Made it! Everything ran on schedule and I arrived here last night at 11pm or so. What little of the city I could see really has me itching to go exploring.

Getting the bike checked in was costly but mostly painless. I had one big bike box, two heavy shopping bags, an Ortlieb bag I was using as a backpack and my handlebar bag. Aires Airlines has a new policy which only allows for two check-in bags–the bike box was included in that. Getting the two shopping bags plastic-wrapped together solved that problem (for $10.75). The gear I checked in was 63 lbs and that cost me $54 to ship. There was a flat rate on the bicycle and I paid $108 for that. They did not weigh the backpack or handlebar bag so I should have shoved more heavy stuff in them.

It was nice to finally know how much everything weighs: 82 lbs. That includes all gear, bags and the amount of food I normally carry. Water is the only thing missing.

The 2 layovers, including a 5 hour one in Bogotá, went by pretty quick. The only time I saw my bags was at my first layover when I got off the plane. They take the bag off here and run you through customs. I was stamped into Colombia for 60 days. I tried asking for 90 but he said they only give 60 at the airport. They took care of transferring the bags to the next plane; they just pulled them off so a dog can sniff them for drugs(?). In Bogotá I exchanged my dollars for pesos at a bank. What a production that was. I had to fill out a form (only in Spanish) and give them my passport so they could make a copy of it. It took about 20 minutes.

In Cartagena I loaded my stuff onto a cart, found a taxi and headed over to the hostel where Karen and Martin were waiting for me.

Mother nature was not on my side today. Had non-stop rain all day. The big letdown was I missed out on what would have been some spectacular scenery. It was almost non-stop jungle-covered hillsides, mangrove islands along the Pacific and dozens of rivers cascading down from the central mountains. And the color… when the clouds let a little more sunlight through, everything was this amazing shade of green. The pictures all sucked so I deleted them but trust me it was awesome.

This route was my attempt to get off the PanAm highway as much as possible and it’s working out great so far. My map showed the road being paved all the way but that’s not quite true. Maybe 15 years ago it was all paved but now only about half is. The sections of gravel were easy enough even in the rain but I had to avoid a lot of potholes. The five notable climbs were OK but I had to walk up the only unpaved hill because the rocks were so loose. The gringo effect was in full force. Whenever I pull up to any store it goes from being just me and the owner to at least half a dozen people within a couple minutes, all of whom stare at me rather intently. I never even see these people walk up–they just kind of appear. Everyone I saw today waved and kids ran up to the road to watch if they saw me coming. It was pretty cute.

Last night I booked a flight for October 8th that will get me into Colombia. The bicycle tourists out there already know this but at a certain point in Panama the highway ends and there’s no way to drive (or ride) into Columbia. The area where overland travel is next to impossible is called the Darien Gap. OK, technically overland travel is possible using footpaths and a lot of boats but you’d probably be killed/kidnapped by the Colombian guerillas, bandits or smugglers that inhabit the area. From what I’ve read its probably one of the most dangerous areas in the world.

People riding bicycles to South America (or to CA if starting from the south) typically hop on a plane in Panama City and fly into Cartagena, Colombia. There are also chartered boats that you can book passage on for about $350 but I’d rather just get it over with in a day vs. the 3-4 day boat trip. There are no direct flights so I have 2 stops. The worst part is I get into Cartagena at 10:30 at night. I’ll try to book a hotel so at least I have a place to go (via taxi).

I’ve never taken a bike on a plane so I’m freaking out a little. The bike packing part I’ve been prepped for but I just know it’s going to be a big, stressful mess. I gave myself 3 days after I get to Panama City to find a bike box and a huge duffel bag to throw my panniers in.

Funny story but it’s at the expense of my friends but they’ll forgive me. About a month ago Karen and Martin were riding a few days ahead of me. They told me about this hotel to stay at so when I got there that’s where I stayed too. It was probably even the same room. Not long after I got there I started hearing this really loud noise that sounded like someone playing an 80’s arcade game. The bling beep bling noise went on non-stop for half an hour before I realized it was probably birds. Well, I found out much later from Martin that they were so annoyed by the noise when they stayed there that they were yelling into the next room to turn the volume down. Finally they went over to owner and he told them what was making the noise–frogs! While I was riding today I heard them in a ditch next to the road so I made a little video to remind Martin of when he yelled at the frogs to shut up.

