WE MADE IT!!!!!!!!!!

PRIVATE PARKING IN LEON

Monday

We go to breakfast at a great place. Eggs, bacon and potatoes. Good old American eats! And great coffee! Stopped by a local tour office and set up a tour for the afternoon. Took some talking into but convinced Max he needed to get a little history of the area. Then spent some time catching up on the blog. We meet up with the tour guide and did a 2 hour walking tour of Leon. He covered a lot of politico history and then took us to the big cathedral where we spent way too much time. Guess I’m a little jaded when it comes to cathedrals.

Cathredal in Leon

 Maybe too many tours through the years but it seemed to me they all begin to look the same. Don’t get me wrong this was a magnificent building dating back to the 1600’s with the usual stories about miracles and such but I was more interested in contemporary history. After the church he took us to a very bizarre museum. I’ve been to similar museums in different 3^rd world countries. This one was called a historical/myth museum. It was in a prison used by the Contras during the 70’s to house Sandinista prisoners. But there was very little info about that except these weird drawings on the wall depicting prisoners being tortured. Most of the displays were these crude manikins wearing bizarre costumes representing different myths of the area. It might have been a little interesting if he described the meaning of the myths instead of just telling us the mythical name of the ugly lady with blackened skin and yellow teeth!

Finally after 2 hours of this he set us free and, without hesitation John and I went for a beer.

Leon Nic.

Tuesday

Adios to our Palestinian hosts, an early breakfast and we’re off to Costa Rica! We made the border by 2, riding on CA2 and figured we’d be exported out and imported in by 3. The exporting part in Nicaragua went well although we did cheat a little and use a handler for part of it. We then drove on to the Costa Rica side and that’s when the paper started flying! First the fumigation, needed papers for that, then immigration, more paperwork and finally the import process! They wanted the usual, original title, passport, drivers license, proof on insurance which sent us to yet another unmarked building 100 of meters away, multiple copies of all documents which sent us to another unmarked building 100 of meters in the opposite direction.

Leaving Hoset Madrid, Leon

After getting all the together the customs guy stamps and hands back my paper work. Cool I’m done! NOT! We need to go to another unspecified building for the final approval. We ride off in search of that place, stopping at 2 other buildings before finding the proper one hidden in a sea of trucks and trailers. Waiting 30 minutes it is finally my turn and I hand over my ream of papers. The man looks at me with a scowl, hands back my papers pointing to the stamp I got at the previous office. “Not signed!”. Are you kidding me! I’ve got to go back just to get a scribbled signature from the dunce who’s only job is to stamp and sign this document. It’s a good thing most people with in shouting distance did not understand English but if they did they would have heard a gringo screaming “you mother $$#%^ &%%$%^$& ^%$%^^$$#^ Son of a %#W$#@ bureaucrats!

They build great Volcanos down!

3 and ½ hours it took so now it’s getting dark and we have 40 miles to ride to get to Liberia and a hotel. Within a couple of miles we hit our 1^st roadblock. They check our passports and let us go. Oh oh I forgot I’ve no tail lights. “John stay real close behind me as we leave”. Phew, dodged another bullet.  10 more miles down the road we hit the 2^nd roadblock. Same thing and off we go. When we are stopped a 3^rd time I’m thinking, “this is excessive”. But no problem and we’re on our way again. We get Liberia around 7, find a hotel and head out to Mongo’s for dinner. Ribs rice and beans! Um um good! I phone Frits and Mayela (friends from the Yukon who live and have a business down here in the Winter) to let them know we’ll see them tomorrow.

What me worry?

Wednesday

Breakfast at Mongos. They do dinner much better than breakfast. Max and I go in search of oil. We find the oil and light bulbs for me. We ride out to Frits and Mayela’s who live just down the road from Nocoya. They have built a restaurant out there complete with a swimming pool, a Tilapia pond and beautiful landscaping. I can’t believe the amount of work that has gone into that place, most of which they have done themselves. Max and I change our oil. Mine took 30 minutes and the POS KTM took 2 hours! After we head down to the restaurant where Mayela cooks up a scrumptious meal of Tilapia and all the fixings. Chuck and Marilyn, the couple that own Caribou Crossing (for those of you familiar with the Yukon area) also joined us for dinner.

Hostel in Liberia CR

They have an awesome house on the same property as the restaurant and also spend the winters here. Great evening with great stories.

Thursday

While changing his oil Max discovered his pannier frame had broken. So after breakfast John and I rode out to the beach and Max went in search of welder. We all were successful! John and I found some awesome beaches, had a great lunch and went swimming and Max got the POS KTM welded up. Last night Frits told us a story about a guy who built his own sailboat and sailed around the world with his wife who lives in the area. This got Max’s curiosity up so after getting the bike fixed he went out to find this guy.

Frits and Maylas House

Max finds him and spends a couple of hours with him and his wife. Sounds like an interesting character. In 1972 he rode a Norton from California to Panama blowing numerous head gaskets on the way. Back in 72 I too had a Norton. Every time I tried to leave town it broke down. I couldn’t even get as far as Santa Cruz let alone Panama!

