Merry Christmas Everyone!!

From Punteranus we moved closer to the border and stayed overnight in La Cruz, a small town with a good view of the ocean which is only a few kilometres West of them. The Costa Rica/Nicaragua border was familiar as we had crossed at the same spot on the way South, and we even saw a few “big” bikes both at the border and on the highway. Surprisingly we have not seem many other bikers thus far. The border process took about 5 ½ hours in total. The Nica exit was very busy with holiday travellers, and again timing is everything, and we arrived behind a bunch of busses. The immigration line alone took about 3 hours.

San Juan del Sur


The drive into San Juan del Sur was quiet and relaxed, and once in town we pulled over to discuss where we should stay, then as we were just about to pull away our friend from Canada walks up and says he is staying in the hotel just behind us. Well, problem solved, we turned around and parked the bikes so we could check-in. Matt had planned to meet us in San Juan so it is not some freaky coincidence that he was there, it was a little freaky that we found him, or rather he found us, so quickly after arriving. We spent the next few days just hanging out and enjoying the Christmas festivities of the town.
The Nica people start their Christmas celebration at midnight on the 23rd, so it is literally minutes into Christmas Eve and the bands start playing and the fireworks start popping. This carried on until about 4am, the marching band was part of a procession to deliver the Virgin Mary to the church. Then on the night of Christmas Eve, the children put on a re-enactment of Joseph and Mary looking for a room by going door to door asking the locals if they can stay in their house. Joseph leads his burro with a very pregnant Mary riding atop. Very cute as they have little costumes and painted on beards, more resembling pirates than pilgrims. Finally, just when almost all hope is lost, a room is found and the re-enactment is completed. This is of course followed by loud music, more firecrackers and fireworks, and finally by some serious drinking until the wee hours of the am. Christmas day seems to be just another day for this tourist town, some businesses are closed but the beach is very busy with Nicaraguan residents taking advantage of the holidays and spending a day at the beach. Brenda and I managed to talk to her family via skype, the video call is a great way to keep in touch, later we found a nice restaurant that is high on a hillside so the sunset was a nice treat from this vantage point as we enjoyed our dinner.
















We had lobster bisque, turkey breast stuffed with pork and cranberries, rosemary roasted potatoes, and a squash/spinach soufflé, and a nice chocolate torte ala mode for desert.

The evening was filled with cultural events at the Church square and of course more serious drinking at the local watering holes. Brenda and I opted out of the serious drinking part, as we were pretty tired from the lack of sleep over the past few nights. Earplugs in equalled a good nights sleep.

San Jose bypass cont'd

After a peaceful night in our little cabin, we suited up for the rain once again to continue on our bypass of San Jose, we backtracked a little bit then connected to the suspected best route. This took us through more little villages with names we dare not pronounce, and fields of coffee and banana’s. One little town had a really nice church so I stopped to get a picture, as I was walking to get a better angle for the picture a bunch of young girls started to talk to me. Well actually one did most of the talking, the others did most of the giggling. Some things are universally the same.

Her name was Jennifer and she was 13 yrs old, she lived with her Mother and Father and Grandmother and Uncle and two sisters, all in the same house. She likes to sing, takes boxing lessons, was going to get a haircut later, thought that our blue eyes were pretty, and that she would like to visit Canada some day. Of course this took about 45 minutes to get across to us with the help of charades, facial expressions, and repetition. But like all good visits it was time end this one and keep moving, I am sure she would have talked to us all day. We found the main highway shortly after and blitzed to the coast, Puntarenas was our goal as we had passed by it on the way South.

Jen on right.

Puntarenas is or should I say was a very popular tourist destination situated at the end of a peninsula. Although cruise ships still stop there the town is very run down and dirty. By road there is about 3 miles of beachfront properties before reaching the town itself, then the town has about another 2 miles of beach so it is easy to see why it was a popular vacation destination. The beach unfortunately is not picturesque white sand, but a greyish color not unlike many other beaches around the world. There are numerous cafes and pubs scattered along the beach as well as across the street, that parallels the beach, on the city side of the street. We were checking out hotels when a fellow BMW rider pulled up beside us, he was riding a 1200GSA and after a short conversation we made plans to meet later for a drink.


Once we found suitable accommodations we walked the downtown area to get a feel for the place. It is evident that it is Christmas shopping season as the stores are very busy. The strange part is that the prices are the same if not more than at home, so no big bargains here. As it was getting close to dark we decided to go meet the GSA guy and share some stories.
Javier and Ana are native Costa Rican’s and live in San Jose, they are a wonderful retired couple who enjoy motorcycling as much as we do. He was an electrical engineer and she is an artist, so she is not really retired but has a very flexible schedule which allows them to take short trips around Costa Rica either on the 1200 BMW or on his new Harley Davidson Superglide. He was very proud of his new Harley and asked all kinds of questions about how to customize his once he found out that I also have a Harley, and a similar model to his.


They also explained the history of Puntarenas and how it has transitioned from a top resort town to a resort for the upper low class/lower middle class people of CR. This brings its own set of problems that are hard to overcome without major cash input for maintenance and lots of hard work. The other issue is trying to educate the clientele about issues as simple as littering, which there is alot of. It must definitely be a case of culture shock for the people who come off the cruise ships to experience this type of atmosphere, there are not many other obvious tourists (i.e. Caucasians) and there is a heavy police presence. Even we noticed that there seemed to be an unusually high number of officers for such a small place. Anyway, Javier is a very accomplished motocross rider and still enjoys playing in the dirt, although he says he has toned it down a bit now that he is teaching his 16 yr old daughter to ride.

Small World after All.

We decided to travel back along the coast as far as Dominical then cut inland to San Isidro De General. On the way South we had traveled the Dominical coast highway but did not stop at any of the beaches, today we thought we would snoop a bit more as these are supposed to be some of the best beaches in Costa Rica. The weather was not very cooperative and a light fog would not lift so that we could get a good look at the area. Plus it looked as if it had been raining for a few days as the low areas were full of water and the side roads looked very muddy. When we pulled into Uvita, to check the map, a couple of cyclists stopped to talk. They were expats from Montreal who had started sailing the world but once their young children spent some time on land in CR, the plans changed and here they are. They were training for a cross Canada cycling event in 2012, and said they pedal about 100km per day.


