Costa Rica And Panama

This post covers the first half of January, from Costa Rica to Panama.
The itinerary is shown below.

Costa Rica

Panama

Last posting was about New Year's Eve, and the mad party we had in San Juan Del Sur, Nicaragua.

Another day was used to recover our strength, and we proceeded towards the Costa Rica border. Shortly after we stopped to check something on the bike and we discovered that one subframe bolt had gone to bolt heaven....very scary, a bad bump and a lot of damage could have happened. I'm pretty dissapointed at the way this bike is put together. Luckily I had some spares bolts.

On the way, again another picture of the volcano on the Ometepe Island.

When we got to the CR border, we saw this sorry sight:
Our friends had left that morning (much earlier than us), boarded a bus to the border, changed another bus into CR and 40kms inland a roadside patrol got on the bus to check everyone's passports. Turns out that one of the guys didn't have an entry stamp, so he had to go back to the border. The rest, stuck with him. They were a bit down, shall we say....

After a good 3 hours, we were out and running towards the capital, San Jose, where we got the next day. We decided to splurge (and get some needed rest) and stayed in a pricey hotel after I bargained the price down about 20%
San Jose is not very nice and the only atractive pictures we have are the following two:

Next day we went to the Volcano Poas, about 50km from San Jose. Impressive views, both on the way there and the actual volcano, which has a small lake of a metallic color. Nothing lives in there, clouds of sulfur rise from it.

On the way back we decided to sleep on the slope, at a little cabin called Lo Que Tu Quieras...Gorgeous day meant great views of the plains down below, and you can almost see the Pacific. Apparently on a good day you can see the Atlantic as well. Crazy.
Even crazier is that no less then 4 days after we were there, an 6.4 magnitude earthquake with the epicentre 10km from Poas shook the mountain and killed a few people due to a landslide.

Caroline quickly makes some friends of the canine family.
That's the view from our room.

The owner had a restaurant as well and let us put the bikes in overnight.

Here's me updating the blog, very inspirational...

It got down to 9 degrees overnight, it was freakin cold! But the view, THE VIEW!!

She makes an excellent desert out of pumpkin! I never knew...

"Can we come in? Pleeeease?"

The next morning was the complete opposite, cold, rain zero visibility.

Wet dog number one

Wet dog number two.

Caroline's all-time favourite picture!

Heartbreaking moment, they followed us to the internet cafe below and were waiting by the bikes, under he rain.

So Caroline walked them back to the cabins.....

We took the backroads back and saw this great fall, La Paz. You can see Caroline somewhere in the middle.

Then we went to another volcano, Irazu, by Cartago. Another great vista.

But not nearly as popular as Poas was, so we barely found a hotel and for food, well the picture says it all, chinese noodles in a cup and beer.

Out rustic room, the place was straight out of "The Shining", with red carpets, wooden walls and eerie emptiness.

Breathtaking in real life.

After that we headed towards the Atlantic coast, to Puerto Viejo, a nice secluded and low-key beach town, somewhat on the hippy side.

You can't be too careful around here. Think of all the coconuts hanging dangerously over our heads...

"Bernard L'Hermite" bulging its eyes out.

Pinch this!

I actually prefer the yellow color to the white coral sand. Kilometers of deserted beach

Is she posing??

The crazy Rockin J Hostel, with industrial sleeping (they must have had 50 hammocks in a open barn concept)
This picture is for the Waterloo gang, two in the pink, etc...

Found and captured this crab scaring innocent backpacker females.

After 2 days of lazying around, we headed towards the border with Panama, and we took the shortcut....Here Caroline expresses her gratitude for my choices.

This bridge just before the checkpoint was scary. Most of the planks were not nailed in, so they were moving side ways a lot. Far below was a river...

The incredible part is that the bridge is as wide as these semis, we couldn't figure out what happened to the pedestrians when the trucks would cross. Another couple of hours of heat ,nonsense, and paperwork.

But we made it and headed towards Almirante, the jump point to go to Bocas Del Torro (an archipelago of several islands).
Here we parked the bikes in a local parking (really someone's fenced yard) and took a speedboat to the islands. Now, they weren't joking around with the "speed" part, our captain was racing the competition at speeds close to 80km/h. It was easy, small boat with a 300hp monster in the back

And the video:



Next day we bargained with some locals for a full day tour of the islands.

Yes, that's a dolphin and he's playing and jumping in the wake of a bigger boat

Then on to the "Red Frog" beach, where the waves and currents were like nothing I have seen before. This IS the ocean.
Caroline can be seen getting battered...

aaaah, red frogs....they are tiny!

The evening started slow enough until someone proposed a drinking game. It was game over...

Hours later

Bunch of morons, that's a balcony ledge we're sitting on (cause we can't stand)

Caroline proves her strength, we don't know why.

Second day, second paradise beach. This one had no access, so the "captain" waited for some calm and dropped us off between two waves. It was a bit intense.

Some sirens

Gorgeous beach

Justin sleeps after the hard night before. We take advantage.

Lat day, with the shitty weather moving in, we went diving, including a small shipwreck. Going inside was the highlight, as well as meeting the resident blowfish. It was huge but friendly.Leaving Bocas

Back in Almirante I managed to snap a few pics of some of the places by the water.
Yes, those are suspended toilets.

In fact, everything is above water. The houses in the town didn't look as bad, so I presume only the poor live here (you don't need to buy land)

Descending towards the Transamericana, more superb vistas and twisties.

Arrived the next day in Panama City, and saw by mistake the Famous Panama Canal. These boats are built to the canal specs!

Then got to our Hostel, the also famous Luna's Castle, situated in the old town but with a great view of the new city.

Very close to the presidential residence.

But most of the colonial town is in ruins. Except for a few projects.
It's also very scary at night, we heard gunshots one night, and saw people running (I presume from the gunshots)

This is the back of the hostel.
Very disappointing to see stuff like this.

Pictures like this say a lot. There's money but there's little will.

Another Kawasaki brochure picture.

That is my masterpiece, proudly displayed beside more traditional works of art.

When the tide was low, all the boats would go out of commission.

Some indigenous people, wearing traditional clothing

Nothing like setting the expectations high!

We went to a different set of locks, paid the $5 to have access to the touristic balcony.

The approach is monumental.

Some humor

You'd think it's Manhattan

Decided to change the tires before shipping the bikes to Colombia.

Went to a "russian" circus, a few highlights follow

This is our expression while seeing the next video

4 motorcicles!


Big ol' cat.

This is the shipping company, not very advanced in the customer care department. But it's a no-hassle affair.

The typical local bus, all retired US school buses, and repainted in these funky colors. The drivers are absolutely insane.

Last night in Panama City, we went to a Brazilian party, and we all got a theme going.

The flight to Bogota, Colombia, in a propeller plane. Fun!

That's it for now. Next post will cover Colombia, the place I was the most excited about for this trip.