09/22 Had it not been for the constant near-death experiences (traffic) riding today was pretty nice. The last time I even saw the Caribbean Sea was all the way back up in Mexico near Tulum. I rode along beside it for many miles passing a couple quiet little villages but mostly it was just long stretches of undeveloped land. In Costa Rica I don’t think they let you buy property within 50 meters of the high tide mark which is nice because it leaves the beach area in a natural state. After the coastal riding the road turned west and I was in banana plantation country.

My plans to stop early and camp at Parque Nacional Cahuita were foiled. I was so looking forward to a nice swim too. According to the ranger they closed up the camping areas a couple years ago. Getting in still cost $10. Locals pay $2. Yet another rip-off. She said I could enter the park back up the highway at the town of Cahuita for a “donation”. Well let me tell you about donations in Central America. When they ask for one it’s not an optional thing. There’s a set fee and you either pay it or you don’t get in.

After riding a bit more I saw a sloth sanctuary that looked pretty cool so I rode inside the gate and then promptly turned around and kept riding. They wanted $25 to get in. Freaking zoos are cheaper than that.

Tomorrow Panama and boy am I glad.

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09/20 Survived another day on the Costa Rican death roads. Riding has just been miserable and the homicidal drivers don’t help. There was rarely a shoulder to ride on so 95% of the time I’m stuck in the lane with a million 18 wheelers. A couple people didn’t bother to move over even though the other lane was clear which didn’t surprise me given how unfriendly people seem to be.

When a pedestrian gets killed they paint a heart with a halo over it onto the road. Saw quite a few today. As you can see from the picture of the family walking down the road its not surprising that people get run over a lot. It’s either walk on the road or walk in the tall grass with the poisonous snakes. I also saw a lot of ambulances on the road today too. It’s probably easier for them to just drive around knowing an accident is bound to happen sooner or later. Or the same one just followed me all day figuring I’m a sure thing.

Met a couple touring riders from the Netherlands this morning. That was a bit of a surprise. They are just riding around Costa Rica (for some crazy reason). The first thing they said was how bad the roads were.

I did meet one of the 8 nice people in the country today He runs a fruit stand in town. I loaded up on some delicious tangerine fruit juice and he gave me about a dozen bananas to take along. I’m glad I found the place because I needed something to even out all the rtards I encountered today.

It was very hot again today but I beat the rain by an hour. I can’t seem to drink enough fluid though and I’m downing a lot. Didn’t go to the bathroom all day which is pretty bad.

I posted the fact that I’m here illegally (no entry stamp) on the Thorn Tree forum to see how bad it’s going to be when I try to leave. It sounds like just playing the no habla Spanish card might work. We’ll see.

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09/18 After being in this country for almost a week I can safely say this place has issues. Some people have ripped Costa Rica kind of hard but when comparing it to other Central American nations there are certainly some valid critiques. My main ones are roads, the prices and the general demeanor of the people I’ve encountered. The roads basically just suck. Potholes and no shoulders I can deal with but with the amount of traffic on the roads they really need to invest in some improvements here. They could certainly pay for some of it with the taxes being collected on the already over-priced food/motels/everything else. Most of the food I’ve been buying, which is the same stuff I’ve been buying in the other countries, costs more than it does in the States. Even the small, Mom & Pop places are way more than what the same food would cost in other LA countries. And honestly, nothing has even tasted that great so far.

The people thing bugs me the most. People here are either really uptight or they just don’t like acknowledging strangers. Sure people in the touristy areas are nice enough–they are paid to be and certainly not everyone comes across as rude but when I look back at every country I’ve been in the only other place even comparable was the States. This country is basically like a mini-USA now anyway so maybe that’s why people are this way.

I’m pretty happy I didn’t get run over today but I think I might be a bit of a crackhead for riding this way. My route today could have stayed a lot flatter but instead I ended up climbing right back up into the mountains.

Found a perfect motel for $20. Think I might stay here and chill tomorrow. It’s the Cabinas Francis across from the cemetary. It’s one of the cleanest rooms I’ve been in.

Drinking and driving is legal here I found out. You just can’t be intoxicated and drive. That’s awesome and explains a lot.

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06/15 First whole day of riding in Belize and I’m not a fan. The Northern Highway as it’s called has no shoulder, no lane markings of any kind (including a center yellow line) and there are big, old rumbling sugar cane trucks all over the place. No one ran me over and that’s all that matters I guess. The wind was kicking my butt too. It was blowing hard from the east which pushes me right into the broken asphalt that marks the side of the road. Fortunately I have mad riding skills and avoided running off the road.

Other than a lot of sugar cane fields there’s not too much in the way of scenery. I miss hills. On a positive note the people here are extremely friendly. I’ve had more fist-bumps from strangers on the street then I ever have. And the food… it is sooooo good. Had this garlic pepper shrimp tonight that was awesome. Most of the restaurants are air conditioned which is great because then I don’t have to chase nasty flies away from my dinner. So other than the stinking road and that things are a bit more expensive I like it here.

Orange Walk Town is pretty neat. It seemed from reading different web sites that it would be really touristy but its not that way at all. I even found a place (Baba’s) that changes Mexican pesos. There’s a decent-sized river that runs through town that you can travel up to see the ruins at Lamanai (used to be huge Mayan city). I’m going to skip it because staying an extra day for the US $40 tour plus the cost of the motel (US $35) is way too much.

I sure miss having detailed GPS maps like I did for Mexico. I’m using the Garmin WorldMap v4 and it only has major highways on it. That didn’t help when it took me 15 minutes to find my way out of Corozal this morning.

GPX Track

06/12 Perfect day for riding. It rained for a good part of the morning which kept things from getting too hot then it stayed mostly cloudy with a nice breeze. Nothing much in the way of scenery other than a couple small lakes.

I was prepared for a long day but it never came to that thanks to a sign that I hadn’t seen in almost 6 months — a campground. I checked my GPS and saw that it was right next to a lake so I jumped on the dirt road hoping for a nice, lake-side spot with a little store stocked with cold beer. That dream ended quickly but it was just because tourist season is over so most things are shuttered up for the summer including the little store and the restaurant that sat empty. The guy pointed over next to some mangroves and said I could pitch my tent there. After setting up camp I went for a nice, relaxing swim in the turquoise waters of Laguna Bacalar, the second largest lake in Mexico.

GPX Track