They said there wasn’t much to see in Uvita and as we started the ascent to San Isidro the weather quickly changed from light fog, to heavy fog, to clouds, to rain and back again as we decended into the Isidro valley. The city itself is alive with a busy centro and market areas. We spent a bit of time in town, had lunch and tried to phone Nelson, the guy we met at the El Salvador border, but unfortuneatly we could not get through. Instead we headed out towards San Jose. We do not want to go into San Jose after all the horror stories we have heard about traffic and lack of road signs, but we figured once we got a little closer we could bypass the city and continue on towards Arenal. Up up and up we climbed as we left San Isidro, only later to discover that this section of the road is the highest in all of Central America. Usually we love this kind of road, but it was raining quiet hard and the temp was only 6C, plus there was nowhere to pull over and put on our rain gear. With visibility near zero and a busy road to deal with, it was hard to enjoy what little we could see, we finally came upon a place to stop but it was too late, we were soaked to the bone.


After a couple of hot coffees we headed out into the rain again, we started to descend so the temperature warmed and the rain stopped. YAY! We pulled over to check the map again and Jonathan from the Reo Sereno border pulled up beside us. We just about fell off our bikes. What are the odds of meeting him again and on this road of all places? As suspected we missed the turn to start the bypass of San Jose so we turned around and headed back a few kilometres and turned onto another fun little road. It twisted it way through the craggy canyons and coffee plantations, scattered about were little villages and tributary roads that came from all directions. Most of these towns are not on the map so we really had to look for any signage that pointed us away from San Jose. We were also running out of daylight so the plan changed from bypassing San Jose to finding a hotel, which actually took us closer to the city. Oh well, we found a nice place that rented Cabanas, by the hour usually. The room was exceptionally clean, and privacy was of the upmost importance, they even had room service with a food slot in the wall so that they could pass the meal through without disturbing the activities within. We had a great supper, the owners mother-in-law is the cook and a very nice little lady, I think they gave us a free desert because we were staying for the whole night, not just a couple of hours.

Supper of Champs.

Border Chaos

(Cont'd from hot springs)
As the day was slipping past and we still had some miles to make it was time to dry off and hit the road. It wasn’t long before we were back on the PanAm dodging cars and merging traffic, so much for the relaxed state we were in. The destination for today, Volcan, was not very far but sets us up for crossing the border into Costa Rica the following day. We once again chose a hostel, Llano Lindo, and were then off to find some supper and a few road snacks. Back at the Hostel it turns out that a large group of kids from Colon had arrived to participate in the Volcan town festival. They were a dance group that did the tradition dance of the Congo people that were brought, by the Spanish, to Panama as slaves and brought with them their native culture. They preserved this distinct culture and it is now are part of Panama’s history and diverse cultural makeup. The kids ranged from about nine to thirteen, they looked so good in their costumes that Brenda and I decided to go the festival to see their show. The festival turned out to be a Agrocology and EcoTourism exhibition. So in addition the musical stage there were midway games, a few small rides, a bunch of handicrafts, produce, and livestock. Fun for everyone!!




The road splits in Volcan, one branch goes to Reo Sereno the other is only 20 km long and goes to Cerro Punta. We managed to get an early start so we decided to go to Cerro Punta before heading to the border. The road is a typical mountain road winding its way up and around until at the right elevation and climate it must be the perfect combination for farming as the mountians are covered with all types of farms. This reminded us of the area above Boquete but just a much larger scale, and they seemed to have a larger variety of crops.

Back towards the border and up another scenic route, the road gets narrower and more twisty as we progress and I am expecting the pavement to end around every curve. The jungle forms shear walls of green and the a natural canopy over the road in spots, then instead of gravel the next curve finds us driving on a manicured highway with trimmed pine trees, nicely landscaped yards, and of course, endless fields on both sides. In Reo Sereno we find a flat place to park in front of the Supermarket and are surrounded by guys shortly after I get my helmet off. They are curious about the bikes and where we have been. The usual rundown of questions and answers.

The Panama Aduana office is directly across from the market and the Immigration office is just next door so the Panama exit took a total of about 15minutes. From there we moved the bikes about 200 meters to the Costa Rica offices. The officer was very helpful with our entry and told us to go to Paso Canoas, as there is no Aduana at Reo Sereno. Hmmm??? I know for a fact that there is, but the officer and I could not get our broken languages to synchronize so I thought I would ask for some kindness of strangers and ask Jonathan who I had talked to at the market for some translating. He confirmed that the officer was not going to let us into Costa Rica and also clarified the reason.

So get this, because Canoas has the bike documents from when we exited, we would have to go back there so they can give them back to us when we enter.

The Canoas crossing is about 1hr from Reo Sereno so that is doable, the issue is we had already checked out of Panama. Sooo...Back to the Panama Aduana office with Johnathon in tow to get our paperwork back because we will need this document to start the entire process over again once we are at Canoas. Jonathan convinced the officer to return our papers without having to pay the importation fees again, so he more than earned the beer I bought him as a thank you for helping.


Beer the new international Currency. (Johnathan in middle)

Turns out he runs a security company in San Jose and was only at the border to make some contacts to supply canine units and such. The only thing we didn’t do was get our passports restamped for entry into Panama, this was because the officer assured us we didn’t need to plus he was not really willing to do it anyway, so at this point we were in limbo personally but the bikes were ok in Panama. Now we had to ride down to Canoas but not via Volcan but via this other road that everyone assured us would lead us straight to Canoas. (did you ever get that feeling in your gut but had no choice but to ignore it, yes this was happening now). With no other options we headed out down the “direct road” which turned out to be one of the most amazing roads we have ridden the whole trip and it doesn’t even show up on any map. The road IS the border line between CRica and Panama, so on a map it is a border not a road, wild sh*#t.

Now in Canoas we visit the Panama Aduana to get the bikes checked out of the country again, no big deal and it didn’t take long once they understood what was happening.


While I was waiting in line I sent Brenda to Panama Immigration to see if they would stamp our passports. “No, not needed you are out”. Cool, so once again the Panama process is complete and we are on our way to the Costa Rica side. Here the wheels of bureaucracy come loose. CRica will not stamp our passports for entry because we do not have a Canoas exit stamps, we have Sereno exit stamps. The officer speaks English so I explain the day’s events to which he shrugs his shoulders and says go back to Sereno and check back into Panama. Not going to happen, plus we already checked the bikes out of Panama for the second time today. Last shot was to try and talk the Pana immigration to restamp the passport. With a little help from another stranger we managed to find an English speaking officer with seniority. He listened attentively to the day’s events, studied all the stamps in our passports, then agreed to stamp them again. He also stamped Anulled over the Sereno stamp. Finally, back to Costa Rica side, stamp stamp, customs check, and we are through. WOW, what a day! Now we have to make some miles and find a hotel before dark as it is now 2:30pm. We haul ass up the PanAm to Palmur Norte and call it quits.