Dinner tonight is at Chuck and Marilyn’s. Marilyn cooked up Chicken Cordon Blu and it was delicious! Great to be eating home cooked meals 2 nights in a row! While at their house we were visited by three Armadillos. 4 years ago a skinny starving Armadillo showed up and they began feeding it. Since then he and his friends have been coming around pretty regular. He actually plays with you like a dog, they feed them hot dogs and they eat right out of your hand, the big one sitting up and lets you scratch him on his belly.

Changing oil in Frits's Garage
Sorry about the mess!

Friday

We would have loved to stay another couple of days. Today Frits and Mayela open their restaurant for another season and on Saturday the little village near them is hosting 100 horsemen for some sort of celebration. But again our boat beckons and I want to see monkeys and volcanoes before leaving Costa Rica. Our ride today takes us across the North western tip of the Gulfo De Nicoya , East to the Pan American Highway, then Northwest to Canas. Not much to talk about just flat farms and fields. At Canas we turn onto 142 and begin to climb towards Laguna De Arenal. We stop for lunch  in Tilaran then ride down to the lake. We are getting into the cloud forest here and the temperature drops down to a comfortable temp.

Me, Frits and Max at the Talopia Pond

We have to circle the lake to get to our destination, Parque National Arenal. Arenal Volcano is an active volcano where on a clear night you can see the lava flows and is situated in a cloud forest, an area where the moist air climbs the mountains then condenses into clouds and rain. Thus it’s a crap shoot to even see the volcano. While driving around the lake I make a wrong turn which begins a series of events which will haunt us for days to come…..

Actually that’s a little melodramatic. I realize my mistake and stop to look at the map. Max and John come up and shut off their bikes. Well you probably already guessed it. Max’s POS KTM would not start! Now it’s the starter motor.

Frits and Mayla in thier beautiful Orchard

It sounds like it is turning but just grinding gears. Fortunately there is a steep hill right there so Max takes off to try to bump start it. Well it’s a dead end and the bike didn’t fire. So now we have to push the POS KTM back up the steep hill. Now what? We try push starting the bike on the highway but no luck. Then we tried the tow method that never works. Max holds the tow strap in his left hand while holding the clutch in and the other end attaches on my bike. I think “this isn’t going to end well” but Max assures me he’s done it before. Well it didn’t work. As I begin to pull I notice Max is no longer behind me, he’s right next to me on my left! That won’t work and soon both bikes are on the ground! I find a new use for my helmet, pulling it off and throwing it as far as I can. I’m pissed! Opps forgot my camera was attached to the helmet!

Frits and Maylas restaurant

 Then it begins to rain for the first time on the trip! I next ride down the road looking for a possible place to stay or at least work on the POS KTM. The first place I see is a yoga /meditation hostel. I was tempted but continued on until I found a run down restaurant and hotel and thought this would be more appropriate with my mood. It also was down hill the whole way so Max tried bump starting it again. Bam! It started so we continued on to our Hostel at Arenal. It was a great ride around the lake but I couldn’t appreciate it because we were once again fighting daylight and worrying about the POS KTM. We arrived at the Essence Arenal Hostel just before dark. I picked this place based on the Lonely Planet write up. They raved about the food and the rooms were a great deal. It was also located at the top of a very high hill (all the better to start Max’s bike when the time comes). The Essence lived up to the Lonely Planets praise.

Me at Sameria Beach CR

It's all vegetarian with a lot of the food being grown right on the property. They also incourage you to participate in the preparation of the meal (this I generally hide from but in this case it was actually fun). We helped with preparing the dough for a fried bread.  The whole atmosphere and friendliness of this place really helped put my head in a much better space. We immediately decide to stay 2 nights. The clouds cleared a little but not enough to see the volcano top that night.

And then the starter went out....

Saturday

Saturday begins with a 6am hike around the property. Everything is just waking up. Birds, monkeys and even the chickens. This is the best time to be in the jungle. The noise level goes from zero to 100% in just a few minutes with the Howler monkeys leading the way! The hike takes us down to a creek and back up to the hillside where they grow their veggies, herbs and fruit. We see lots of birds, mostly Parrots and get a great view of the lake below. We get back in time for a great breakfast. This chef is awesome!  Then Max and I go into KTM repair mode. Off comes the seat and tank, this has to happen to access anything pertaining to the engine. Then I dive into the starter while Max disassembles the carb and checks the plug. The starter seems to be working so next I take the cover off that exposes the intermediate gears.

Volcan Arenal

There I find part of the problem. The gear is missing 3 teeth! Looking further I find all three teeth in the stator. Fortunately they didn’t make it to the crankcase where they could have done real damage. Now Kelly, one of the owners of the place gets into the mix. He’s famerilar with these bikes and calls the KTM dealer in San Jose (the only KTM dealer  in Central America). They may have a starter and the gear in stock! The other partner happens to be in San Jose and might be able to pick them up for us. It being Saturday this is our only shot. Our hope soars! Only to be let down when KTM calls back to tell us they were mistaken and don’t have the gear. We put the bike back together and resign ourselves to finding other methods of getting the bike going.

