Limonal

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Fork in the road. There are (at least) two choices from Liberia to start heading down the Pacific Coast of Costa Rica.

The “scenic route” goes out the Nicoya Peninsula and then across by ferry to Puentarenas. Depending on how scenic one wants to go is how many of the little roads you follow along the coast.

The “quick route” continues on the Pan American Highway and then turns right just after Puentarenas. Past reports told us this road started as a wide concrete highway but after Canas became narrow and sometimes busy. As a result, many cyclists end up taking the scenic route across.

We decided to try the quick route. How bad can it be? Canas was a little soon, but local friends of David were able to find and book a hotel 24km past Canas.

We set off and fairly quickly were on the major highway. It had a reasonable shoulder and was good travels. We did see several of these “No Ciclistas” signs.

We also saw at least three sections of “Ruta de bicicletas” where the shoulder of the road would turn into a bike path for a kilometer or two. We rode carefully and nobody came past to tell us not to be on the road.

We weren’t quite sure what these things were, but had to stop and take a photo.

There were several of these stands selling sandia (watermelon), pipa de coco (coconut juice) and vino de coyol (Coyol wine). Otherwise there were fewer small stores or comedors or similar places than in Honduras/Guatemala/Mexico. We kept an eye out for them, particularly as it became warmer. We did have a good stop at Bagaces at 24km and lunch at a Chinese restaurant in Canas at 48km.

A little before Canas we crossed over a larger river as well as this establishment telling us the Adventure Starts Here! This area we also noticed headwind more than elsewhere. Fortunately, it quieted down as we got further.

At 50km, just past Canas, our road narrowed. It was a smooth surface. There was a moderate amount of traffic. Expect more on the road tomorrow as we get closer to San Jose, but so far this road hasn’t been too bad.

It became more of an exercise of watching the heat. My bike computer read up to 39C before coming a little lower. We drank lots of liquids and stopped at a small pulperia we found. At 70km was a road intersection and not much further was the reserved hotel. Nice place and particularly happy it had air conditioning.

Tomorrow I expect we’ll get close to the coast. David will turn left roughly to San Jose and I’ll continue along the road slowly heading towards Panama.

Liberia

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Today was an early start and an early finish. We mostly traveled past scrub forest without much in way of services or buildings, so not many photos to report.

Yesterday in La Cruz, I picked up a SIM card. I find it handy to have a local phone internet connection, particularly when coming into a town and investigating possible hotel locations. Also helpful in those cases where the hotel wifi isn’t 100%.

This morning the wind was already blowing strongly when we awoke. I thought, “uh oh” but we actually traveled through enough scrub forest that the wind was mostly blocked today. Left the town of La Cruz and back on the Pan American Highway. First two hours the road was quiet, not much in way of either trucks or buses. The road is somewhat narrow and started out bumpy but all is fine without traffic.

We went past several national parks. At 25km was a turnoff to Santa Rita park. Road was relatively flat, though still a few hills to climb over. It had been 20C (68F) starting but my bike odometer steadily climbed during the morning and topped out at 37C (99F) by time I made it to La Cruz. I stopped briefly at 54km, the first place to buy a coke today. After this, cycled the last 5km into Liberia.

A colorful bus stop painted today. I saw an iguana running by the road but no other wildlife.

I had started before David and waited at our pre-arranged point, a McDonalds where I waited in cool air conditioning. After this cycled past a few hotels and found reasonable one close to the park downtown.

Interesting church downtown.

La Cruz, Costa Rica

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Welcome to Costa Rica. Today crossed the border to reach the seventh country on this journey.

Enjoyed my time in Nicaragua, despite the shortest time of all countries we’ve traveled. Where we entered was more rugged and remote. Where we exited was much more touristy. Several beach resorts and a lot more English signs. At the Pali grocery store yesterday we even saw some tourists paying with US dollars. Prices of some hotels and similar were also quoted with both dollars and Cordoba.

We left before 7am, despite having a shorter ride. However, we expected the afternoon to be hot and also had a border to cross.

We had a cross wind starting out. Giant windmills told us this was a common phenomenon here.

There were several different wind parks of windmills, here was sign for one of them.

We came briefly along shores of Lake Nicaragua. We still had occasional trucks and buses, though after was passed some of the beach turnoffs and last towns, seemed like it was lighter crossing the actual border.