Loops and Springs

Today we decided to ride all the loop roads that are like abstract flower petals from the town centre, they go up higher onto the mountain side where the coffee plantations, vegetable farms, and private residences are.


We were told that there is 15 meters of volcanic ash that makes up the topsoil, so farming is very easy as the soil is very fertile. They grow lots of Panama’s potatoes and onions up in this area. There is also enough smaller farmers that grow all kinds of vegetables that they sell in the markets in town, so the produce is phenomenal and cheap. We bought a whole pineapple, 6 bananas, 1 tomato, and 6 eggs for a grand total of $2. It is understandable why this area is so popular with the ex-pats. The clouds rolled in so we figured it was time to park the bike and do some more walking around town.


In the morning we expanded on the free pancake breakfast that is offered by the hostel to include our fruit and eggs from the market. As we are leaving Boquete today we packed the bikes, which seemed so fast without the tires, then made a stop about 20km out of town at the Caldera Hot Springs. The springs were a little hard to find, but they were worth it.





They are totally natural springs, you sit in the pools on rocks and sand surrounded by an unspoiled natural setting.


The owner of the property, Omar, was enjoying one of the pools when we arrived, and aside from him one other couple were there and they did not like the setup so spent all their time at the river. Omar explained how the springs are good for the glands, circulation, arthritis, and a couple of other things I could not translate. The pools varied from about 38 to 43C, and the river that runs by is about 15C so it is quite the contrast to jump from one to the other but fun all the same, much like jumping from a hot tub into the snow. Omar also has a pet monkey, a few goats, a pair of pheasants, ducks, geese, chickens, horses, and a few cows. He was very friendly and even took a few pictures of us together in one of his private pools that has two pipes with different temperature water feeding it, very nice little spot.

Bye Bye Canal de Panama

It almost seemed like the end of our trip when we started out the next day. Having reached the Southern destination, the first part of the days ride left a feeling of completion, yet we still have alot of miles to make and many things to see, but that nagging feeling was there all the same. Maybe it was because we were backtracking on familiar ground as we rolled up the PanAm highway, seeing familiar places and knowing that around this next curve is a fruit stand or a clothing vendor or whatever the case may be. The scenery is of course the same, but looks different from this new direction. Brenda says she doesn’t remember most of this so it is like seeing it for the first time, I guess because I am in the lead I make mental notes of landmarks and upcoming towns whereas she is more focused on not running into me as I adjust my speed to look at stuff. She also says that when we are riding the Harleys she can hear my bike when I adjust the throttle up or down. I think that is her way of saying I need a performance exhaust system on the Beemer.(what a male hears is sometimes different from what the female actually says). We had decided to take a small side trip but missed the turn somehow so ended up back in Santiago for the night, variety is the spice of life so we stayed a different hotel than the first time. I know, very adventurous of us, really pushing the limits. Plus today is my birthday. Hmph 42, when did that happen, really somebody tell me because it doesn’t feel much different that 22.

Brenda had read some good things about Boquete, so the next day we entered David and then went North about 40km. The town of Boguete is in the mountains and is actually considered to be in the cloud forest, thus they get lots of rain throughout the year. We must be doing something right because we only experienced a little bit of mist as we drove up and up and up into the town. There is also an optical illusion as you drive up to the town, the houses along the road all look out of level, at first I thought that some contractor had made a serious error, but then realized that it is due to the gradual pitch of the road. The houses are of course level, the road is a gradual uphill climb.


The landscape is breathtaking with lush greens as far as the eye can see and more types of vegetation than can be distinguished. The low hanging clouds work as a natural veil for the mountain and volcano tops. There is a very dramatic appearance with sun rays breaking through the clouds intermittently which just makes the greens even more vivid. Volcanic rocks protrude through the lush greens intermittently in the cattle pastures and ornately as the locals have used them for fencing, this provides an interesting visual in contrast to the brightly painted houses. As the town is not very big it did not take us long to find suitable accommodation, we chose a Hostel that is right on the Central Park, that is within walking distance to everything. Once again, sometimes we are the attraction, so as we are getting off the bikes a fella walks up and starts talking to us. He is from England, and has lived in Boquete for 3 years, he coincidentally has the exact same bike as me so this leads to some pointed questions about mileage, mechanical issues, etc.etc. In turn, I find out that there is a good tire shop in town that has a machine for changing bike tires. Once we are checked in, I decide it is finally time to change out the back tires on both bikes. I could probably have gotten even more miles out of them but the next few days could find us on gravel roads and the almost bald tires are not good for this terrain. They are ok on pavement but there is not traction on gravel. $5 and about 30minutes has both tires changed out, I removed and installed the tires and the old fella with the tire machine just swapped out the rubber.

Still a few miles in them, but time to donate them to the travel gods.

The rest of the day we just walked around the town and got a feel for the place. There are alot of ex-pats living here, and this is a great base camp for hiking, bird watching for the elusive Quetsal, rafting, coffee plantation tours and just relaxing.

