Day 114 – San Juan del Sur, NI to Jaco, CR
December 15, 2010 8 Comments
Day 114 – San Juan del Sur, NI to Jaco, CR 12/13/10 Mileage: 197
This morning I knew right were I was going back to for breakfast, and upon walking into El Gato Negro I saw 4 guys in moto gear sitting a table. I went over and started talking to them and they are on a 2 week ripper from Texas to Panama! They shipped their bikes down to Texas, crossed in Brownsville and will be shipping the bikes home from Panama. Seeing as we were going the same way, a tagged along with them.
We hit the Nicaragua / Costa Rica border by 8:30am and aside from the usual 20 signatures, 7 different offices, 15 officials and numerous photo copies, the border was smooth and uneventful. But after the Honduras border crossings, anything would seem simple by comparison! All told it took around 2.5 hours or so, and we were on our way into Costa Rica.
Sneaking by a line of trucks on the Nicaragua side…
Let the games begin…
Checking the bike permits…
Outside the Nicaragua immigration office…
Last checkpoint in Nicaragua…
First stop in Costa Rica….bike fumigation. In Honduras, this cost $11, and they didn’t even spray the bike(which I now know was BS anyway). In Costa Rica, this didn’t cost anything and he did a nice job…as my bike hasn’t been cleaned since L.A.!
Costa Rica immigration…
Costa Rica aduana (customs)
Last window for customs inspection of the paperwork
Final Costa Rica checkpoint…yahoo!
Last checkpoint…
We’re in and on our way south!
I’m not sure who started it…and I’m somewhat embarrassed to admit it… but before long we were all riding like complete hooligans…and took many liberties with the traffic laws and common sense! It was like a game of you could make the most dicey or ill-advised pass..it was a little nuts and in hindsight a bit foolish. It was however good fun at the time!
We all survived though and pulled into the beach town of Jaco mid afternoon. After finding a room and a shower, we were off to dinner and man is Costa Rica expensive compared to Nicaragua, El Salvador etc. I knew it was going to be but it’s every bit as expensive as the U.S., which is partly why I’m not going to spend too much time here.
After dinner we found a bar that had the Giants game projected onto the side of a building nextdoor…now that’s a big “flat” screen.
I’m not much for team sports, but I do like watching the Giants every Fall…and I only got to watch one other game back in Guatemala, so this was a treat.
From Deadhorse Down 
Makes me happy when you cross the border with some of these guys you are meeting. MUCH better than doing it alone.
Did you ever hear baby from Josh and are you meeting up with him????? I see you are moving today and stopped an hour ago.
Take care and safe driving. Glad you are safe after taking chances with the four guys you rode with and horsed around. Just what every mother wants to hear.
Pictures are great and proud of you. Love ya, Mom
I stopped by the restaurant today and took a picture. The bar tender said he was out surfing, so I didn’t get a chance to say hi. I’m a few miles from the Panama border and will be crossing tomorrow… Yeah, I knew you wouldn’t be wild about the crazy riding, but I made it…and it was good fun! Don’t worry, I have every intention of finishing this trip and coming back with me and the bike in one piece!
Thanks for the response to the crazy driving. I am going to hold you to getting home safe and try not to worry. I don’t worry about your driving I worry about everyone else’s.
The surfing is supposed to be great down south. Spoke to a women at the gym yesterday and her 37 year old goes down to El Salvador each year for one week to surf. Last year he came home and wound up with Malaria and was very, very sick but is still planning to go again this year. I guess people have drive and no fear.
Hope you have an easy time at the border and your plans to get to SA work out like you want. We will be following you.
Love ya, Mom
12/17/10 at 6:00pm
Hi Lenny, we see that you are in Panama. I guess we will hear how the border was soon. We are going out to dinner now and just wanted to say hello. Hugs, Mom
Yep, I’m in Boquete, Panama and will try and track down some wifi tomorrow morning to get the blog up to date. Talk to you then…
Hey
enjoyed the photos of CR… Just like I remember it. Bet that kayak was owned by Rios Tropocalis They run white water trips down there. Never made it up to Arenal so thanks for the photos! Did it look like the US bought everything south of Jaco? Last time I was there the road ended in Jaco.
Hey John! I’m sure everywhere in CR is way more gringo-ville then when you were here 20 years ago! I didn’t ride the coast road just south of Jaco….but did ride it from Dominical down to the PanAm highway, and it wasn’t too developed yet…at least by US standards!
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