Day 17: January 31, 2012 Choluteca Honduras to Managua, Nicaragua
Miles ridden:168
Exchange rate: $1 USD to $22.67 Nicaragua Cordoba changed $200 USD for $4300 Cardobas thru a money changer that a taxi driver took me to in Chinendaga, Nicaragua
Gas: $829 cardobas
Lodging: $45 usd at Hotel Ticomo that was recommended by a guy that was riding a KLR. A friend of his saw us riding near town and he was called and he found us looking at the guide book looking for a hotel. He was a missionary who has lived in Nicaragua for several years and is working teaching the locals blacksmithing and carpentry. You can imagine how much Carl enjoyed that visit! When you leave the hotel, turn right, not left. Carl decides to go left because the GPS said that it would join the highway in a couple miles. Jonnie is wondering "what is he doing now?" The good gravel road turns into a goat trail (Jonnie's opinion, Carl said a Cadillac could have gone on it). Well, Jonnie hits some loose sand that had her do a wobbly dance and banged into a rut and guess what, down she went again. Good news, the bike was almost standing up straight being in the rut and Carl eventually did come back to help get it out and turned around. As we were going up this road, I kept noticing the looks on the locals faces. It was like "where the hell do they think they are going?" Well, on the way out they were looking like "hmmm, back again, eh?" 
Part of the adventure.
Part of the adventure.Police stop: $600 Cordoba Carl was stopped by a police officer in Nicaragua for passing in no passing zone ($400) and for speeding in school zone ($200). The officer was very kind and straight forward, no offer to take advantage of us.
Day: 18 February 1, 2012 Managua Nicaragua to Puntarenas, Costa Rica
Miles ridden: 230
Exchange rate: $1 USD to $507.20 Costa Rica Colons
Gas: $613 Cordoba
Meals: McDonald's in Liberia, Costa Rica $8500 Colons
Lodging: We stayed in a very small place that was very basic and hot for $15,000 colons, no air conditioner but a fan. It cooled off and we did sleep remarkably well. I guess being hot and tired had something to do with that. It is so hard to keep hydrated. It seems we are either always searching to buy water or exchange money.
The border crossing into Costa Rica was very busy. There was a sea of people everywhere. They were saying that the line was going to be at least 4 hours long. We paid a guy to walk me around and he knew to go to another place for immigration and there was no line. Then he made sure I went to the right places for insurance and customs. It took a total of 2 hours for checking out of Nicaragua and completing Costa Rica. It was very much worth $40. Of course the guy then thought he should have a propina (tip) on top of the $40, he did not get it!
The roads in Costa Rica are very nice. We passed a young couple on a tandem bicycle so we pulled over for them to catch up. We visited a few minutes. They were from France and the bicycle was made in Germany. They had been on the road for 7 months, starting out in New York City.
We were just getting back on the bikes when two Costa Rican police on a motorcycle pulled up. They welcomed us to Costa Rica, gave us some safety tip pamphlets and wished us well on our journey. How nice!
Exchange rate: Panama uses the USD
Gas: $16,331 and 14,701 Cardobas
Exchange rate: Panama uses USD
Gas: $9.35
Meals: ate breakfast at the restaurant in Hotel Alcala
The road to Panama City is still blocked by the Indians. We stayed at the hotel until about noon and decided to head to the blocked road and see what was going on. We stopped at a store in Chiriqui that sold an assortment of stuff from food to auto parts.We needed a new tail light bulb. About the time Carl got done installing the new bulb a Kirt Barker riding a BMW 800 GS showed up. He was telling us that the road was still closed and that it did not look like it was going to open. He offered us hospitality at his home in the country. He said he has a room by the pool for us to stay in. We took him up on his offer. What a fabulous place he and his wife and daughter, Sophia, have here. Kirt and family; welcome to the blog
Lodging: Stayed in Kirt’s pool house outside of Boquete, Panama for 2 nights.
Boy was it difficult to wake up to this view in the morning and have a cup of coffee by the pool.
We were just getting back on the bikes when two Costa Rican police on a motorcycle pulled up. They welcomed us to Costa Rica, gave us some safety tip pamphlets and wished us well on our journey. How nice!