Canal de Panama

After the border, the PanAm highway is twinned and in pretty good shape. Lots of police presence but no stops. Gas is 3.35 per gallon for 95 octane. We are still amazed every time we cross into a new country, Brenda says she yells out “We are in ___!” shortly after every border crossing. Panama once again has a noticeable change in properties along the highway, the first few miles was a little rough, but after that the scenery changed to larger ranch homes and estate type dwellings. Manicured grass, trimmed trees, nicely painted houses, newer vehicles etc. So, I am making the grande assumption that the people are a little above the poverty level, at least from the first impression along the road.
The city of David, is very lively with store after store selling alot of the same merchandise. Pretty good prices from what we can tell, but again, we don’t really need anything but it is fun to look. David, is the market town for the surrounding area, thus it is very energetic and somewhat crowded. We were very surprised to see a ‘big box store’ shopping area. This may due to the long time American influence in Panama that started when the US agreed to complete the construction of the Canal and also indicates that the people can afford these type of stores. After settling into our hotel, which we of course found by accident, we stepped out into the bustling market streets for some exercise. We walked for a few hours checking out the merchandise and figured that the economy here is doing quite well based on the number of people shopping. We met one shop keeper who said he was from Palestine, and described his store as being small but with a big heart. With a tag line like that we had to check it out, it was mostly clothing and household items, he even tried to entice me with sending two of his lovely shop girls to help me. He was quite the marketing whiz. The next morning we walked to the Centro and people watched for a while, we ate some fresh pineapple from a vendor (0.35) and tried to figure out why so many children in school uniforms would come to the park and hang out before school. I remember sleeping until the last possible minute then running to the school bus. No hanging out for like an hour before school starts. This was a nice way to start the day, sitting in a park, the sun warming us, and generally just relaxing.
The next stop is the Panama Canal, so maybe this morning was needed to reflect on the miles we have made and the ones we still need to. Most of the time we can’t believe where we are, we look at our maps and wonder how this happened. Then we realize we have to make the trip home so this adventure is only half done by direction, and only 25% done by time.
The PanAm highway continued to be in fine shape most of the way into Santiago, but was not twinned much more than a few miles out of David. We stayed overnight in Santiago, this was also a very busy town but not so much of a market town, it was also Friday night so that may have played a part. Digicell had a stage set up and put on a concert, they are a cell phone company in Central America, it was fun to watch the little kids play “Simon Says” and the adult dance off was also very entertaining. This was just an overnight stop and the next morning we ran into a couple of guys riding bicycles to the Canal. They had started in Alaska, and had a 5 month schedule which they seemed to be keeping. One fella was from Germany, the other from England, and they met on the road. We thought that their 80km’s per day was a very good pace to keep given some of the roads we had ridden, curves, hills, traffic, lack of shoulders on the highway, and of course the heat.


Our path into the Canal area proved to be the usual chaos of traffic and no signs. We pulled into a gas station to collect our thoughts when a local biker walked up and asked if we needed help. He volunteered to lead us to the Canal, as he worked there, he rode a 1200 Vmax and seemed to like using every ounce of power it had. He took off between the lanes like a jack rabbit, I wanted to follow him but our bikes are to wide to fit. Luckily he realized this and pulled over to wait for us to catch up, he led us through the city right to the Miraflores, the main tourist entrance to the canal. We talked about bikes for a while then he took off to go pay some bills as it was his afternoon off.

Sometimes reality is stranger than fiction, this nice couple walked up to us and asked if we had ridden our bikes all the way from Alberta. We explained the process and asked where they were from. They are from Canmore, and he designed the Glen Eagles Golf course which our house backs onto. What are the odds??


We opted to find a hotel before doing any tourist stuff, this proved to be a challenge, there are not many hotels in the area which is very surprising. This being the biggest tourist attraction in the country and all. We found a nice place very close to the locks, it seems this the political area of town as there are embassies and universities close by.
The Canal. Wow, what a feat of engineering this is, considering it was completed in 1913. I could write all the facts and figure of the place but I assume if you can read this you can also use Google. Suffice to say that the entry fee is well worth it. It has been raining here guite heavily for the last few days and part of the road leading up to the Centurian Bridge had collapsed, this washed into the canal waterway and actually closed the canal for the first time in 19 years. Lucky for us it was open again and we got to watch a couple of ships pass through the locks. There have also been several other road closures due to mudslides, but we have not seen any yet.




So, after getting our fill of the Canal we still had some exploring to do, and as it was raining again, we decided to go indoors to the local shopping mall. This mall is bigger than West Ed, and judging from how busy it was there is no shortage of consumer confidence here either. The mall was simply huge and in a couple of hours we only walked one small area. That was enough of that.
The next day we woke up to rain, yet again, but decided to explore Old Town Panama City anyway. This involved manipulating through traffic, and into the historic center. More narrow, unsigned one way streets, with amazing buildings on both sides. We still can’t get over how old some of these buildings are, and that people still live in them. The area is under a massive revitalization, there are renovations happening all over the place, in building that look at though they should be bulldozed not fixed. Once again, totally amazing. Panama City certainly has something for everyone, shopping, architecture, theatre, fishing, etc.etc.


We were getting to the "info overload" stage so we called it quits early and headed back to our hotel to just relax and plan our next couple of days.


Panama City Skyline.

Panama Border Crossing

Well the Panama border crossing at Pano Canoas lived up to its’ reputation, the process is straight forward, the infrastructure to support the process is the issue. We had read that it is a slow and busy crossing, but after 4 hours, we were more than relieved to be done.


The Coles Notes version is this; stand in line for your passport stamp out of Costa Rica (about half and hour), then go to the Aduana office and check the bikes out of Cost Rica (5 minutes). Then drive through the construction zone to the Panama side, go to the Immigration office and buy a sticker for your passport $1, go into the umarked customs inspection room to pick up a declaration form to fill out while standing in line for over 2 hours to get your passport entry stamp. This timeline is our experience and may vary depending on time of day and how many busses you arrive behind. We were unfortunate and had two full busses in front of us. Ok, now that your passport is stamped, go across the road to buy travel/bike insurance, take that paper back across the street and upstairs to get it stamped. ? Then take the paper down to the Aduana office, they put the info into the computer and stamp the paper again. From here you take the paper to customs for yet another stamp. Then, find the customs officer in the parking lot and have him inspect the bikes and of course don’t forget to get the paper stamped again. After that, pay for the fumigation, wheel the bike across the road to get sprayed and we are finally done. Total cost $34US, total time 4 hours.

Things we learned:
1) It pays to be rude and jump the queue, even though the locals may shoot you.
2) Go earlier or later in the day. Arriving at 9am is not good timing as the busses get there at 8am.
3) Take the side trip to Reo Serena and avoid Pano Canoas all together.
After the border, we made it as far as David. The PanAm highway is twinned the whole way and in pretty good shape. Lots of police presence but no stops. Gas is 3.35 per gallon for 95 octane. The city is very lively with store after store selling alot of the same merchandise in different stores. Pretty good prices from what we can tell, but again, we don’t really need anything but it is fun to look.

the park and Golfito

We made it into the park!!! A bit disappointing to tell the truth, half of the park was closed. That means that one of the two trails was closed. We did see a bunch of monkeys, racoons, a few birds, and some really stupid humans who insisted on feeding the monkeys human food. Things like taco chips, nuts, and bread. So basically poison to the monkeys.
We finished all that we could inside the park within a few hours, there were lots of people who were enjoying the two beaches in the park, but we liked the main beach where the surfers do their thing. We once again made it down to waters’ edge for another amazing sunset. When we were eating supper at the hotel, another couple at the next table asked if we were on the bikes, it turns out they are doing a similar trip in a car. We shared travel stories and border experiences; it is funny how that keeps coming up in conversation. The man was from Germany via Atlanta and the lady was from Mexico via Atlanta, so they had a slight advantage with the language. Then their friends showed up, and the dude looked like a friend of mine (Phil the limey), he was about 6’3” tall darker complexion and a big mop of black curly hair. We had seen him a couple of times that day and kept saying “There is Phil”, so it was funny when he came to our table and started talking with us. I kept calling him Phil even though that wasn’t his name, he probably thought I was drunk or something.