Sapoa was last little store before the border. We stopped here and I got rid of my last Nicaraguan coins.

After this we cycled last 5km to the border. Some trucks stopped on the Nicaraguan side, but a much longer line was waiting on the Costa Rican side. The procedures on crossing were simple, though we spent some time waiting in line:

  • Nicaraguan side: Paid one US dollar, got a slip. Got the passport stamped and paid two more US dollars.
  • Costa Rican side: Waiting in long line. Got to head and were told needed to fill out an immigration form. Filled out the form. Cut back in line and got things stamped.

There were quite a few people at the border. I got the sense that buses would take you to the border. You crossed by yourself and then found a different bus on the other side to continue your journey.

The booth on left was start of a several kilometer long line of trucks waiting at the border.

Not much further, we found small comedor and had lunch. Lunch was slightly more expensive than other Central American countries we’ve traveled.

Hard to have many impressions yet, but first impression was a lot of lush growth and hot steamy temperature on the 20km we cycled from the border to La Cruz. In La Cruz we checked out several hotels before finding a reasonable one not far from center of town. Over next few days will see if I can find a SIM card, get some money and otherwise travel through Costa Rica.

Rivas

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Theme for today was ride to Burger King to avoid the heat.

Had a nice relaxing rest day in Granada.

There is a chocolate factory which does tours and also has a nice all you can eat breakfast buffet.

Historic looking buildings, a nice open square with statues.

During the afternoon it was hot. Hot enough that we mostly relaxed in shade of the hostel. Also came to the conclusion that it would be best to try leaving early next morning to beat some of the heat as well as the Papagayo winds.

Set the alarm for 5am with plans to be on the road by 6am. Sometimes when we cycle we’ll have a rendezvous location so can travel independently and meet at that spot if not before. For today, previous blogs had suggested that the Burger King in Rivas was nicely air conditioned, so cycled with that in mind.

There was a gentle climb along side of a volcano before downhills to the main Pan American highway at 21km. It was still nice and cool until the junction. After this point we started getting cross winds, though nothing too bad.

These cows were starting to seek shade.

Windmill was turning.

However, overall was better than I had expected.

Stopped briefly at 42km at this bar and restaurant. I ordered a pepsi. They must have misunderstood that I was happy to drink it there since they poured it into a small plastic bag as if “to go”. However, I drunk the bag from a straw and relaxed in shade of their restaurant.

The road was moderately busy as we neared Rivas, though traffic generally allowed good room.

By 11:15am, my main goal had been reached. It was nice to get 70km all done in the morning and before it became very warm. Waited here until David arrived and then we found a hotel. This time our conditions included air conditioning and fortunately nice a cool.

General plan is to cross into Costa Rica tomorrow, hopefully again going early to avoid some of the heat and wind.

Granada

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It seemed like a good idea at the time and it turned out ok in the end. However, in-between there was a moment or two of “uh oh” and “that was stupid”.

However, best to start telling it from the beginning.

We expected a two-day ride to Lake Nicaragua. We’ve followed some blogs that have been detailed in noting locations of hotels. Both Masaya (155km) and Granada (170km) looked like nice places to stay. A hotel was listed in Sebaco (45km) but nothing after that – so good chance of a 110km gap between known hotels.

Not to worry, our plan was to get to at least Puertas Viejas (77km) or Las Maderas (99km) and then ask around, sleeping in tents if necessary.

I was out first, taking advantage of the morning cool temperatures. Passed a cigar factory and store. Climbed to 1050m at 9.5km and after that mostly down.

Statue at next town.

Near bottom of the hill, hammocks were for sale.

After this the land leveled out. However, also got a nice strong cross wind picking up.

This bike path looked inviting but was rather bumpy.

Without too much trouble, made it to Sebaco where I waited for David.

The road turned here and we had a nice tailwind for several kilometers. Notice the flag blowing our way.

Unfortunately, this didn’t last and it turned into more of a cross wind after that. Obnoxious because it was strong enough that trucks would pass, temporarily block the wind or send an extra blast. It took some extra effort to hold the bike straight and keep from wobbling off the road or into traffic.

We tried two places for lunch: first was too expensive, second didn’t really have lunch foods. After that settled for a third which was also expensive but looked best of the lot. The food wasn’t very filling and took a while before it was served.

