Part 6 Costa Rica and into Panama, early May 17

Part 6: Costa Rica and into Panama

Day 36 Jaco, Costa Rica

We are having a very relaxing time in Jaco. The first people we met were Beverley and Butch’s neighbors, Jon and Angela. They had the keys for us. Angela opened up the house and showed us around. Jon is a local artist and they keep an eye on the house when it is empty. He has decorated the concrete portion of the yard perimeter with paintings of local animals and birds.

Yesterday we had a long chat in Spanish with another neighbor, Edwardo. He has done much of the work on the house renovations and he too keeps an eye on things. He showed us how to manage the plumbing.  He was very pleasant and patient as we stumbled along in Spanish. He was quite interested in the motos. He does not speak English and we welcomed the chance to practice our language skills. It was fun to have the chance to chat with him.

It is the beginning of the rainy season here in Costa Rica. In this region, seasonal change is marked not with temperature fluctuation so much as with variation in rainfall.  Edwardo tells us that September has the strongest rains and that they are constant. It has rained heavily each night we have been here, last night almost continuously. It’s fun to hear the sound of all that rain crashing down on the metal roof. Naturally, Butch’s roof has no trouble with the deluge.

We have spent the days resting and catching up on neglected chores like laundry, blog entry and moto maintenance. I changed the air filters, fixed a faulty electrical circuit for a 12-volt power outlet and re-torqued every bolt I could find on Isa’s moto. Her bike is a really smooth to ride, with hardly any noticeable vibration but the vibration that does exist must be at just the right frequency to loosen bolts. One of the main mounting bolts for her upper crash bar on the left side has disappeared, a couple of cowling mounting bolts had come loose and her headlight was loose again. Everything got some blue “Loctite”. I’ll try to get a replacement part for the crash bar mount but may end up just getting it welded if I can’t find the part. There is nothing loose on my moto.

We visited Jaco today. We got some cash, bought a few groceries and a pair of shorts for Isa. The first thing we did was head down to the beach and dip our toes in the Pacific. There was no one there and the waves were small and calm. I got a much-needed haircut and we had a nice lunch. Most people speak at least a little English here but we continued to practice our Spanish. Tomorrow we will have a short ride to the southern part of Costa Rica. We will visit with Isabelle’s cousin and his wife. Claude Mercier and Francine moved here after retiring.

Day 37 Visiting Claude et Francine

We got away at 8 am and were sad to leave. It had been a good rest, we really enjoyed our stay in Jaco .  Thank you, Beverley and Butch! And, Suzie is adorable.

It was a few hours ride to meet Claude on the highway. We e-mailed him as arranged, from a café one town before his. He met us and led us up a steep and curvy gravel road. It was a pretty ride that wound its way through the jungle and went past or crossed over some streams. We saw children swimming and playing in some of the fresh looking streams. Claude tells us that the water in the local area is perfectly clean, even clean enough to drink..

Chez Francine and Claude

We had to make an unexpected stop while the front gate opened at the final turn onto Claude’s steep driveway. We were stopped on a very steep gravel slope. Isabelle had not turned off her ABS since she had not expected the road off the highway to be such a traction challenge. Her moto began to roll backwards down the hill and of course she had both feet on the ground and was not in position to use the rear brake. Using the front brake only combined with active ABS and zero traction at the now very light front wheel meant she had absolutely no brakes to defeat the pull of gravity.  Without any panic, because she knew exactly what was happening, she came up with a great alternative to crashing backward down the jungle-covered cliff, she laid the bike down while stepping off it. It was a practical solution, no one got hurt and nothing got damaged.

Isabelle asked me to ride her bike up the drive and through the gate. She and Claude, who had come to help pick up the bike, steadied the rear end of the bike while I got on it and let out the clutch. The rear tire found good traction and bit well into the gravel since it had almost all of the weight of the heavily loaded motorcycle on it, only giving a brief spin. Soon the moto was safely up the last hill.

