Riding South...: Costa Rica, Pura Vida

It's crazy to think I've been in Costa Rica for two weeks already. The time has been slipping by at an incredible pace. I'm ready to come home but I've got some more work to do yet. I found a Cargo Company that is going to air freight the bike to LAX. The moto will get crated on Friday (tomorrow is labor day). Here is the Costa Rica summary... Enjoy :-)

Wed, April 16^th into Costa Rica: the border crossing was a real hassle from Nicaragua to Costa Rica. Getting out of Nicaragua was not too bad but getting into Costa Rica was a convoluted process. I hired a fixer, assistant, guide and it was worth every penny, times two.

1. Immigration passport stamp (immigration office) 2. Liability insurance (insurance office) 3. Photocopies of everything including the passport stamp and your new Costa Rican insurance (photocopy office) 4. Customs to verify all your documents are matching for the moto (customs office) 5. Motorcycle inspection (customs officer) 6. Data entry of moto into the system (another office near the insurance office) 7. Approach the frontier 8. Show your passport to the officer 9. Show your moto papers to the other officer 10. Cross the border (phew) 11. Show your documents again at the police check point 10km down the road. Are we done yet…?

Six countries six currencies, I’m getting confused at times and the exchange rates are completely different:
$1 USD = 13 Mexican Pesos, 2 Belize Dollars, 7.7 Guatemalan Quetzales, 19 Honduran Lempiras, 25.8 Nicaraguan Cordobas, 548 Costa Rican Colones.

Thursday April 17^th, Day hike near Volcano Arenal: I rode around Lake Arenal to the little park near Volcano Arenal and did a short day hike up to a scenic view point for the volcano. It was a really fun ride on a narrow serpentine road and then an easy hike to the vista. Nice, easy day.

Good Friday April 18^th, Cloud forest: I rode the KLR to Monte Verde and Santa Elaina and to the Selvatura Park in the cloud forest. The drive was fun because the road is predominantly dirt, winding through the steep green hills and climbing into the mountains. I did the Hanging Bridges hike in Selvatura Park which was an easy 4km hike with 8 suspension bridges that put you into the canopy. It was a magical place of incredibly dense jungle and mist. All around there were the sounds of birds but it was very difficult to spot them. Still an amazing experience and such a contrast to the deserts of Arizona.

April 19^th & 20^th, Happy Easter, Happy 8^th Anniversary: I have stayed at Hotel Monte Terras B&B for five days and it has been really nice. Kees (pronounced like case, suitcase without the suit) and Griselda are amazing and have treated me so well. The meals have been great and we even went out to eat together at the local restaurants on two evenings. It's so nice to be treated like a friend rather than a client. The rest of Costa Rica is on the playas for the holidays so I decided to stay put and enjoy the peace and quiet and great hospitality here on the hillside next to Lake Arenal.

www.monteterras.com

Griselda and Kees. This photo just makes me smile! Thanks for the warm hospitality!

Monday April 21 to Playa Samara: Since the Holiday weekend was over, I went to the pacific coast to the little town of Playa Samara. I found a good little hotel that was right on the beach and had some fish tacos and a beer at the restaurant; toes in the sand.

Tuesday April 22: I had my very 1st surfing lesson. I actually got up on the thing and rode a wave, twice! The rest of the time I spent getting knocked around by the waves. Still, I had a lot of fun and was really pooped out after, so I grabbed some lunch and had a little siesta. In the afternoon I met three guys on rented Honda Tornado s (250cc dual sport motos). They were from California and were on vacation for a couple of weeks. I had a good time talking to them and contrasting our trips. This was their 5th international moto excursion. They just fly into the country they want to visit with their helmets riding gear and a single duffel bag; rent a few bikes and ride around for 2 weeks. They had ridden in Peru, Vietnam, Nepal and Costa Rica (can't remember the other location). What a great way to do it, on a regular vacation schedule and relatively cheap too. They weren't doing a guided tour, just navigating with a Lonely Planet guidebook and an iPhone. Brilliant!

the main road of the little beach side community

Wednesday April 23^rd Playa Samara to Heredia. In the morning, there were some guys taking down a small building next to the hotel. The Howler Monkeys were not happy about all the noise and were barking and roaring at the workers. It was really an interesting scene, one that you will never experience in the US. There were 8-10 monkeys, a few males, females and babies. I met a motorcyclist at lunch today, William Mora. He was riding a BMW G650GS and we had a good conversation, best we could with broken Spanish and broken Ingles. He put me in contact with his amigo, Charlie Duran, who drives a KLR, speaks English and lives in San Jose.