However, only 22km to Puertas Viejas and we set off again.

Buses are getting more colorful.

Without too much trouble, we made it to Puertas Viejas. Nice comedor here and we were able to have a proper late lunch. Here we also asked about accommodations.

Nothing in Puertas Viejas. A local truck driver also told us there was also nothing in Las Maderas, though he knew a hotel 8km further (total of 30km from where we were).

An idea entered our minds…what if got a lift in that empty truck? Seemed like a good idea at the time and the truck driver was friendly and willing.

We waited until the driver and other passengers finished their meal.

However, before we knew it, there was a big rush to get the bikes loaded. Panniers off! Bikes up on the truck! Settle the bills! Oops, not enough change, so needed to pay that.

Very shortly later, this is the view we had from back of the truck.

We had gone just a few kilometers when I looked at the bags. Wait! Where was my camelbak? I normally have it on my back, but it wasn’t in the truck. Most likely it was still next to the table. In the rush to get ready, I had done all the other tasks but accidentally left it by the table.

We decided we’d continue our ride to the hotel, and then find a way to get back to the comedor again – hopefully it would still be there.

Truck stopped at San Benito. Actually 35km away not 30km. Now the problem was how to go back and retrieve the camelbak? David helped explain the situation and truck driver was involved in problem solving too. The driver called friends who might know numbers of women who worked at the comedor. Suddenly he spotted another friend filling gas.

Would they be willing to drive back, retrieve the camelbak? A plan was hatched and a price negotiated. David and the truck driver went with the friend, while I stayed back with the watching the bikes.

Long story short, 75 minutes later, they returned with camelbak safe and sound. Hooray! And a big relief. It was now almost dark. The hotel the driver knew, was actually closed but locals directed us to a place 2km away. It was getting dark so we went very slowly along the shoulder, watching the mirrors. Long day and glad everything turned out ok in the end. Next time try not to get so rushed.
Day Two
A shorter second day riding to Granada.

A big question for today was, “what would the wind do?” Nicaragua has winds known as the Papagayo Jet, which can be strong. Next few days were forecast at 30km to 50km from NNE. Mostly a cross wind, but a lot more obnoxious if also a head wind. Fortunately, enough vegetation today that we noticed wind, but not as strong as could have been (or as strong as winds in Mexico).

Above were buses at Tipitapa. We turned off the main road here. Stopped at supermarket (Pali) for some food before riding smaller roads.

These guys working along the way.

At Masaya, road junction between Managua and Granada.

Lunch in Masaya.

Nice road from there into Granada.

Sandinista monument in Granada.

Many old architectural buildings here in Granada. Also many small hotels and a lot of foreign tourists. Found a spot downtown and now have a chance to explore the city.

Esteli

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Hilly riding on a road slowly becoming busier have brought us to town of Esteli.

Nicaragua is a cleaner country than others I’ve cycled through. Even have seen these places to sort your trash and recyclables. We also see less trash along the roads as well. Today we also saw a road crew cleaning the road.

I didn’t realize I was on a cycle route, when I saw this sign announcing its end. Today we also saw one or two caution cyclists signs. Also see locals on bikes as well.

Not long after this sign, we had some good climbs again.

We passed this large facility for drying coffee. It seemed to be sorted into different small plots, perhaps owned by different people.

Also nearby was this building labeled “Centro Solar”.

Sign told us the web site is: grupofenix.org, listed as “sustainable development in Nicaragua”.

We came past the Taliban bar. The owner came out and was proudly explaining the name.

This comedor served a good lunch.

Later in the afternoon we came past tobacco fields and also some drying barns. You could smell the tobacco.

Nearby was this suspension bridge over a mostly dry river bed. Believe a lot more water here during the wet season.

These horses also nearby.

Not long after this stop, we had our longest climb of the day, 300m of climb. We had 1060m overall today.

Close to the top, we saw cactus again.

However, also irrigated fields.

The road into Esteli was busy but without too much difficulty we found our way to central park and hotel nearby. A local cyclist spotted us and invited us to a night-time ride this evening.

We didn’t attend the ride, but happened on it when walking in the park after dinner. It was fun to see the locals out for a ride.

They had a police pace car. Some with helmets, some without. Some with lights and some without. A total of perhaps 40 cyclists was nice to see out for a ride.

