Costa Rica

(Penas Blanca - Santa Cruz - Volcano Arenal - San Carlos - Rio Claro)

Rich and Beautiful

[November 21, 2004] I did not like to leave Nicaragua, the impressions I got were too good. Well, luckily was the border crossing a "piece of cake", this time without the helpers and the saved money was invested into the Cervesa in the town of Santa Cruz, in the hotel of a Dutch. The guys felt like home, me too. And to listen to his story was another interesting piece, became a doctor and worked in Germany for 10 years, then learning alternative medicine from the Indios in Mexico, now since 30 years in Central America. It´s always faszinating whom you meet while travelling.

We continued to the most active volcano in Costa Rica, the Arenal. The road lead us through beautiful hills and montains, then also nice valleys that must have inspired a journalist in the 30ties to call this "The Swiss of Central America". And I do pass a small settlement with houses just like in the Alps.



What a treat, greeting to home, but here we have 25 degrees Celsius. And the visit at Tom, the German baker and his good dark bread made our day!

We arrived near the volcano, but Arenal was hidden in the clouds. Well, we showed some patience with the local Cervesa and our cigars, and there, in the early morning (with the birds) one could see the glimming top of the mountain. Again a fazcinating moment.
However, Fortuna is a town just living of this tourism and therefore not inspiring at all. I decided to run! We visited Ronaldo and his family in San Carlos, they invited us for breakfast and later on to stay longer and party along. So nice of them to invite a group of strangers into their live and sharing live and friends totally with us. Great guys, thanks for all, amigos!

We drove to the Pacific coast, for the first time in 4 months in the rain. We camped in Jico, a tourist trap with far too many surfers and the stupid tourist crap. We must move on, was a wise decision. And again in the warm rain we followed the road along the beautiful coast line, a little slippery, but nice.



The farming area of palm trees is 35 miles long, and finally we hit the Panamericana again. It used to be a good road, but now it has holes as big as one of the small Hondas. It is Dirk who finally loses the Slalom around the pits and crashes his back wheel.



As there is no repair possible, he hired a pick-up truck to drive him into the next town and we then organized on the next day a new wheel in Ciudad Neila at Ronaldo´s. A family run motorbike business, a dream of each biker! In total chaos repairing and living with the bikes, me gusta mucho!

We finally arrived at the border to Panama crossing one day later, but enriched with another good experience and having met nice people again.
Thanks for the nice days and the deep insights, you beautiful and rich coast.

See you

Rasmus