The next morning we left Manuel Antonio and moved to Golfito, in preparation for the Panama border the day after.


This turned out to be a great move. This is a port city on the eastern shore of Gulfo Dulce, it used to be a busy port that exported bananas around the world then in 1986 the banana company closed and left town. There was a very hard financial period for the locals until they developed the market area. This is not the typical Central American market. It is a duty free market filled with all kinds of electronics and appliances from all the major players. There is also clothing, sunglasses, hats, chocolate, liquor, pretty much everything but shoes. The usual rules apply, if there are prices on the items do not expect much negotiating, if there is no price tag it is fair game.

Just to backtrack a little, while we were walking the town earlier we stopped in at the marina to look at the boats. There were a couple of real luxury yachts worth a look. We spotted a couple with Canada Flags so we went to take a better look and the owner was sitting on the deck. After a quick intro, it turns out that the owner of the sailboat ‘Precious Metal’ has been floating around for over two years, and the owners of the other large, over the top Canadian yacht(named Wench) is being paid for by you and me, and everyone else who has Shaw cable services. Yes, that is right, the owners are the Shaw family from Calgary. We did not get to talk to them, but I may cancel my cable when I get home. LOL. Just kidding, they have worked very hard to build their company and deserve all the perks that success brings.


So back to the Precious Metal, this 46’ sail boat is home to the Captain and small dog and the occasional guest/hired help. I did not think of it but there is alot of work involved to keep all the mechanicals working properly in the salt environment of the ocean. The rigging, the motors, everything down to the door hinges requires constant attention or it will rust and seize up. This never ending lists turns into about 8 hours a day in maintenance, on top of all the usual household chores that are required whether you live on a boat or in a house. So it was really quite shocking to know that Pamela has been doing all this by herself, yes the Captain of the ‘Precious Metal’ is a little lady named Pamela. She has a very interesting background but an even more interesting current life. It is hard to imagine conquering the ocean alone on such a large boat.




Nothing but beautiful sunsets.

Samara and Quepos

The beach at Nosara was amazing, lots of waves and surfers. This was the first time we seen multiple waves breaking perpendicular to the shore, this gave more surfers the chance to catch waves as they were stacked, in a way.

We putted around Nosara for a little longer than intended only because we could not find the road out towards Nicoya, as it turned out we were on it the whole time there was just no sign, which then had us arrive in Samara at about mid-afternoon. We were a bit hungry so we bought a quick taco from Waza who has a rather good business going along the side of the road. This was a Tico version of a hot dog vendor. Waza sold sausages of different varieties that he would “butterfly cut” then BBQ and serve in a tortilla with pineapple, onions, peppers and of course hot sauce. Very tasty and moreso resembled a Donair than a taco. Also enjoying the fare was a young dude from St. Albert, AB. His family had moved down here a few years ago when they retired and he is along for the ride. He gave us a good recommendation for a place to stay which was clean and affordable, and is actually another bed&breakfast.


During the check-in process some other guests arrived; Gigi, and Thomas&Michaela.
A conversation started with Gigi that lasted for about 2hrs, then we went our separate ways but ended up meeting again on the beach, so we went out for supper together and carried on our conversation. Gigi is a former professional ballerina that has lived an extraordinary life thus far and is currently writing a book about human interaction and the exchanges of energy that happen during these interactions. She has been travelling for over two years straight so when asked where she is from, she either says “Here” or “New York”. She has some amazing life experiences that she will hopefully publish one day, I am sure it would be a fascinating read.
Thomas and Michaela are a couple from Stutgart, Germany and are on vacation here for a month. He works for Nokia as a design engineer, so his job is to get all the technology of our new phones into the small sleek cases, the hardest part is to get the bigger screens and the power to run them. Michaela is a tax advisor. We also learned that Germany has a very similar taxation system to Canada. They pay up to 42% in the highest tax bracket, they also have to pay into social programs such as UI, health care, and government pension. These add up to an additional 10%.
The conversation picked up after supper and carried on into the evening. We shared travel stories and had just a really spectacular visit.
In the morning we had planned to head out after breakfast and move to Manuel Antonio National Park. We had reports that this was a great place to see wildlife, monkeys, bats, and butterflies. We did manage to leave after breakfast, about 3 hours after. Once again a conversation with the other guests at the B&B was just to good to end, so we let it run its’ course and then said our good-byes.
The weather is once again clear and sunny, 30°C with a few puffy scattered clouds. This has been the weather report for the last month, some days hitting as high as 36°C but mostly around the 30°C mark. So yes, very nice riding weather.
The area leading into Quepos (kay poas) and Manuel Antonio is very nice with an obvious increase in prosperity. Tourism must pay well, in addition to the palm oil income that is derived from the acres and acres of African Palm trees. These trees produce a cluster of small nuts about the size of ping-pong balls, that are used for their oil in the cosmetic industry. There are also up-scale resorts and condo littering the coastline.
We snooped out the town of Quepos, got settled and then found a place to eat. This proved to be the most creative place to eat that we have found yet. The Catholic Church hosts a large dinner every evening, right in front of the Church, so as we are eating the local fare their is choir music echoing from the church. This doesn’t happen at home. We enjoyed the food that appeared to be prepared by the ladies from the church, like a small town Fall Supper that I used to enjoy back in Saskatchewan. $9 total and we left totally stuffed with Chicken, Beef, rice, picadillo (rice and cabbage mixture but not like a lazy cabbage roll), and of course a tortilla. Very good “home cooking” and friendly people that helped us with the selection. Tomalles are also very popular, maybe we will try those tomorrow night.




