Coast of Costa Rica

January 30, Potrerillos, Panama

We had such a great time relaxing on the beaches of Nicaragua that we continued the trend in Costa Rica, exploring the Pacific coast.

The Guanacaste region of Costa Rica, particularly the Nicoya peninsula, is known for its wonderful beaches. The region is in the midst of massive development and we saw that our first day. Lots of fancy developments are springing up. That, and the prices for lodging, quickly demonstrated that the economy of Costa Rica is very different than the countries immediately north.

(Beach Bar in Junquillal)

The beaches are spectacular. White sandy coves defined by rocky headlands. Cliffs plunging into the sea. Clear blue-green water. No wonder Costa Rica has been able to capitalize on its tourist potential.

(Views of Tropical Paradise)

However, there are some interesting wrinkles to this tourist wonderland. For example, the road along the coast of the Nicoya peninsula is not for casual drivers. Most of it is unpaved, so it has the usual collection of washboards, potholes, and dust. Drivers are crazy here. The low-key, Tica, "pura vida" attitude disappears when they get behind the wheel. Apparently, vehicle inspections are quite rigorous so most vehicles are in good shape, and the drivers put them to the test. The dirt roads are incredibly dusty because drivers fly so fast down the road.

(A quiet stretch of road)

As we headed further south down the peninsula, we made good use of our dual sport motorcycles, having fun getting through the many river crossings. On morning, we went through nine rivers in about 30 miles.








Eventually, we pulled in to the surf spot of Santa Theresa, near the south end of the Nicoya Peninsula and found a great place to stay for a while. I found a Spanish teacher, so we stayed a week. Days were rigorous - swim before breakfast, Spanish class for me, lunch, swim, read, nap, walk, swim, sunset, happy hour, dinner. Day after day!!! My Spanish teacher is a professional surfer (as is her seven-year-old daughter!), as well as a clothing designer, so I learned about that culture, too. Amazingly, after a week, we managed to drag ourselves away.

(Adventure travel is tough work!!)

(A gecko at the "all you can eat buffet.")

(Our hotel has some fierce guard dogs.)

(Why most people visit Santa Theresa)

(Happy Hour)

Once we got off the Nicoya Peninsula and further south along the coast, we realized how dry Guanacaste was. The flora got much lusher, and we hit some rain. Full tropical downpour - just like some one was dumping a bucket of water on me. This added an interesting wrinkle to some of the bridges we were crossing. Already, in the dry, they were quite something. They are one lane, made of old railway rails laid across, with occasional rails missing and a few sheets of metal covering some of the holes. Add lots of traffic and the torrential downpour, and I really felt like I was adventure touring.

For most of Costa Rica, this is the tourism high season because it is the dry season. But for one region, it is the low season, because Pavones is all about surfing, and the big swells don't come this time of year. Pavones is the home of the world's longest left break. It's also on a beautiful peninsula (that Costa Rica shares with Panama) with lush hills and long beaches. We made some friends there and did some relaxed exploring before crossing to Panama yesterday.

Now we are visiting our friend Denny, who is just moving here from Washington State. He has been scouting good motorcycle roads for us, and we are looking forward to exploring Panama. It's here that the road ends and we will have to turn around.

Vacation in Nicaragua

January 14, Isla Ometepe, Nicaragua

We've been in Nicaragua one week, and much of it has been spent relaxing on one sort of beach or another. We basically skipped Honduras. I know, geographically, that's impossible, but psychologically, it's not. We crossed into Honduras, found a place to escape the heat for the night and crossed into Nicaragua the next morning. So, we transited about 100 miles of Honduras, true, but only to move on. If we thought we could do two border crossings in one day and stay sane, we would have. We will visit Honduras on our way north.

We found ourselves in Leon, Nicaragua's intellectual center. We were working on finding a place to stay, but we kept missing - either too high-end for us or too low-end. While I was checking out a place, Tom came up with a better plan. Let's head to the beach! It's only about 20 km away, and if there's nothing good there, we can always come back. It's hot (and dry) here, so the beach sounded great to me. We found a little "hotelito" right on the beach - four rooms, a dorm, and a bar/restaurant. The food was good, the beer cold, the rooms cheap, and the waves were nice for swimming. It was a social place, so we traded notes with other travellers while we recharged our own batteries. After a few days of this, we were ready to head off again.

(Our hotelito)

(The view from the hotelito restaurant)

(Another beautiful sunset)

We explored Leon a bit. It seems to be a very understated city. There are no big signs for businesses, which makes finding places a little tricky. We got all of our erranding done while getting a feel for the place. We decided to keep moving south, leaving the highlands to be explored on our way north.

(One of the lions of Leon)

Off we headed to Lago de Nicaragua, also know as Lago Cocibolca, and Isla Ometepe, the largest freshwater island in the world. The island is made of two volcanoes, one of them a perfect cone, joined by an isthmus. This is said to be the island of peace because neither the Revolution nor the Civil War was waged here. I'm sure glad with have our motorcycles here. There's a stretch of road about 25 km long that is paved with concrete blocks. The rest of the roads are some combination of sand and volcanic rocks. We have a map that shows a main road and a deteriorated road paralleling it. If I didn't know better, I would have sworn the road we were on must have been the deteriorated one (nope, it was the main road). Nicaragua is not known for great road quality, but this is extreme. Everyone we met who had taken a bus around the island was very jealous of our motorcycles. Along one stretch, we opted to ride down the beach instead of the road. The beach was nice and smooth!

