Costa Rica

It may not look like it, but it was raining very hard

Day 16
From: Liberia, To: San Ramon, Costa Rica 

Heavy rain fell mostly on two motorcycles in the Costa Rican

mountains today. We had to stop twice because of visibility. One stop was at a mountain side restaurant were I managed to dry out a bit (even with good rain wear, you would be surprised how wet you can get in a downpour) We sloshed into San Ramon, a very nice small town just as the rain let up. Of course.

We met three young ladies from Switzerland who were staying at our hotel. The evening was pleasant with yet another great meal. The riding is wearing on me. I would probably take more time off but its a two man adventure and Harold has assumed the lead. He has repeatedly told me that I should set the pace but its clear that he really wants to press on.

Would you like to know the size of pot-holes in Costa Rica? We passed a man placing a 55 gallon barrel into a hole in the road. It fit easily and looked to go down about 10-12 inches. For those of you that haven't seen a 55 gal drum. It's about 32 inches accross. Cars are constantly weaving across both lanes to keep from hitting the huge pot holes!

Day 17
From: San Ramon To: La Palmas Norte, Costa Rica
This day was the worst! Harold, acted on a tip about a Costa Rican coast highway that would avoid the mountains thru San Jose with the infamous chicken buses. The road was fine early that morning and we had great views of the ocean. In attempting to stop at a little road side viewing area I attempted to park my KLR on the little bit of pavement available and it promptly fell over putting a mean contusion on my right leg. It took a bystander, Harold and my self to upright it. Then Harold reparked it. . . it fell again!. Bending the clutch lever and pushing the handlebars out of alignment. I got a couple of great pictures and we headed off for more adventure.

It turned out that the supposed good highway reached a point where there was "no more highway" there we had to ride about 35 miles on a road that was being constructed. Being constructed! The worst surface imaginable. No pavement of any kind. Like riding on a dry creek bed. Except after a few miles it wasn't dry anymore. And the hole were now filled with red watery mud. We rode between 0-20 mph. When the rocks and giant potholes weren't jarring my parts silly, we rode thru mud and water holes all the while meeting and sometimes passing big trucks. I was so tired after the two hour ordeal I didn't know what to do.

Tonight I'm thinking seriously about flying home when we reach Panama. I feel hurried and I don't think I'm up for the same challenge that Harold is. The original plan to ride only on paved roads is now history.

It wasn't Harold's fault that we encountered such a road however he was ready for more and I clearly wasn't. I spent nearly 11 months reading journals and studying maps and its disappointing to find that we are "winging it". If I were a younger man I might welcome more of a challenge.

Beautiful view of the Costa Rican coast.