09/29

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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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09/13 Big day today. I’m getting new rims installed on my bike. The old ones could have lasted a bit longer but the surface was concave which is a sure sign of old age. No point in waiting for one of them to suddenly collapse. There’s a great bike shop here that has the best brand name bike parts you can buy. I ended up getting some Mavic rims which are supposed to be pretty decent. There are better ones than the 221s I bought but that’s all they had. The wheels should be ready by tomorrow afternoon but there’s a slight problem with the timing.

September 15th marks Costa Rica’s 189th anniversary of independence from Spain (along with the rest of Central America except Belize). To commemorate the holiday a torch is carried all the way from Guatemala to symbolize the spreading of the news of independence throughout Central America. Back then it took a month for Costa Rica to find out it was independent. Eventually the torch will make its way to the old capital city, Cartago, where President Laura Chinchilla will receive it. It arrived in Liberia this evening where a massive crowd was waiting to see it at the plaza.

Along with the torch were hundreds of people on bicycles and motorcycles who had ridden north during the day to meet the torch at the border with Nicaragua and follow it back to their home towns along the route (PanAm highway). I was wondering what was going on when I saw so many riders heading north and finally found out from someone later what they were doing.

Leaving tomorrow would be out since my bike won’t be ready until noon and leaving on the 15th might not be a good idea. So maybe I’ll hang out here. Heavy rain is forecast for the next 3 days anyway and there are big cans of Rock Ice beer and bags of gummie bears available at the nearby supermarket so I’ll have sustenance.

Liberia is pretty much like heading into any city of 35,000 people in the States. All the fast food places are here, there are fancy restaurants/hotels all over and the sidewalks/roads are in great shape.

Karin and Marten are nowhere to be found but I think they took the northern route along the lake so maybe there’s no internet. I’m kind of worried because I haven’t heard from them in a couple days though.

Update: I rewrote the whole entry because my English sucks sometimes. Karin and Marten are in a hotel a mile out of town! Somehow I passed right by them yesterday without seeing them. I Skyped with them and we’ll meet up tomorrow.

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04/06 Lost 10 more pounds today. That was just in sweat. The heat was bad but holy cow was it ever humid. For the first time maybe on this entire trip I had to stop and take a break just to avoid getting heat stroke. The climbs didn’t help either but talk about some amazing scenery along the top of the hills. Of course I ended up getting a flat tire which was made much worse by the lack of shade nearby.

Had some interesting people encounters today. While stopped just past a store to take a picture of a valley about half a dozen little kids came running over to ask for money. Once I said no most of them just stood there watching me while a couple of the alpha kids played with the things strapped to the rear bike bags. I packed my camera back up and started to ride away. I turned to wave and saw one of the boys looking like he was going to throw something at me. Sure enough the little brat threw a small rock and hit me in the back. It’s not like I could go back and beat his little ass so I just yelled “Hey!” and made like I was going to turn around. They just stood there like Children of the Corn so I left. I’m not entirely convinced that he wasn’t just playing but it’s hard to say.

Next up was an 8 year old highway robber. At one of the rare flat spots I saw a girl standing beside the road holding the end of a vine that stretched across the highway. As I got closer she pulled the vine so it was 3 feet off the road. I could have barreled right through I suppose but I had no idea who was sitting in the trees watching. I didn’t understand anything she said except 5 pesos so I gave it to her. She lowered the vine and off I went.

One encounter I didn’t have was along the access road to the cascades. The 2 mile road is a bit notorious for robberies and several bicyclists I know advoided coming down here because of it. I kept an eye out but it’s downhill the entire way and there was no way I was stopping for anyone. Made it here without seeing a single person and boy was it worth it.

The series of waterfalls and pools that make up the Cascades del la Agua Azul are beautiful. The first thing I did when I got here, after posing for some pictures, was get a cabana, change into my swimming shorts and jump in. The water was perfect and a lot colder than I thought it would be. I wish they had a set of waterfalls every 20 miles along the road.

This place is packed with Mexican families camping and enjoying the park. Lots of tents and people BBQ’ing. There might have been a couple hippies camping but I avoid them. I would have liked to have camped but I’m by myself and there are too many people around to leave my stuff unattended. Had a great dinner at one of the many restraunts before taking a nice walk up along the river.

Still a little sick. This cough won’t go away and I still have the sniffles. Maybe in the next town I’ll grab some medicine.

GPX Track