Ocotal, Nicaragua!

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Over the hills and into Nicaragua!

We entered Honduras climbing a hill and left it climbing one too. In between, there were a few hills. Overall, enjoyed time in Honduras with roads better than expected and friendly people.

As we left Danli, it was on edge of drizzle.

However, not so wet that clothes couldn’t be hung on the barbed wire to dry. Within a few kilometers it all dried up.

We continue to see election posters. This region seems to have more of the existing government (blue stars) and earlier west of Tegus, we had more of an opposition party (red stripes).

There was a cattle drive, complete with horses going on along the highway.

After 20km of slightly rolling hills we came to El Paraiso. El Pariaso bills itself as the coffee city and is last major settlement before the border.

An example of truck full of people.

After El Paraiso, the next 10km were up, sometimes steeply so.

Just before the border was a customary line of trucks. We spent our last small bills buying some lunch on the Honduras side. Exiting Honduras was very straightforward.

It took a little more time to get through the Nicaragua border. First stop was the “health check”. They looked through my passport, asked my age and then handed me a small slip of paper. Despite this warning nobody asked for a yellow fever certificate.

Next stop was immigration. We were told the fee was $12, USD. I tried to pay in Honduran, but they said they only accepted US $. When I pulled out a Honduran note, they signaled over one of the money changers, so I did go back and pull out a $20 bill. I gave this and took them a long time to eventually produce a receipt and change. Not five minutes after handing me $8 in change, the official then claimed he handed me $10 and I owed him another $2. Nope, that wasn’t going to fly and we told him so.

After this exchanging our remaining Honduran currency for Nicaraguan. Fortunately got a rate pretty close to international rate. Hooray, we were now done and could descend downwards into Nicaragua.

We started out with beautiful roads, lush vegetation and nice descent.

Signs now gave us distances to places in Nicaragua.

A little lower there was an agricultural check.

Town of Dipilto had this statue.

FSLN (Sandinistas) seem to be prominent here with several FSLN signs as well as red and black colors.

A poster for the current party.

Without much difficulty we made our way to Ocotol. The main road didn’t have many open businesses on it and we were most of way through town before finding a hotel. Otherwise nice ride and good to get into Nicaragua.

Danli

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An easy, shorter ride today. Ojo de Agua is small cross roads with a junction on road from Tegucigalpa to Danli. There is a large Puma gasoline station and convenience store, a comedors, a motorcycle shop and our hotel. Still quiet at 6am when I visited the gas station to buy some juice.

We cycled separately today as I preferred to get some riding in earlier and spend some of the short day in Danli.

The road was both narrower and rougher today than yesterday. However, traffic still light enough to manage.

One sometimes gets a sense of a comedor based on how many trucks are parked out front. This one at 15km certainly had its share. After this some shorter steep hills to climb over.

Had some nice views on the way up.

At top was a small village with this church.

An example of the local buses that are frequent on the roads here. Not as noisy or loud as the chicken buses in Guatemala.

These guys were interested in watching the guy with the bike.

A few kilometers down the road, met these cyclists with several bikes in back of their pickup.

Found it interesting to see this sign with English words describing a Mexican restaurant in Honduras.

I saw multiple trucks and buses today with these banners and flags. Also seem to have posters for one of the political candidates.

Without too much trouble, found my way to our designated hotel rendezvous by about 12:30pm. Had a leisurely lunch and otherwise relaxed in the room. David came in a few hours later.

Plan is to cross into Nicaragua tomorrow.

Ojo de Agua

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Escaped from the big city and climbed some hills to more rural areas.

The first 15km of the ride was quite busy – though typically enough places to ride on edge of the road. We started by walking bikes past construction zone nearby that had shut down the street. After this, followed surfaces streets up and over some short hills.

At 3km, we joined start of the peripheral highway. This was four lanes of traffic but wide enough for bikes on the right as well.

We had some nice views looking back at the city.

While we haven’t ever felt unsafe and take precautions, Honduras has had a reputation as violent similar as some US cities (Honduras is similar to New Orleans, Guatemala similar to Baltimore, El Salvador like Detroit – source).

What we have seen in a number of places are guards with shotguns similar to this guy.

At 10km, we turned from the major highway. The route was initially very busy as we came through neighborhoods, past construction and slowly up a hill.