Intel just announced they are shutting the Assembly Line here, in San Jose, and everyone is worried about the economic impact it will have on Costa Rica. Semiconductors is one of Costa Rica’s biggest exports. For my friends at Grohmann Engineering it's really bad news. If there is no manufacturing line, you certainly don't need the Field Service Engineers who help Intel maintain the equipment. When you listen to the news, it seems like no big deal: ~1500 jobs from a company of 100,000 people. Intel's stock price went up. But for the Ticos in San Jose, this will have a negative impact on the economy and will directly affect far more than 1500 Intel blue badges. There are all the contractors (housekeeping, cafeterias, security, warehouse) plus all the businesses that support the operations (materials, transport, equipment supplier support, etc.). It makes me a little nauseous. This is where my personal values are in direct conflict with corporate values. Yes, Intel will reduce their expenses and maybe be slightly more profitable, but when it's at the expense of a whole community it feels like a poor choice, cruel.

Friday 25th: I went to the Airport to see about sending the KLR home by air freight and I think I have a good lead on a company that can help me with this. I also went to the Kawasaki dealer in San Jose, Todo Motors and they were very helpful and friendly. I have a contact for shipping the Moto by sea and a potential buyer for the bike too. All in one day. But with the weekend here it will be early next week before I make any more progress. I went to Dinner with Luis Lopez-Borbon and his family tonight. Luis is a field service engineer for Grohmann Engineering and I've worked with him many times in Arizona. It was really nice to meet his wife and son, his nephew and his sister, Dylana. The food was excellent tipical Costa Rican fare and I really enjoyed the conversations we had. After the meal, the boys had fun sitting on the Big KLR and playing with the switches and buttons :-D Thanks Luis & Dylana for the nice evening and thanks Luis for taking the time to talk with your friends about selling/shipping the Moto.

Saturday 26th: I went for a ride with Charlie Duran; he also rides a KLR, it’s a 2012. We rode west out of San Jose into the mountains past two Volcanos, tough you couldn’t see much of them, the peaks were cloaked in clouds. It was a beautiful ride with lush green hillsides and farms. We climbed up to 5000ft and then descended on our way to visit Charlie’s friends, Memo and Ana. They have a beautiful property that is a small coffee plantation. They were really generous hosts and made a delicious late-lunch / early-dinner. After we ate, we hopped on Memo’s 4x4 quads and went for a tour of the property. It’s very lush on steep hillsides with lots of beautiful birds. They have plans to put in some cabins to create a little B&B. After the tour we had some excellent strong coffee :-D and then it started to rain. Charlie and I hopped on the motos and cautiously made our way back to San Jose. The rain stopped after about 20min but we still had some fog and it was getting dark so we just took our time coming home. It was a really good day on the moto… thanks so much: to Charlie for being a great guide, to Memo and Ana for being so friendly and providing a great meal, and to William for introducing me to his friend.

Ratboy, San Jose in the background

Me and Charlie Duran on our ride to Turialba

Sunday 27th: I moved hotels, I had a very inexpensive Hotel in Heredia that was run by a really nice family but I was getting tired of the intermittent water, spotty internet access and very tiny room. So I moved closer to the Airport to the Adventure Inn… Paradise! Big comfy bed, rock solid WiFi, Hot water any time of day and very reasonable room rate too, total win. Breakfast is included and there are a bunch of nice restaurants nearby including the Hard Rock Cafe, San Jose.

The rainy season has begun in earnest and it’s time to get home. On Monday the rain started at 12noon and was finished by 2p but it came down in buckets, Tuesday was the same though it stated a little later. Wednesday, ditto.

I’m finally making some progress towards getting the bike home. I got a quote from CRCW, Costa Rica Cargo World to send the bike by Air Freight to LAX. We are going to crate the KLR on Friday morning and the bike will arrive in LAX on Monday. I will probably fly on Monday and stay with Mark Althoetmar in Long Beach while I get the moto through customs.

Friday May 2nd: The KLR is boxed and ready to go. The Guys at CRCW have been great! Thank you Roosevelt, Marquinho & Luis for your help and great customer service! www.crcwsa.com

GPS Coordinates:
10.00213, -84.19484