Today was yet another start with another border crossing in the offing but one which promised much less drama than yesterday. Promise is a good thing!
We got away from our amazing beach side hotel at 6am and rode out towards Rivas and the border.
We climbed up high into the ranges first with the temperature falling to 21C .... And it felt cold! Then back down into warmer climes. These two are on a horse drawn cart with firewood.
Then along a section with a huge wind farm. Now I don't know what you think about these things because we have them in NZ as well.
It seems to me that they suck huge amounts of electricity out of the grid to get those enormous vanes rotating. And all they achieve is a terrible gale all the way down the valley. Who wants that? (I hear you cry?) a total waste of good energy.
And then we were back into the border.
We have pretty much got it sussed this time. All we need is four processes. Four exit stamps from the country we're leaving, two cancellations of importation permits for motorcycles, four entry stamps for the country we are entering and finally two temporary importation certificates for the new country.
Despite this resolve, two touts attached themselves to us and showed us where to go on the Nicaraguan side. Not because they were touts you understand but because they wanted to help the tourists. Who of course were leaving the country they live in. Yeah right! Anyway, they were quite helpful. We didn't let them get their hands on any of our documents, just to show us where to go. We had a little oops moment when I realised that I had Shirl's passport and she had mine. The policeman inspecting passports didn't blink. Her passport was perfectly ok. Hey, her photo looked just like me. And so we exited Nicaragua. The helpers tried to squeeze a bit of money but we gave them $4 each and that was that.
That took us Into Costa Rica and the big queue. Everything was pretty straightforward but just took such a long time. We queued for the passport entry stamps. For ages! Then Shirley and Diana had to cool their heels while Dick and I went to get the permits for Ebony and Mella. I'm glad we are fit. First we had to get our compulsory insurance, then we had to get stuff photocopied, then we had to go to the bank to get colones - I got 500,000 of them - then we had to pay for our insurance, then we had to go to customs to get our permits and then we had to go to another part of customs to have it all entered into the computer.Then as we rode away (gleefully after two hours) we had to have it all checked as correct by yet another official. Phew.
It was good to be back on the road. It was good to be back on the road. In fact, it was very very very good to,be back on the road! A great run then through to Puntarenas.
It was along haul and we decided to treat ourselves. We arrived eventually at Puntarenas and checked into a Hilton. They weren't quite sure what to make of us.
It is quite expensive but it includes breakfast, dinner, a lunchbox that we can take away with us and all drinks. Thank you, I'll have a whisky please. Thank you I'll have a whisky please. Thank you I'm whisky another have thank you please. Whank yoush I'll now haf anosher whushkurry plish. I think you get the pitcher. It's actually great and once I got over the shock of the price I quite like it.
So tomorrow it's off to Panama and our appointment with the Steel Rat. Yay.
Thanks everybody.
Today's run: 350kms
Cumulative: 25,142kms
Tipovers: 4
Location:Puntarenas, Costa Rica
Thanks for the link to the Steel Rat,that looks like an adventure in itself.
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