow shirt I shut the gate to our casa and started heading up the hill.  Ego in full swing, I took off at a run mostly because when your wearing running clothes you want to at least act the part.  Not very long afterward the ego was put into check and I started walking as the road turned and the hill got steeper.

See that little peak just to the left of the roof?  That's the way to Berlin.

I got to the edge of our barrio and could not help but marvel at how Tico's can put a house in places that you would think was impossible.  "Hey, I have a piece of mountain with almost a vertical drop overlooking a cliff with a river below....let's build there and raise our family!"  Somehow they make it work, with no OSHA or ADA regulations in place.  It's a treat for the eyes but you really can't stare too long or you will fall in a hole in the sidewalk big enough to snap your femur, or fall off the edge of the asphalt dropping 20' to your death...literally.  You might be on road or sidewalk but trail running rules apply, even in town.

  Another turn in the road and the pavement stops as a rocky country road started up.  The heart rate monitor on my wrist started to buzz, looking down I read that my HR was too high....what?  I am walking and still in zone 3!?  OK no problem, surely the elevation will calm down soon.  The next corner gave me a view of ascent that reminded me of DogWood Canyon back in the Missouri.  It just kept going up and the fire in my calves increased accordingly, this was gonna hurt a bit.

  To take my mind off of the lactic acid build up in my legs, I focused on what was around me.  No need to fear of holes or standing on the edge of the road because it was dirt and I could walk in the middle.  The few LandRovers that drove by could be heard in plenty of time to move over and now there were no houses, just rows of coffee trees.  At one point, cresting the top of steep rise the road turned quickly to the left and crossed over a small stream.  There at the water's edge I saw a large black/brown coat of fur and long tail dart under the foliage.  It took a second to realize what it was, a Jaguarundi!  If my breath wasn't coming in ragged gasps at the moment I might have set down and really enjoyed the moment of seeing one of God's beautiful creations....but right now I was trying not die.

Look's kinda cranky

  A bit farther along and I could see the valley down below and the cell tower near our home.  I would have taken a picture but as with the pretty kitty, my concentration was just trying to not to break rule #6 or die.  Finally after another steep hill and almost 1200' of elevation gain in a bit over 2 miles, Berlin was in sight!  I stood on the edge of the highway that runs along the ridgetop and looked out from 4600', across 30 miles of jungle to see the Pacific ocean.  It was amazing and humbling at the same time, of course it also had to go on FaceBook live.

                       https://www.facebook.com/jim.lane.58/videos/10213426513688926/

  The last part was taking another left (running this time) at the next intersection and heading back down thru the barrio of Quebradas.  Dirt road on the way up but asphalt on the way home except where the road was too steep for the LandRovers carrying coffee beans back on forth from the hills.  On these sections it was just bare concrete that had been deeply scored for traction.  It was on the way down that I ran across an amigo Mario on his way up to Berlin.  He stopped right in the middle of a blind turn on the edge of a steep ravine just to chat with me in a language that he knows I don't speak well.  That did not seem to matter to him at all, Mario was all smiles...I like Mario.
  The road finally leveled out as I crossed the metal bridge over a stream and this meant I had just one small incline back to the house.  Dragging my butt up to our gate, I turned off the Garmin and reflected on the last hour.  This might be less than a 5 mile loop, the elevation is not like Colorado but I saw a lot of cool stuff and my legs are trashed, mission accomplished.  Next time I am definitely taking a GoPro!