pura vida

lunch at this bomber cafe on the way out of town

I arrived in Costa rica on sunday. by thursday(today) the news reported that this year is the all time high historical amount of rain. due in part to the hurricane in puerto rico and major storms in honduras and nicaragua. as such the roads are washed up and closed down...so im holed up. but let me say if you must be stuck somewhere...this is the place to be stuck. the pictures are of the first day. i assure you it looks different now. hopefully the rain will stop and the roads will open Most people have had someone at one point or another in their life that made a great impact, and as such they hold them in high regard. old college professor, wiser than wise grandpa, career mentor, religious figure, sports hero, superhero?….right now for me its my cousin Amanda and her husband Brian. as noted above, Im in costa rica and for the last few days they
they put me up in an amazing condo in Los Suenos Resort. As mentioned before it’s the rainy season and CR is getting nailed! after 36 days on the road, riding in this kind of rain is killer, so when I got to Jaco I was more than happy to see a familiar face and relax.
When I saw the resort where they live… forget it, I was ecstatic to hang and wait out the rain in this magical place. perfect cocktail for regrouping and gearing up for the continent jump to SA. views are dreamlike and the condo pure luxury. fishing, Surf, Golf, hike ,canopy , 4x4, you name it this place has it all and a super chill vibe.
Thank you again Brian and Amanda I hold you in the highest esteem and am ever grateful! anyone thinking to visit Costa rica let me know and i'll contact my cousin for you.... (probably not in October)…but highly recommended.

18 steps from my bedroom and 10 from the living room patio and the rain didnt stop me

Like the slogan suggests.... costa rica is pura vida. beautiful, filled with the kind of spirit everyone enjoys. People are cool, landscape is rich, coast is beautiful and nature spoils you to the point of making it hard to leave even in the rainy season which peaks in mid oct or now

name this song

repacked, sent some unneeded stuff home and went up to san jose to the first ligit ktm dealer in central america...after 6000 miles it needed some service but nothing major has gone wrong...knock on wood

Granada

is the oldest colonial town in nicaragua. spellbinding place that boasts brightly colored buildings, including many old churches and my favorite plaza square so far. there is a deep religious background here as you can see from all the relics and churches.

the town is located on the foot of a volcano and butts up to a huge lake. that and some of the best restaurants ive been to in central america make it easy to see why it attracts lots of tourists many of whom end up staying for good.

before leaving we went to a cigar factory to get some fresh cigars. it was very cool! they still hand roll each one indivdually before taking 15 or so and putting them thru air suction kind of thing in an old wooden box. great experience even though i dont like cigars. i got some for my cousins husband in costa rica where we are heading next.

The Last of the Great Moustacians

Ever wonder where all the stylin moustaches of the 70’s and early 80’s went?
Right here…. Nicaragua. No really….all of them. I would guess that 98% of all men over 20 have them and 25% of all women. We’re talking serious burt reynolds that make Frida’s unibrow look penciled in. I can only assume its because they want to stop the sweat beads on the upper lip from dripping down to their mouths. It is sweat scorcher here if you have any sunlight shining on you.

Whenever we stopped we instantly became crowd favorites and approached by whoever was around. here we were at a roadside bank getting some $$ and it turns out that behind the bank serves as a bus station and meeting place for people. before we knew it the place was filled with cars, people, buses, vendors....all screaming, honking, beeping, whistling...etc. it was chaotic. and then this guapo in the wife beater teeshirt comes up with a posse asking all kinds of questions like everyone does. they are curious which is cool. but zoom in close on the pic to the guys pockets....you see two things....his unzipped pants and red underwear hanging out and the butt of his pistol in his right front pocket. this is nicaragua.

typical semi automatic carrying gas station pump attendant.....

The border crossing from Honduras to Nicaragua was a zoo. Instantly before youre off the bike they come running. Money changers, beggars, “official border crossing helpers” insurance guys, hotel guys, whatever. At one time I had a good 10 around me within 2 ft all talking/ yelling over one another. The stress builds quickly, but its reassuring that the police have a station there.Couple hours and I was thru to Nicaragua. Which is a solid contrast from Hondo. Much cleaner, friendly people, lots of opportunity and interest here I think. Still stunning landscape and the temperature rose very quickly. Made our way to Granada pretty quickly until the last 10 miles before reaching the city it started to dump. DUMP! here comes the rain. here is the rain.

I had already taken my rain gear off because I was too hot and it looked clear. As it goes that was a mistake again. Within seconds I was head to toe drenched, couldn’t see a thing and pulled in to a gas station for some cover. Was there for about 30 minutes and experienced the loudest thunder of my life. Bone cracking, ear piercing as if someone stuck a couple m80 firecrackers in your ears and just as they were going off youre spooked by someone creeping up on you. Time after time. It was wild.
Made it into Granada and going to stay here for a day before heading to Costa Rica. favorite thing about Nicaragua are the roads, best in all of central america.....perfectly paved.

smoking volcano on the side of the road near Granada. there are quite a few of active volcanos around here.

Adrenaline

Riding thru Honduras was intense. It was the most challenging day so far. The road went from great to ok to total off-road and back again several times. It is a place where you never know what might possibly be around the next bend or up-top/bottom of a mountain. Maybe oxen pulling a cart or cowboys riding full speed on their horses in the middle of the road or huge chunks of the road completely dropped out and gone or huge mudslides blocking the road or rockslides blocking the road or cow that jumps out at you when he hears the roar of your engine just as you are taking a picture of him or kids selling all kinds of fruit and goods on the road like mini-bannana stands or a group of 11 giant, battin for the yankees, riders from Finland on an organized tour or hundreds of potholes filled with water (tough to navigate) that make Minnesota potholes look like tiny cracks in the road and could easily swallow a dog. Not to mention the rain showers that would be on one mountain and gone the next. Whatever it was it provided more adrenaline, riding challenge and reward than any of the other day on this journey. Too bad it ended in a super sketchy border town that still has me nervous as I am writing this in my hotel room. (turns out it was super sketchy as i was woken up 4 different times from gunfire)

Three things remained constant throughout the day 1. spectacular scenery thru small, medium and big mountains and arid canyon like regions 2. Super friendly kids but most people came across as the less than excited to see foreigners. Much different attitudes than Mex, belize or Guatemala and for that reason I am glad to have rode thru a country in a day. 3. The thought that no money in the world would convince me to drive a semi or car on these roads even though they were everywhere…half of which broken down in the middle of the road fixings tires/rims.
Seems I keep feeling this way but this riding day is right up there with the best of my life, albeit a trip on a roadway madhouse.