Riots
Trip Start
Oct 20, 2008
1
16
41
Trip End
Feb 28, 2009
Liberia,
Province of Guanacaste,
Costa Rica
Tuesday, November 11, 2008
It is incredibly hot and humid in Leon today. Our original intent was to travel too Masaya today and climb a volcano. However due to the Municipal elections we decided to stay put. We have been warned by several people that their will be tensions in Granada and surrounding area and possibly further if the people are not satisfied with the election results. The last thing we want to be doing is traveling around a strange country with road blocks and protests. We were safe and the bikes secure and we decided it was best to await the results. We basically took the day off and explored. It was eerie the streets were very quiet compared to Friday and Saturday. I am sure that this is due to the fact that most of the population is Catholic and are at church. I also contacted a freight company called GIRAG in Panama to ship our bikes from Panama city to Quito Ecuador. We had a short thunder storm late in the afternoon
Monday November 10
I awoke early this morning, it is sunny and hot. After viewing the television for a few minutes I noted that tensions were still high in the Granada area. Mike and I talked it over and decided to fore-go the area. Instead we were off to Lake Nicaragua. Our plan was to cross to Ómetepe Island and spend the night. The drive was interesting as we passed several, sugar cane and rice fields. We began to ascend quickly to a town called El Crucero there were hundreds of FSLN flags everywhere, the political party of choice for this election. The town is literally built at the top of the mountains, when I looked either to the left or right apx 100 meters the mountainside drops significantly. It was very unusual the earth was creased so severally it looked like crumpled up sheets off of a bed.There were also thousand of tiny purple flowers that blanketed the soil. They produced a syrupy sweet scent. As we descend the mountain, homes suddenly became much more manicured with lush gardens. When we finally arrived at the Ferry to cross to the islands we learned that one of them had broke down and we would have to wait until 2:30-3:00 to board. It was then an hour ferry ride to the Island. We decided not to wait and headed for the beach coast of Playa San Juan Del Sur. A surfers town. We found a great hotel on the beach and after settling in took a swim in the warm Pacific Ocean. We had a delicious supper next to the beach as FSLN supporters drove around the beach town cheering, honking, clapping because their party had won the election.
Later in the evening I spent an hour with 13 other people crammed into a tiny Toyota minivan on a dirt road into the jungle with no A/C at night. We made light of it and had several good laughs, after all we were off to see Olive Ridley turtles nesting at a protected beach called Reserva La Flur. As we approached the beach I could see hundreds of efflorescent " balls " gliding up or down the beach. The moon was gleaming off their backs. There is also a deep, musk smell that over loads my sense of smell. Our guide walked us through the entire process. The turtle arrives on the beach, builds a nest, drops her eggs and compacts the sand around them. All this in about an hour. There have been about 60 00 turtles come to this beach in the last 3 days. She predicted that tomorrow night will be the last night for the turtles to lay eggs. They lay apx 100 eggs per turtle. 1 will survive long enough to come back here in 15 years to lay her own eggs. This was a fantastic learning experience, its hard to fathom that these animals have been doing this for over 300 million years.
November 11,2008
Another beautiful day. I awoke this morning and had my morning fix right on the beach as the sun was rising. We are less than an hour from the Costa Rica border, this crossing was the easiest and most relaxed yet. We met two bikers who rode their Harley's from Montreal to Costa Rica for the winter. What a site. They had tan lines I have never seen before. They both wore shorts and muscle shirts. The one had obviously worn his half helmet and sunglasses from Montreal to Costa Rica. He had huge white Raccoon eyes and the top of his bald head was completely white. However the rest of his face was as dark as chocolate milk. I laughed incredibly hard when I saw his "lines". Entering Costa Rica was a breath of fresh air. The country side is clean, well maintained and there are very few high polluting vehicles on the road. In the short hour drive to get to Liberia we passed through lush jungle, a pine forest and grasslands. These micro climates are amazing, and I would never have guessed how quickly plant life can change.
Comments
Turtles
Amazing!
Talk about being at the right place at the right time!
great journal
Been following your adventure - great stuff.
Dave