Our hotel turned out to have a bar on the property so the noise was a bit much, Brenda slept through it all but I had to put in ear plugs, then all was good for sleeping.
We got going early, not that we had to go anywhere, but we wanted to check out the National Park early in the day when the wildlife is best viewed, and before it got to hot. We found the park gate, not like our National Parks where there are toll booths and grand entrances, here there is a small roadside sign, and a metal gate 300 meters off the road down a walking path. The gate was locked, today is Monday and the National Park is CLOSED. ???

So, nest best thing. We talked with our hotel manager and arranged a Zip line tour. The tour was really cool, we did 7 cables, the longest was 647meters with a height of about 100ft at the highest point. The tour included a meal and transportation, and because we booked through our hotel, the hotel will give us free breakfast in the morning. So a pretty good deal we thought. We made it back to our hotel in time for another outstanding sunset.
Tomorrow, maybe we will get into the park.


Oh ya, I got stopped by the cops again. Apparently it is mandatory to wear a helmet in Costa Rica if you are operating a motorcycle, but not if you are a passenger. The officer was very friendly and once I put my helmet on, he let me go without trying to extract any money from me. Very nice fella, fair sized gun.

Tico time.

We did not really have a plan of travel today but from Liberia we headed SouthWest to the coast. The roads are great here as well so we are confused about the warnings. Anyhoo, Tamarindo was abuzz with action, there is a nice beach here and some big condo resorts and some really big Iguannas.


Brenda managed to snap the pic before it took off into the bush, I just missed driving over it. We didn’t stay very long, just got the lay of the land and headed out. A bit too commercial, but beautiful all the same. A friend is involved with a development in Samara, so we thought we would check out that area and it is just down the coast so away we went. The road changed from pavement to dirt with protruding rocks, then when we moved into the less populated areas the situation changed again. The little bikes could drive over the foot bridges, our big bikes got to take a bath as I drove them through the 6 water crossings (creeks) that we had to cross. Brenda is still not comfy driving through water so I would drive my bike through then walk back and drive hers through, so I am well practiced on water crossings now. The worn down rear tires are adding a nice element of sliding on the muddy surface as I enter/exit the water.


If we are on much more dirt roads it will be time to cowboy up and put the new rubber on the back.

The day was tico’ing past (Tico is the local word for what seems to be everything Costa Rican)and we found ourselves in Nosara at about 4:00pm. Time to find a bed for the night before the sun sets and also dry out my gear. We are a bit shy of Samara but that is ok. The “town” of Nosara is spread out over the area and not really a traditional town layout, so when we seen a sign for rooms available we turned up the road and ended up high on a hill at “Lodge Vista del Mar”.

our hosts, Gil & Marina

This a great little spot with a fantastic view of the ocean and jungle, once again owned/operated by fella who came for a vacation and stayed a lifetime. Gil recommended a nice Tico restaurant for dinner which is down the hill around a couple of corners by the end of the airstrip. The food was fantasticly fresh and flavourful. I had Pescado Ajillo (fish w/garlic) and Brenda has Shrinp w/curry sauce, both came with veggies and rice or mashed potatoes. Gil is a green thumb who enjoys his gardening and hosting of course. He told us of his Noni plants, fresh nuts like Almonds and Cashews, and bunch of plants for teas. There are about 90 diffenent plant varieties on the grounds that he has cultivated, all natural organics not chemicals or fertilizers required.
After a wonderful nights rest we were treated to a complimentary breakfast of fresh everything: coffee, papaya, banana, watermelon, and toast with jelly. We also met some other folks who were heading home to Salt Lake City, UT today. We do not envy them as they head back to the snow and cold, but they are snow boarders as well as surfers so they are ok with it. We were also visited by some jungle critters, they are called Coatis, and are part of the racoon family.


Today we will likely explore the rest of Nosara and then head to Samara and beyond.

Another place for the list.

Brenda’s map shows a coastal highway from Huehuete to San Juan del Sur that we decided to take instead of the main CA2 route. CA2 is the only direct road through the country so it is thus the main trucking route and very busy. This coastal road was great, it turned from brand new pavement to interlocking brick (like a driveway) to dirt, then rough dirt, then no dirt and most rock and back to dirt again. All this in about 15km of the proposed 60km total distance. We turned around when we came upon a car load of guys throwing rocks into a washout so they could attempt to drive across. Brenda had seen enough, and being fully loaded it was time to get back to the better roads.


Lots of cows later we pulled into San Juan Del Sur, a surf destination along the Pacific coast.

This is apparently one of the best spots in the world for surfing due to the wind direction. The wind is dominantly blowing out to sea instead of onto shore, this reduces the chop and produces a much better curl. Being how the bikes are better than pets for breaking the ice with strangers, we learned all this info from the nice Ausie couple that stopped to comment about our “rigs”. They also provided us with the location of a nice clean room to rent, apparently the lady is always cleaning her white tile. I liked the sounds of that, so Brenda took off walking with the lady so as to get the general location of the room. I am not sure where the man went. We later learned, from Natalie who sells condo’s, that these type of winds also reduce the amount of sea spray that hits the buildings and cars in town so things last longer and maintenance is reduced. This makes it much more desirable for development and tourism. The town also has an active recycle program, garbage collection, and best of all...potable tap water. I know, crazy stuff. There are also all kinds of accommodations available, restaurants and bars to choose from, and about half a dozen surf beaches with an hour of town, depending on dry the roads are. We took a day trip south to Play del Coco, one of the better beaches in the vicinity, it is located about 20km down a jungle road.


It was very quiet though as the waves were not happening, so we explored the area and found a road into Yankee Beach. This too did not have alot to offer but in the process of finding the beach we got turned around and drove onto the property of a bed and breakfast joint. Did, I mention we are 20km down a very rough jungle road outside of town only 15000 people. This place was like walking into the Wilshire Grande, an absolute over the top oasis. The only way to explain it is to follow this link and go to their website. www.orquideadelsur.com


Well over an hour later we finally left Orquidea Del Sur and returned to San Juan del Sur, along the way we seen a bunch of kids having baseball practice. I had brought a baseball to give away and this seemed like the perfect opportunity, so we zipped back to the room, grabbed the ball, returned to the field and just threw it over the fence to the kid on third base. The ball was still in the plastic wrapper, he looked at it, then at us, then ran it over to the coach or parent on the first base line. They looked at it, then at us and gave a big wave. Mission accomplished.

The main beach in San Juan is protected by a huge statue of Jesus, perched on the highest cliff. We tried to find the road that lead to Jesus but could not. I guess we were not meant to find Jesus on this day. LOL. So instead we an ice cream cone and that at least made us feel like we were in Heaven temporarily. Then another first happened, a blackout. The whole city went black for about 20 minutes, I guess He didn’t like the ice cream joke.

