Costa Rica
July
15, 2012 - Costa Rica, the most civilized of the Central
American countries was the hardest to get into. With Nicaragua
being exceptionally hard to get out of, this was a day to
forget.
The border was a mix of confusion, hawkers, lineups, conflicting
documentation requirements and other nonsense. After all was said
and done, three and a half hours had passed before I was rolling
towards Liberia. In hindsight, Liberia was the wrong place to stop and
the next day I moved on to Playas del Coco, a mere thirty or so
kilometers away. Once there, I lucked out and found a place right
on the beach. This was my office for a few days.
This part of the trip was promising to be quite different as compared to the last few months. My friend Illa planned to meet me here for a week or so and as such the bike got parked and a car was rented. The car was a tad dusty when I returned it nine days later. The roads in Costa Rica are nothing to sniff at and even the main road to the Tambor airport near Santa Teresa is a dirt road. I am sure the oil pan was volumetrically somewhat diminished when I returned it.
The immediate side effect of having Illa here was an upgrade to my level of accommodations.
We had no real plans as to what to see or in what order, but in the end we covered everything and more, as well as building in some beach time and lounge time in the various places we stayed at.