Hard at work trip planning

Another wonderful dinner and no sight of the volcano. It has been raining most the day and is not letting up for the night. I sleep uneasy anticipating the ride down the mountain after all that rain. I’m expecting a mud slide all the way down  (8kms worth).

Sunday Dec. 4

  We pack up the bikes (this has gotten so routine we have gone from taking an hour to load down to 20 minutes) we do this like robots, whether we are carrying on a conversation or not. Totally automatic. It’s been raining all night and dosen’t look as though it will let up so we soldier on.

Howler Monkey in nearby tree

Max leaves first, bump starting the KTM successfully! The road out isn’t as bad as I thought it would be and we make it down to the highway without incidence.

Leaving Arenal in the rain

Kelly gave us directions to get to the Coast Highway the “short way”. This turns out to be a tiny road that winds up and down through the mountains, in and out of the clouds. There are lots of small villages but for the first time the signage is good and I make no wrong turns. The first big town we come into is San Ramone. This is where Max stalls the KTM on a busy, flat avenue. After much discussion we decide the tow method is our only option. This time I hook up the tow line to his frame and this works like a champ as lone as he doesn’t brake too hard (jerking the shit out of me) or too soft (winding the strap in his front wheel).  We find a restaurant sitting on a hill (this becomes a common theme because of the POS KTM) and have lunch with a French Canadian who lives on the beach down in Bejuco, on the Pacific side of CR. He’s riding his Harley up to his second home near San Jose. Seems he’s done pretty well manufacturing tanning beds. Now we are riding on the Pacific coast where we will stay until Panama City.

Our Cool Digs Uvita CR

Hoping to get closer to the Panama border, we are once again stopped by night coming on. We leave the main highway at Uvita in search of a eluvsive Hostel by the Sea. We never did find that but we did find a really nice place with individual bedrooms, bathrooms, kitchen and living room. A far cry from what I thought we’d get. This place was the Ritz! Each cabin was built using 4” Cedar logs and the craftsmanship was very good. They are owned by a Canadian and must be hurting for guests because I got it for 40% off without even working them too hard. I cooked up a scrumish chicken stew dinner using a freeze-dried package that was at least 5 years old. At least that’s my excuse for screwing up a freeze-dried dinner. Never could get the consistency right.

Panama Border

 It rarely happens but even Briner complained about it. I had to remind him of our agreement back on the Baja that he and Max did the cooking and I did the route research. I’m not that good at route research but even worse when it comes to cooking!

Monday

Another border day. Max is up early! He cooks up some oatmeal I make some coffee and we all pack up. Now the test…. Can we start the KTM? After numerous unsuccessful

 kicks we set up for the tow method. By now it’s almost routine. It fires right up and we are on the way! We are riding through grasslands to our right and rain forest to the left. The road is good and we are making good time. We arrive at the Panama border at Paso Canaros at 9:30 and get the bikes exported quickly without any handlers help (maybe we are finally getting this thing figured out). Max pushes the KTM across no mans land to the Panama side while I wait for Briner to finish up. We then start the process of getting ourselves stamped in, then our bikes. Once again I could go on and on

"El Fumigator"

 about the how incompetent and unorganized the whole thing is but I’ll just say it took Max and John 3 times to get their paperwork right. Not their fault but the lady typing it up just couldn’t get it straight. We also had to employ a handler because we couldn’t find the insurance office. They all work pretty well together to make the process as hard as possible. The last thing we had to do was to have the bikes fumigated. I was first and no one was around so I just rode into the stall thinking someone would come around. Well it turns out Panama is pretty progressive when it comes to fumigation. It’s automatic! When I rolled into the shed the sprinklers activated automatically! I was sprayed on three sides (right, left and bottom) with some sort of detergent/insecticide. The worst part was I didn’t have my jacket on. On the bright side it relieved the tension of taking 4 ½ hours to get across the easiest border in Central America. Everyone was amused but me. Fortunately, soon after, it began raining cats and dogs and washed off what had gotten on me. It also soaked me through before I was able to pull out the rain gear. I didn’t mention this but the border is at the top of a long hill so when we were finished Max just coasted down and bump started his bike. About 1 km down the road was the final check point. My papers were in order but John and Max were missing a signature! We had to go back! Turning his bike around Max stalled. He bump started and we all went back. They got the papers signed and we were finally out of there! Borders are a bitch when you are in a hurry! Plus we moved into the next time zone which lost us another hour. Now we are back on the Pan American Highway and making tracks. Once in Panama everything changes. We are on a 4 lane highway that is lined with traffic cops every 5kms. Also the jungle seems to close in with every mile. We are quickly riding into dark and not finding any hotels. I’m amazed at how few buildings we see. This seems to be a fairly desolate part of the country with just a few small villages along the road. We finally make Santiago about a hour after dark and find a place well off the road for the bikes sake. Nothing much to write about here so let’s move on.