Being the adventurous eaters, we tried to find a place even more strange than the lady cooking chicken and beef on a half barrel BBQ on the sidewalk in front of a Bodega ( we ate there last night). Very good and only $3. We were not successful in the strange category but managed to find a place that served larger portions for the same money. Located in the center of the market area there are a couple of small cookeries and some tables to eat at. We figured the food must be fresh as the supplies are surrounding us. We were right, very fresh, very tasty, very economical.

Welcome to Nicaragua!

Now we are in Nicaragua, a country where the average daily wage is $1, so the bikes are getting alot of attention. People are not shy or reserved here, they stare, whistle, and hoot as we drive by. I think it would shock them if they realized that the grey bike is being driven by a woman (it is hard to tell with all the gear on). The roads have improved 1000%, and once again the topography has changed noticeably. There are 3 volcanoes on the left and rolling hills scattered amongst the ranch/farm lands on the right.
We had planned to stay in Leon so we could check out the architecture as the city was founded in 1524. This did not work out so well, we drove into the city and promptly exited (well once we found the road out). The city did not have a good feel and was not signed at all so, our ability to navigate was minimal. We stopped outside the city, shook our heads and decided on Managua via the coastal road. The route was great for about an hour or so, then we ran into road construction followed by the worst road on the whole trip so far. We asked the road crew if this road led to Managua and were assured that it did. We went a few more miles and could not see any improvement in the road and it seemed to head off into great unknown. As this is not familiar territory we figured it safest to turn around and find a different route. This lead to an amazing experience with the construction crew, we talked for about half an hour and I ended up giving them a few hats that I brought for this exact purpose. The guys took them and thanked us profusely, they will be the only guys in the area to have a Syncrude hat.


On track again, we passed by Volcano Momotomba and into the capital city of Managua. Also not signed. So this was very confusing to navigate to say the least. We of course ended up in what turned out to be one of the least popular areas of the city. There was a couple of large modern looking buildings surrounded by total slums. I mean slums. Shanty villages of sheet metal and polyethylene, run down and abandoned buildings. It took about 2hours to navigate out and back down the highway, to where we were not sure but we knew we wanted out of the big city. The other issue we faced was daylight, it was already about 4:30 so we only had a little time before dark, not good. As we drove south we kept our eyes open for a hotel sign, at first there were only Auto hotels (for cheating spouses rented by the hour), then we seen a small sign for a hotel. The road into the hotel was less than promising but we were in need and figured that it would be better than driving at night, maybe. We drove down the road a little way and seen no signs for the place, then asked a young girl who was walking by, she pointed down the hill and made a arch gesture with her arms. This was promising, they had a gate of sorts. We proceeded down the hill and around a couple of corners and there was the entrance. The place is a total oasis in the middle of jungle hillside.


Hotel Selva Verde, currently being managed by Senior James from Florida. Yes, he speaks fluent English, so we get checked in to our Cabana for a reduced rate of $40USD including breakfast. This is a bit higher than we have been paying but under the circumstances we are glad to be off the road. Our little cabana was pretty much a one bedroom condo with ensuite bath, kitchen, dining table, and small veranda. A pleasant surprise was how we ended up with dinner, while I was changing my tire, Brenda went up to the bar to get a much wanted beer for me, she is such a trooper, while there James asked Marta what she could make us for supper. No menu, just ask the cook what is in the fridge and surprise us. Then she delivered it to our Cabana. We did not ask for this last item but Marta (the cook) insisted and brought us our supper after she prepared it fresh to order.I like this place. It also came with a two stall driveway, perfect for changing the front tire on my bike as mentioned. It is finally time to stop carrying the spare front tire and time to make another offering to the travel Gods, who in this case turned out to Martin, the night security guard. He didn’t have a motorbike, but seemed very happy to get this tire, I am sure he would be able to sell if for a couple of bucks, and as stated that should equate to 2 days salary.
The Hotel is owned by a very successful businessman from Miami who uses it to bring students down to Nica and have them do charity work as part of their university education. Painting and repairing schools, teaching English, or helping with whatever project is on the go. The grounds consist of about 12 Cabanas that can hold from 1 to 12 people depending on which one. There is also a restaurant, bar, pool, Jacuzzi tub, gift shop, outdoor kitchen, and reading areas. The bed was exquisite, newer ultra pillow top mattress with fine linen and a window mounted a/c unit just for the bedroom.
We had a great visit with James as he gave us the grand tour and explained the history of the Hotel and how he came to be spending a year as the manager. We seen everyone again in the morning, after a fantastic sleep, and bid farewell to our oasis. Hasta Luego.

Honduras in 48hrs or less

Honduras border on a Sunday. Hmmm. Didn’t plan that one very well. As it turns out, the research I did prior to leaving was helpful but not complete. The “helpers” started about 3km from the border, by started I mean chasing us down the road, waving for us to stop, flashing their ID cards, pretty much anything to get us to hire one of them.


The usual steps needed to be followed, first hit immigration for our passport stamps, then Aduana for the bike importation, assuming I could cut through all the helpers. I finally settled on one guy named Ron Garcia, but a comment was made by another guy that “you already have a truck” then he more or less resigned and this other guy took over. He later said it was something about being a Honduran so he could cross the bridge. So back to the process.
The first step turned out to be the exit Aduana for the bikes. This also gave the helpers a chance to swarm, yelling and barking all kinds of promises about speed through the border and low cost services. Pretty much all bs.
The second step was to stand in line to get the passports stamped or at least checked as El Salvador does not stamp the passports, only scan the barcode into the computer. This took longer in line than to actually get processed so, second step done.

PS> So far the helper has done nothing but explain the obvious.

Now across the bridge to the Honduran side and the start of total chaos. The first thing required was 4 copies of all documents, I had 2 copies already so only needed a couple more. Then things got a little strange, we had to go to a small office to get the passport data entered into a computer and pay $45US each for the visitor visa. Then go across the street to another Administration office and pay another $37US each for the bike Permit. The strange part was that we walked back and forth between these two offices about 4 times to get this accomplished and the receipt for the $45 was stamped “cancelled”. I later assumed this was not a legitimate fee. So this all took place in about 90 minutes. Then after all that, we still had to get the bikes fumigated, which happens down the road about 500meters. So for $11US each we got a receipt, but the bikes were not sprayed or even looked at. Total scam, but we were done. Total cost $190 plus the $6 bucks for the helper, he quoted $2 but I don’t think I would have gotten through the process alone due to the regular offices being closed on Sunday, the main thing was we were rolling again, and I learned how to get through the border, on the way back I will not be hiring any helpers.

