Robbery Attempt near Monteverde
Making this post mainly so that people are aware when planning on driving this route.
Short version: A guy on a red motocross bike overtook us on the way up to Monteverde from Mirador de Candelaria, pulled halfway in front of us to stop us and then tried robbing us. Since I saw no weapons, I drove off. If you plan on driving here: Daytime, full tank, don't stop for anybody.
Long version:
Today, my wife and I were going up to Monteverde from Mirador de Candelaria by car. We unfortunately misjudged our fuel, so we turned back to get gas to avoid running empty on the way up, costing us around 30-40 minutes. This caused us to go up during sunset/dusk.
Going up the way, approx. 30-35 minutes away from our hotel in Monteverde, we saw the beautiful sunset with the mountains and stopped shortly near some house for a photo. While I was doing that, some vehicle passing nearby yelled something from their car or bike, but it was inaudible so no clue if this was related in any way or if it was even targeted at us (since there was a house nearby). I didn't think much of it and got back into the car. Time was around 6 pm, still lots of light.
Continuing on for maybe a minute or two, there was a bend which looked like a viewpoint on the mountains and someone on a red motorbike with his helmet on, looking down at us while we went up. I somewhat jokingly told my wife "Hm, that looks like a scout for a robbery" to which she laughed and told me something along the lines of "this is Costa Rica, stop worrying, he's probably just looking at the sunset".
We went past and continued for a minute until suddenly the bike speeds up next to us, pulls up slightly in front and forces us to stop. I'm thinking "well this is Costa Rica after all, maybe he just wants to warn us for some danger ahead". I slightly lower my window and he goes "Give me all your money". I scan him briefly and see no weapons, so I tell him no and raise the window as I start driving off. He tries reaching into the window as it shuts, then tries aggressively opening the door (which we always keep locked, luckily - although I'm not sure what his game plan was) as I go.
Luckily the part we were at wasn't one of the super bumpy parts so we didn't have to slow down, but I don't think he tried following us for long anyway (if at all). Thought maybe ahead there would be more of them or some blockage or whatever, but when we saw some more houses and a bus parked with some tourists next to it after a while we figured the danger was over.
We called the police thinking maybe someone could at least check if that bike was still there trying to rob others. A Spanish operator redirected us to an English speaking operator who unfortunately didn't seem to understand English well. She kept thinking we had an accident and needed a tow until eventually the connection dropped. We'll try reporting it again tomorrow, no idea if there is a point in it though.
In retrospect I know I shouldn't even have lowered the window, probably should have just gone on as soon as he rolled his bike back to our window. But having been to many other countries, some of which we had similar moments that turned out to be the complete opposite (trying to warn us of danger etc), it made me lower my guard here.
Oh well, I hope this was just an opportunistic moment and nobody else has to experience this. Maybe this post helps someone in the future. And yeah, we shouldn't be suspicious, but when in doubt, better be safe than sorry I guess. Rest of the trip has been mostly great so far.