Who called the (insert curse words here ) Police
Trip Start
Oct 20, 2008
1
17
41
Trip End
Feb 28, 2009
Loading Map
San Isidro,
Province of Guanacaste,
Costa Rica
Thursday, November 13, 2008
We left Liberia early this morning. It's another beautiful warm sunny day. We followed CA1 to San Isidrio de el General. I have read numerous times that the Costa Rican police force is huge, legitimate and very strict. Based on this knowledge we decided to take our time on this wonderfully steep, curvy road. Much to our disdain this road is heavily used by trucks. As we climbed the mountain side we were becoming short of breath due to all the exhaust fumes. Several vehicles passed us, and the trucks that were severely hampering the progression of traffic. I took the lead, Mike hot on my heals we passed several trucks. We were just pulling back into our lane and SHIT the police. They pulled all of us over...one of the officers walked over to us and very gruffly demanded something. I told him politely no entiendo! License and permission to drive in Costa Rica. Both were in my panniers. I patiently pulled them out. Mike meanwhile handed his over. The cop took Mike's. Mike not realizing or trusting the officer, after previous police experience grabbed his license back from the cop. The cop was even more angry with Mike and snatched it back. I kindly handed mine over knowing full well that Costa Rican Police are legitimate. The cop walked over and grabbed his ticket book from his partner. He started to write the ticket. Mike still not trusting him asked to see his identification. The cop is furious by this point. He then asks for our passports. Mike is digging his out, the officer explains to me in very broken English no passing on curves. I am very calm and apologetic. Mike hands over his passport and as the cop begins to write his ticket Mike try's to take his picture. The cop almost has an aneurysm. "NO Photo's". Mike puts the camera away and the officer returns to writing the ticket. I apologize again for our mistake passing on the hill. The cop finishes writing the ticket. He looks at me and spews a whole vocabulary of Spanish words to me. I caught the jist of it. He handed a ticket to Mike for $10.00 and snubbed his nose at him then walked away. He never gave me one!
We geared up and hit the road again. I was laughing, a friend once told me about a gentleman's agreement but never really explained it to me. I now understand. We continued up the mountain side the temperature cooling significantly. We notice a cafe with a superb view, we pull over to get a few shots and have a great cup of coffee.
While there we learn that we can visit the coffee plantation. We change our plans and head for Alejuala.
As we head up the volcanic mountain side we have to be very careful, the single lane roads twisting and turning with blind corners. We never knew what to expect around the next corner. The homes literally hug the road and there are beautiful gardens everywhere. We arrive at the Doka coffee plantation at 2:00, we learn the next tour starts at 3:30. We pay the admission which includes free coffee and chocolate covered coffee beans.
The tour starts early, yes early in Central America. The plantation is one of Costa Rica's oldest, it has over 3000 people on payroll. First and second grade coffee is shipped to Europe, North America and Japan. 3rd grade coffee is sold in Costa Rica. After the tour we sample some more coffee and beans. WOW look what I can do!
big coffee buzz....... We left the plantation around 4:30, as we descend the fog becomes very thick and we were very low on gas. We had to drive very slowly back to Alejuala. We stop for gas and ask for directions to a hotel. We get lost in down town .Traffic is very hectic there is heavy fog, no wait now it's pouring it's dark and every other street is one way only. After searching for a half hour and trying to ask for directions I'm frustrated. So I think to myself how do we find a hotel in this crazy town. Simple hire a cab and follow him ! Less than 3 minutes and a buck later we are at a hotel. Overpriced but I am not complaining it was 7:30 by the time we found a hotel. We broke our #1 rule no driving at night. Lesson Learned!
November 13
We left Alejuala early again this morning, It's another beautiful day. We fight our way to CA2 heading South. The traffic on this 3 lane highway is absolutely crazy. People cutting each other off, scooter and motorcyclist's splitting lanes, buses stopping in the right lane to pick up it's passengers causing huge delays in traffic flow.Crazy. We follow the signs and everything is going as planned. Of course as soon as we enter the city of San Jose no signs Argh.. lost again in crazy traffic. Mike does a great job guiding us out of the city back onto CA2. We get to the town of Cartega and there is a police officer there blocking the road. He doesn't want to let us through, this is not good because all the area roads are secondary. After explaining to him where we were from and where we were going he got a little smile on his face. He made a little map on the back of a ticket and let's us go on the highway showing us around the detour. We continue on the road and see the detour, we turn as indicated.
Wow a single lane very loose gravel on an apx 12-14 degree slope down hill. We make our way down very gingerly. The view is spectacular once we dare to take a glimpse. We then enter the valley and start climbing back up the mountainside. There are huge drop offs and no guard rails. We drive over greasy clay, loose gravel and deep ruts. Oh and did I mention there is the odd oncoming vehicles as well. The KLR's are great in these road conditions. We had a blast on this secondary goat path. We reached CA2 and were full of smiles. We continued up CA2 the road climbing steeper and steeper with very few turns. We can see by the map that we are very close to Cerro de la Moerte " the mountain of death". This mountain is 11180 feet above sea level. On a clear day it is said that one can see both the Atlantic and Pacific ocean from this point. We were literally standing above clouds. At this elevation we both noticed that throttle response on the bikes has suffered and we have less power. We carry on our way and we are spoiled yet again, perfect pavement with fantastic twists and turns. We are riding on the edge of the mountain, looking down into the valley through the clouds. Huge vines hanging just above our heads from the lichen covered trees ,bright pink flowers line the roadside as well. The road continues like this for apx 50 kilometers. We come to the end of our twisty's and both decide that after such a great day of riding we should stop early and celebrate. We found a hotel and enjoyed a few cold beers from a second floor patio of a restaurant at a major intersection in San Isidro.
Comments
Are your Wanted Posters in the Post Office yet?
Everyday that I read your exploits I have one
recurring thought. There is no way that you two will
ever want to work at a conventional job ever again in your lives.
By the time that you are back to Canada you will be
so happy to see an OPP you may just stop to shake their hand.
Keep the adventure writing coming. We are loving
travelling along with you.
Chris and Bonnie