Within a few kilometers the road turned quieter. We stopped at this fruit stand where I had an orange. From this point, the road was two lanes with a reasonable shoulder the rest of the way.

Above the fruit stand you can also see an election sign. Apparently, elections scheduled for November.

At the fruit stand we had already climbed ~300m and we had another 300m more, along with some drops, before reaching the top. It was 16C (60F) here. The sky had been overcast with occasional hints of drizzle all day. Also had a reasonable wind, though often blocked by the trees. Stopping at the top felt cold – but we used it as an excuse to stop for early lunch at a comedor. Lunch was a bit overpriced.

Not much later, these kids looking out the school bus windows.

These guys yelled to get their photo as well, so I did.

Somewhat later along the way, someone had placed several cow skulls along the road. Our last riding continued to be hilly, but without too much difficulty found our way to small village of Ojos de Agua.

Even a nice little hotel here.

Tegucigalpa

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A hilly capital city for a hilly country. Other than the hills, entry into this metropolis of one million people was easier than expected. We took two days to ride from Siguatepeque to Tegucigalpa. First day was longer with an 800m climb and second day was easier.
Day One
Full day cycling today mostly on a good four lane highway. Still a lot of climb and descent, on a busier road.

Our hotel room came with breakfast included, so nice to get some pancakes before starting.

We started on busy highway along town. After few kilometers we passed through a toll booth. As in Mexico, the attendants waved us through past the tolls. Car fare was L 19 or slightly less than a dollar.

After this short hill, we had mostly descent.

Places along the way were selling honey. Also places selling painted handicrafts. Our road descended and followed a river before climbing to local maximum.

Our road came into broad valley with larger town of Comayagua. Photo above shows major highway as well as a horse tethered to graze in the median.

We did get some cross winds, though not as strong as suggested by this sign. Not much past this, a truck passed as we were cycling along. Heard a loud bang, followed by shards of tire falling onto the highway. I’ve seen these tire remnants on the highways, but this is first time I actually witnessed a tire blowing up.

This motel was our “backup option” if we needed a shorter day. It didn’t have much around it though. A few kilometers later we had a nice restaurant that served food buffet style. You would pick out things you wanted and then later learn their cost.

The road narrowed to a single lane shortly thereafter. The shoulder was poor and a lot of truck traffic, so kept having to ride a short bit on shoulder, short bit in road and otherwise dodge the worst bits.

Fortunately a short bit later the road widened to four lanes with a good shoulder. This was also start of our 800m climb. That took us a few hours.

Comedor ISIS was along the way. We didn’t stop here, but did stop at other places to get a drink and recharge up the hill.

At least crested the top, went past another toll booth and then more descent down. Zambrano even had a tourist office. They told us of the hotel a kilometer further. No wifi there, but otherwise reasonable hotel.
Day Two
Down, up, down – was the overall summary for the day. However, once we got into the city, we also found a lot of short sharp hills. I took off a little early today since the day started with a downhill.

A little ways ahead, I saw this truck pulled over to side of the highway. Two guys got out and started throwing trash bags from the bed over the side of a small ravine. Now we know how all that trash appears there.

A little past the bottom, I waited at this point. There was a small store to get a drink. Buses would pull over every 10-15 minutes and people would get on or off. Local destination traffic was handled by these small auto-taxis. Overall a fairly busy junction.

After David arrived, we started our climb for the day. Around 500m on a good four lane highway shoulder. We passed a large penitentiary on the way up and stopped once at a comedor for a snack.

There was a nice church and cemetary near the top. Turned out there was a short downhill and then uphill again before the final descent. We could see Tegucigalpa (Tegus) down in the bottom.

The road into Tegus had good and bad. On the bad side, it mostly narrowed to two lanes without much shoulder. On the good side, there was less traffic so often a chance to ride in the gaps between cars and trucks. The steep hills did make it a bit more challenging.

We stopped at a bike shop on the way in. I had been tightening my brake pads as they had worn on previous hills, so wanted a good check to see if it was time to replace. It was time to replace them as they had mostly worn down in our interval from Guatemala City. A lot of steeper hills and me using the brakes a fair amount – but nice to get them back again.

After this we cycled a few remaining hills and found a hotel recommended in Lonely Planet. Nice end to a day and not too late overall.