The scenery again changed dramatically from the other side of the river/border. The biggest change was that there were some very large properties that must be cattle ranches. I say this because there were cows everywhere, including on the road. They look like Brahma’s, light grey, big floppy rabbit ears, and hump on the front shoulders. The road also went to complete crap with potholes all over both lanes causing trucks and cars to swerve wildly across the lanes to avoid the big holes. This gets somewhat annoying after about 2 minutes because it is impossible to look around at the countryside and watch for holes and oncoming traffic at the same time. Brenda managed to snap a few pics while riding, my little camera had a dead battery. We spent the night in Choluteca, the hotel had a/c so that was a nice change from the previous couple of nights. We didn’t feel like conquering the town in search of food so we made a light supper out of the supermarket across the road and ate on the patio area at the hotel. It seemed weird to be in Honduras eating supper and looking across the street at a Pizza Hut sign. Obviously they are a worldwide company, it just seemed odd somehow.
The next morning it was another border crossing as Honduras is very narrow along the Pacific Coast. We are expecting to turn in our visa/bike papers once again. This time I am not hiring any “helpers”, I figure we have lots of time and if I make some mistakes no big deal.

The Honduran exit was unexpectedly quiet, we pulled into a large parking lot with no other vehicles, I thought at first we were in the wrong area. Then a nice littlye lady in uniform came up and asked for the bike info and our drivers license and $12 each. She gave us our receipts and pointed to the immigration office for passport stamps, boom boom through the line and another $12each, then over to Aduana. Nice fellow who was patient with my Spanish or lack thereof, a couple of signatures and we were done. They did not take any of the photocopies like the other borders???

Another day another Country

More miles to make so we left Antigua after putting it on the list of places to return to someday. We planned to go to Monterrico to see the turtle sanctuary, but upon reaching the end of the road, literally it turned into mangrove, it became evident that we could not get our bikes onto the small boats to ferry us the last 10km to the city. This was not in any guidebooks we have with us. Plus, there did not seem to be any secure parking for the bikes, this meant that we could not get over to the actual town for the night and had to once again press on a bit further down the coast towards the El Salvador border for the night. We found a very nice little hotel, Hotel Bakur, and bedded down for the night after a delicious dinner in the adjacent restaurant and a couple of donuts from the roadside cocina down the road. We got alot of honks and looks as we walked to the cocina, I assume the locals don’t usually see white people walking along the highway. Sometimes the tourist, sometimes the attraction.
Guatemala exit was very easy. They did however take the bike permit and visitor visa as both are only good for one entry. This just means that we pay full lick again on the way back. El Salvador border pretty straight forward, just very slow, like 2 hours to get the bike paperwork. I met some colourful fellas waiting though, one older gentleman was bringing in a couple of big trucks and had been waiting since 5pm the previous day (he was still waiting when we left). The other guys were driving a vehicle down into Honduras and then travelling by bus to their home in Costa Rica. He gave us his number and invited us to his house when we are in the area (they were also still waiting after we left) all spoke English, all were there before we were. Nice system, I guess it pays to keep your mouth shut and keep smiling. It probably also helps to keep wearing the bike gear you have been wearing for a month in the 35 degree weather, I am sure it smells like very sweaty hockey gear by now. LOL. Sorry to report we did not spend much time in El Salvador, just one night in La Libertad which is straight south of San Salvador at the coast. We read that this was one of the best beach resorts in all of El Salvador. Once again, this is a subjective evaluation. We found the town to be very run down and dirty feeling, not that it was visibly dirty or cluttered with garbage, just dirty feeling. We found a place just off the beach, got settled and went for a walk along the sea wall. The sand here is very dark due to the volcanic rock that forms most of the sand, plus there were lots of rocks on the beach. Some of the more local boys were not deterred by the rocks and had a rigorous game of beach soccer going. There were of course vendors, bars, restaurants and shops along the waterfront, and a fish market down the full length of the pier. The pier also served as boat storage via a small crane and a great diving platform for the adventurous swimmers. But aside from being on the coast we could not see how this made it to the top of the list of resorts, and if the evaluation is accurate we do not want to see the others. This is also a new first, the first use of the mosquito net over the bed, enough said. The people were very friendly, the food great, and the prices even better. Tomorrow, another border crossing.

Antigua, Guatemala

Antiqua is a bustling city, with all cobblestone streets built in the old style of mostly one way streets lined with very narrow sidewalks and continuous cement or brick buildings on both sides of the street. Only the ornate doors and wrought iron gates break up the otherwise unending building. On our self-guided walking tour, we managed to sneak some peaks inside these fortress like properties. Through the doors and gates we were pleasantly surprised with lush courtyards, eclectic shops, language schools, restaurants and hotels. The shop owners and managers were all very accommodating as we sheepishly poked our heads in and asked if we could enter. We were not sure if they were private residences or what until after we entered. It would take a week of solid snooping to discover all the hidden gems this city has to offer.



One of the gems we found was this courtyard surrounded by Guatemala Jade Jewelery shops, a Spanish Language School, coffee shop and Museum.

Oh, and then there is the market. WOW!! Booths upon booths of crafts, cd’s, leather goods, clothing, shoes, and household goods.


Then you turn the corner and the farmers market starts, this is not a farmers market like at home, there are booths selling everything from garden produce, pineapples, bananas, papaya, live and dead chickens, coffee beans, chilli peppers, and one of our favourites,


Blackberries the size of ping pong balls. One sandwich bag full for 5Q, and a whole pineapple for 7Q comprised our breakfast each day. There is a worldwide venue of food choices in town so the tourist is never for lack of choices.
We took a bus tour to the Pacaya Volcano, which had erupted about 5 months ago, we took the afternoon tour so we could catch the sunset from the summit. It was a spectacular view, three volcanoes could be seen protruding from the cloud filled valley below. It took about 1.5hours to summit and about 40 minutes to descend, the hint being that we watched the sunset from the summit so the decent was in the dark and this added a nice twist to the usual hike.


We got to eat roasted marshmallows close to the summit because there were open crevices’ that radiated enough heat to do so, one guy even toasted a sandwich which he skewered with the marshmallow stick.