Claude and Francine gave us a warm welcome and invited us to shed our heavy and hot motorcycle gear and to jump in the pool. We spend a very pleasant afternoon and evening chatting with them and learning about Costa Rica, their new home. They took us for a drive through the “neighborhood” of steep, winding mountain roads. We stopped at some spectacular look out points and at the community orchard. The community association Francine and Claude are active in have planted a cleared space with every kind of fruit tree that appears in the area. We munched on huge and delicious blackberries and on small, potent limes. Sleep came easily as we listened to the sounds of the jungle all around us.

Day 38 Crossing into Panama

Dawn broke at 5 am and the sound of howler monkeys toughing it up and sounding like dogs mixed in with numerous bird calls, conversations and songs. Check out the sound recording attached below to hear it for yourself. Our fresh breakfast began with a delicious smoothie made from local fruits, mostly taken from just outside the door of the house.

It had been a wonderful but too brief visit. We promised to touch base again on our return trip.

We said our goodbyes and with ABS and traction control safely disengaged, I rode Isa’s moto out of the gate and down the road to the first flat spot for her. Climbing back up the hill in all my riding gear to get my bike took the breath out of me. It was seriously steep!

Some riding on good roads brought us to the Panamanian border. This was the quickest crossing yet, at just under two hours, even with the search by the Aduana agent of Isa’s moto. We rode on for a little while to the town of David when the rain began to come down more heavily. It had rained on and off all morning. We were hungry (9 hours since breakfast at this point) and somewhat tired so we pulled into the “La Libertad” Hostel for the night. We signed up for the langoustine (scampis) dinner at $10 each. Dinner was at 8 and was delicious.

I photographed in our room the final documents that were needed by the Stahratte’s Captain, they were the Panamanian Temporary Vehicle Import Permits, then e-mailed them to him. The service provided by the ship includes the entire border crossing business from Panama to Columbia, including moto insurance and importation of the vehicles. This could be the easiest frontier crossing yet!

Day 39 Las Minas, Panama

We had a home cooked breakfast with our hosts before riding out. The rain had stopped for a while. Last night it rained constantly. I have never seen so much rain. It rained hard like during the climax of a thunderstorm but there was no wind or lightening. It fell straight to the ground all night long. I expected to wake up to the sight of the area completely flooded but there was barely a trace remaining of the rain by 8am.

The Pan-American highway was under construction for most of today’s ride. The going was slow in the continuous construction zone but the surface was mostly excellent. We decided to take two days to finish the journey to Ciudad Panama. Isabelle found a little Hostal in an out of the way farming village called Las Minas. The village can be found by riding down a little country road for about 20 minutes from the Pan-American highway. The pastoral scenery was delightful. We caused a bit of a stir when we stopped in the little village square to consult the map. The children who were playing in the park were asking questions but we couldn’t understand their fast and heavily accented speech.

Our hostal was just around the corner and when we parked we were swarmed by the children. Isabelle went inside to check on getting a room and I stayed with the bikes. I handed out some of the Canadiana give-aways we had brought (stickers and pins) and the children were thrilled.  There was no getting ride of them. We found out that there wasn’t secure parking available at this little village inn so we will pull the bikes into the lobby when it gets dark. For now they are parked on the porch.

We seem to have made an impression on the people of this farming village with our great big motos and our little gifts for the children. I am sitting at one of four tables in front of the little Inn/Restaurante, sharing the space with the really big and loud parrot and everyone that walks past has a smile and says, “Hola”. A tiny woman with a big smile and no teeth sat beside us and began to talk. Her heavy accent, high speed and missing teeth combined to make her meaning well beyond our comprehension. “ Lo siento, no entiendo”, was all we could respond but she kept smiling and talking! We are up at about 1500 ft and the climate is wonderful.  We will sleep well tonight in this charming little place.  We’re so glad we ventured off the beaten path of the Pan-American highway.