(Approaching Isla Omatepe)

(The other ferry. It matches the one we are one.)

(Much smoother than the road)

(The volcanoes dominate everything)

The wind has been howling from the east the whole time we've been there. There's quite the surf crashing onto the west side of the isthmus, where we stayed for two nights. No bugs, though. A big attraction is too climb either of the volcanoes, but after sitting on a motorcycle for a few months, I don't think I'm in good enough shape to really enjoy it. Instead, we've done other exploring, on the bikes and on foot. There's a wide range of plants and birds here, as well as howler monkeys.

(Wind driven surf)

(On a little nature walk)

(The wind is howling through the grass here.)

(Keep tabs on your breakfast or the birds will get it!)

(Tom's up-do after the ferry ride to the island)

(Time for a new 'do)

(That should help Tom stay cool.)

All advice was to avoid the ferries if possible on a Sunday, so we are staying another night, and will head off tomorrow. We are getting to a place where there really is only one road, or at least only one road crossing from Nicaragua to Costa Rica.

Being here has put a different spin on Costa Rica, even though we haven't gotten there yet. I look forward to hearing the Costa Rican side of the story. There seems to be quite a bit of tension between the two countries, similar in some ways to the US and Mexico. Many Nicas cross illegally into Costa Rica, work low-level or manual jobs, and don't always get treated with respect.

I am really enjoying Nicaragua and look forward to seeing more on the way north. Unfortunately, I don't think we will get to the Atlantic coastal lowlands; there's just too much to see. Some of the statistics on Nicaragua are pretty grim - it's the second poorest country in the hemisphere behind Haiti - but it's beautiful and welcoming, and according to other statistics, safer than many of the countries we've travelled through already.

Jan 5, El Salvador

January 5, San Miguel, El Salvador

We left Antigua on New Year’s Eve. There was a big to-do happening in town that night, and most hotels were full. We decided to take our chances with finding a place on the coast.

Basically, from Antigua to the coast at Puerto San Jose, we just rolled downhill. The road is not that interesting, and it is steadily downhill, getting hotter and more humid for each foot of elevation lost. Puerto San Jose was a madhouse, but we worked our way to the end of town until it was clear that this was no place for us. So, we wiggled back through town and headed east along the coast. After the small ferry at Puerto Viejo, things calmed down. We pulled into to a hotel and decided to stay. It seemed quiet, there was a restaurant and pool, our room had a/c, and it was a short walk to the beach. At midnight, there were fireworks in every direction, but otherwise, it was peaceful.

(Pacific beach)

While everyone else was recovering from their hangovers, we headed to Monterrico, a small beach town just a bit further along the coast. Given all the volcanoes, it’s not surprising that these are all black sand beaches. We pulled in to a beachfront hotel, and called that home for two days. It was nice to relax, dip in the pool, walk on the beach, swim in the Pacific. Of course, given the black sand, a walk on the beach or swim in the ocean was preceded and followed by a mad sprint across the blazing sand. (No, I wasn’t willing to wear shoes!)

(More tropical paradise)

While in Monterrico, we had two opportunities to explore the surrounding mangrove swamps. One morning, we were up at 5 a.m. to go on a boat tour with two other people and our guide. He poled us through the mangroves through sunrise. It was wonderful – quiet, lots of birds, clear morning air, and not many bugs. Then, when we left town, we took a different ferry, which was a half hour ride through similar landscape.

(Sunrise over the mangroves.)

(Loading the ferry)

(On the ferry)

After welcoming the New Year by vegging on the beach, we headed for El Salvador. As the smallest of the Central American nations, El Salvador requires another adjustment of scale. After sweltering on the coastal plain and at the border, we headed in to the mountains, staying very near El Salvador’s highest town. But then we thought we ought to check out El Salvador’s reputation as a hot surf spot, so we rolled back to the coast. Now we are poised to cross to Honduras tomorrow.

(Lago de Coatepeque. A nice place for lunch.)

(Another sunset in tropical paradise)

The scale of El Salvador is kind of neat. We were climbing up a volcano, 3500 feet above sea level, when I looked behind us on a switchback. There was the Pacific Ocean, about ten miles away.

We travelled through some serious coffee country. Peeking into a coffee processing facility, we could see Starbucks signs in a few places. Saw the logo for Seattle’s Best Coffee in another place. This is where Seattle’s fuel comes from.

(Coffee, coffee, everywhere)

Before we left, several people told us, “There’s only one road.” Well, today, we spent nearly two hours on the “only road” – the Pan-American Highway. Thank goodness we are finding lots of other roads, because it wasn’t any fun. Lots of trucks and buses and impatient drivers on a two-lane road that still has cattle being driven along it.

Looks like Honduras tomorrow!