Day: 19 Costa Rica to David, Panama
Miles ridden: 223Exchange rate: Panama uses the USD
Gas: $16,331 and 14,701 Cardobas
Meals: We pulled into KFC and met 2 guys from Costa Rica (one on a BMW 1200 GS and the other one on a Kawasaki Tenere) who led us to the hotel that they were staying at.
Lodging: Hotel Alcala $40 It is a nice old hotel, air conditioning, room off of the parking garage so we could enjoy the sweet smell of engine fumes the first ½ of the night. It had a secure parking garage.
Border crossing: the crossing out of Costa Rica into Panama was very simple and stress free.When we were at the border coming into Panama, we heard the news that the road after David is blocked by the Indians who are protesting the government for breaking promises regarding mining on their land. Police have it blocked before that area. We decide to spend the night and see what morning brings.
Day: 20 February 3, 2012 David, Panama to Boquete, PanamaExchange rate: Panama uses USD
Gas: $9.35
Meals: ate breakfast at the restaurant in Hotel Alcala
The road to Panama City is still blocked by the Indians. We stayed at the hotel until about noon and decided to head to the blocked road and see what was going on. We stopped at a store in Chiriqui that sold an assortment of stuff from food to auto parts.We needed a new tail light bulb. About the time Carl got done installing the new bulb a Kirt Barker riding a BMW 800 GS showed up. He was telling us that the road was still closed and that it did not look like it was going to open. He offered us hospitality at his home in the country. He said he has a room by the pool for us to stay in. We took him up on his offer. What a fabulous place he and his wife and daughter, Sophia, have here. Kirt and family; welcome to the blog
Lodging: Stayed in Kirt’s pool house outside of Boquete, Panama for 2 nights.
Boy was it difficult to wake up to this view in the morning and have a cup of coffee by the pool.
Day: 21 February 4, 2012
Miles ridden: 90miles We went for a ride from Kirt’s house to Volcan, had lunch at the Daly’s Diner. The road and scenery was some of the best seen on this trip! The road was new and in wonderful shape. There were a couple spots where the road was so steep it was hard to imagine how the pavement stayed.
Gas: filled up the bikes and the 4 (1 gallon) gas cans as there is a fear that the gas stations will run out of fuel. There is rumor that Boquete has run out of diesel. On our ride back toward David we did notice some stations with cones set up at the pumps indicating they were out of fuel. Good thing we filled up
Lodging: Kirt’s farmDay: 22 February 5, 2012 From the farm at Boquete to Santiago, Panama Miles ridden: 107 miles
Lodging: $77 Hotel Hacienda and casino. New place This morning Kirt heard on the news that the road was reopened early this morning so we decided we had better give it a try. We left about 11am and made it back to the corner where we had met Kirt and the road was closed again. There was an incident between the police and the Indians and a young man was shot and died on the way to the hospital. This restarted the protesting again. We waited and waited in the parking lot along with many others. We decided to take advantage of the wait and did our laundry. A few minutes after the clothes were in the dryer they reopened the road. Wet clothes back in the bike and off we go. We had been waiting for about 3 hours so it was time to go.
There were many Policia Nationales along the way dressed in full riot gear, areas where there were remnants of burned tires and wood. About 40 KMs into the area they were putting more logs across the road, the cars and trucks were stopped, we went to the front of the line and there were 2 logs (about8-12 inches in diameter and 3-4 feet long and very heavy hard wood) that were about a tire width apart. Carl went through but I was having trouble getting lined up just right and the log would roll back into my bike. Carl got off of his bike, came back and moved the log out of the way, I rode through and he put the log back, shook the hand of one of the Indians that was standing there. Away we went! It was a little exciting!
We went on into Santiago and stayed at the new hotel and casino and updated all of the gringos that were there waiting for the road to open so they could go the other direction. We recommended that they get up and go early in the morning but I noticed the next morning they were still there.Here we are in Panama City, Panama. We arrived into the city via escort from Saul Trejo who we met at McDonalds in Penonome. We were having breakfast when he arrived on the scene. He offered to lead us into the city and what a grand job he did. The traffic was light and the way he brought us in was not the same as how the GPS would have brought us. Thank you Saul and welcome to our travels!
Time for me to stop for tonight but did want to get this posted.
Tomorrow we are taking ride out the Darien Region and will update you on that and arranging cargo to Colombia.
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