DAY 19 COSTA RICA

We spent last night in Liberia, Costa Rica.  By far the nicest city in Central America we have stayed in.  We were able to take the road that stays close to the ocean, avoiding the inland rain and clouds.  Costa Rica is the cleanest country we have seen since leaving the US.

We rode into the little town of Palmar Norte and happened onto a guy from New York that has lived here for 12 years - he led us to a motel that was off the beaten (although the entire town is pretty much off the beated path) where we got a room for $30 US.

Those of you that have seen the Alaska part of this blog might think that I mistakenly posted a picture of Joe fixing his bike in Alaska - no, this is a fresh picture. Broken clutch cable - the good news is he had a replacement.

Tomorrow we cross the border into Panama - Yea!

DAY 17 & 18

We made it into and back out of Honduras today plus about 180 miles.  The border crossings cost us around $175 total for the 2 of us - absolute corruption!  On top of the money, I stood by the bikes for 5 hours in 100 degree temps while Joe was getting the run around.  Pretty country but filthy.

You can see the temperature in the guage that is on an angle on my bike - right side of guage.  Many of the pictures are of things by the border crossings - guards, gates, confusion, filth and a money changer thrown in for good measure.

The cop talking to Joe is just one of many that wants to check our papers - over and over and over.  They must think we just dropped out of the sky to have gotten this far without papers.  Many of them just want to check out the bikes or see if we will give them something.  All of the motorcycle cops would love to have taken my spare tires - I just laugh and say Nada!

Be sure and check the wireing going to the shower heater - makes a person a little nervous.

DAY 15 & 16

This is for two days since we didn't have internet service in the armpit that we stayed in last night.  The day started when we crossed into Guatemala and some xyzxyzxyz stole my little camera.  It is the little camera that I can take pictures with when I am riding.  The good news is that Joe has the same camera and doesn't use use it so I am using it.  It was late when we got to a town so we stayed in a motel that used to rent by the hour but we paid about $20 for the night.  My bed was like a cobble stone street and Joes was worse.  You will love the pictures.  Tonight we are staying in a Comfort Inn - the nicest Motel we have stayed in - $29/night in El Salvador. 

Saw lots of sugar cane and even a Texaco Station.  If you look real close you will seee a pig sharing the ride in the back of the pickup truck.

Driving in Guatemala is like a Demolition Derby - absolutley crazy.  I have seen 4 vechicles across on a 2 lane road.  The green rocks are the Guatemalan beautification project.  Tomorrow we cross into Honduras. 

The one picture is of me on a bridge made of steel pipes - scared the "stuff" out fo me.

Thanks for following.

DAY 14

It is hard to believe that we are happy to get about 275 miles in today when just a few years ago, Joe and I rode 1540 miles in 23 hours & 10 minutes.  What a difference twisty roads, pot holes, speed bumps and lots of little towns make.  They put those wind generators in the right place; we could only ride about 30 miles per hour for several miles because of very strong crosswinds.  Tomorrow we cross the border into Guatemala. I am looking forward to a new country.  Joe had a hamburger and I had Mexican food surprise for dinner.  Time to relax - night - night.

DAY 13

Today we set a new record, 4 1/2 hours to go 100 miles.  When you see the trafic jam on the brigde it is because some guy had the bridge blocked at the other end to hold a protest.  We put the time to good use though, we looked over the edge of the bridge and saw ladies doing their laundry in the middle of the river.  The smell of smoke is very common since people put their trash by the road and then burn it to get rid of it. 

There is a picture of the front of the Hotel we stayed at last night and if you look real close you can see me and my bike in the courtyard.  The picture of the shrine is one of thousands along the highway, some even more elaborate than the one in the picture and some very small - they put these up where someone lost their life in a traffic accident.  I am surprised that their aren't many more; the way they drive here.

The scenery is varied - mountains, endless beaches and marshes.  The little 3 wheeled Taxis are everywhere here in Southern Mexico.  We are staying in Puerto Escondido even though we drove past it by over 20 miles before we realized that we probably couldn't get to a town with a hotel before dark so we turned around. 

Thanks for riding along.