A Fist Full of Costa Rica

March 11-22nd

Costa Rica, The Piece in the Middle.......








I finished the route today (took me a couple months of perusing through guide books, 4 different maps and GPS crap).

Also picked up some gear, meds and meals (if you call protein bars meals)

I will be bringing a set of knobbie tires and tubes with me as "checked baggage" which I'll install onto

the moto upon arrival at Thorsten's shop around 12:00 on Friday.

Ill then head SE into the cloud forest for some camping, then pick up the jungle trails early in the morning.

still escaping solo.

should be a mind bender.




Ill leave you guys with a few......



Route Overview Shots:







overview sat image of routes











GPS overview of routes










North Central overview










Pacific Coast: Ferry overview











South-East mountains rivers / Caribbean coast route overview











Southwest Pacific: corcovado








if you are looking for the DVD or the GPS tracks for this ride go here!
http://advrider.com/forums/showpost.php?p=16567509&postcount=64

MORE LATER

Just got back from CR two days ago. No bike was with the wifey. With the route you have I think you will def. see just about everything and then some. Good luck friend!

Look forward to hearing more about this trip. CR is one of my retirement choices.

Subscribed to this one. Been thinking about going there in a year or two.

nice to have you guys along for the bench ride (GB, its an honor )

be sure that there will be plenty of vids and photos later

Banshee and I rode last year. We had a blast The 690 KTMs we rented worked well . Her fist time there , my third.
Your routes look quite exciting and extensive. CR has so much to offer and worthy of more than one visit .

You might not need those protein bars since good ,cheap food is readily available at every turn. Be the tourist and do a canopy tour and raft . Pozo Azul has a good combo for just that. haggle with them and they will likely drop a little on their already reasonable rate. There is a back packers lodge " Rancho Leona" 300m down the road !2 bucks a night . Have a great time . Subscribed.
Costa Rica Pics


My buddy's Lodge . La Carolina Lodge

thanks for the info blooch. i looked through your pictures and vids. good stuff!

I salute you

Now you have Banshee talking about going back to CR. thanks a lot!

Sweet! I wish I had spent more time there, Costa Rica was great!

Worth driving all around Lake Arenal, It's not too long, and you've got to see Volcan Arenal at night!
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/antontrax/4401077380/" title="Volcan Arenal by Motojournalism.com, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2768/4401077380_8802be12c8.jpg" width="500" height="333" alt="Volcan Arenal" /></a>

I got back a couple of weeks ago. I ended up renting(Honda 250) in Jaco and doing day trips. The only time I was alittle concerned was when I was following a big truck hauling rocks. (I thought I was on the main road but it turned out to be a gravel pit) The water crossing was deep and the current fairly strong.:eek1 There are basically no signs once you get off the big roads, leave plenty of time to get lost
How many nights you going to camp? I spent alot of money when I was near the beach but inland wasn't too bad.

We did 5 days on what was our second trip down there. Thorsten had some bikes get swamped the week before, so we ended up having to rent from a place in Jaco.

A few recommendations based on your route:

- The road to Drake is great, but make sure you try to head down towards Carate if you have time. Great ride from Puerto Jimenez down.

- We hit up a great mountain road between San Isidro and Quepos. There is a ton of dirt to be found if you get up into the mountains.

Our full trip report http://neilcallanan.posterous.com/tres-gringos-tres-motos-una-adventura-en-cost

Enjoy.

I just finished 1000 miles on Friday with three buddies covering a lot of the same territory in CR that you did. We rented from Thorsten/Wild Rider and we'll crank out a ride report soon. I look forward to reading your report and sharing notes/stories! Pura vida-

Planning a trip there next year - subscribed!

Here We Go Again, I Love It

will do mr.clown.
ill post some gear/info / tool kit n' spares pictures tonight
flight leaves at 6:00 tomorrow MONIN'

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Looking forward to following along. Have fun!

Ok fellas. Basically this is what im taking with me.

I wont bore you with breaking down the tool kit or the individual bags.

Its really not that much stuff.






... oh, there is a Spot Tracker somewhere in there too.

If you are going to Costa Rica, THIS is the map that you need to buy. it is very detailed. much more detailed that the GPS map. You can find it on Amazon.com. another good book to pick up is "discover costa rica" by lonely planet. The BORCH map (not shown) is laminated which is nice for using a dry erase marker to plan a route.. however its not a very detailed map. Another map worth purchasing is the National Geographic "adventure travel" map for costa rica. not as detailed as the "jaguar map" but it shows better topography.









If you've ever had "the rot" then you know why i carry this with me on long rides. if you have never had the ass puckering pleasure of experiencing the rot, its having athletes foot from the tip of your toes to the top of your boot. it hurts so bad you cant walk. and yes, the sock sticks to your skin when you attempt to remove it. not pretty.





I'm also taking some over the counter stuff like : ibuprofen , Excedrin Migraine and some anti-colon-blow.




Everyone knows ya'gotta'have the flops right ?










TIME TO GO JUNGLE STOMPING!










..... updates will be posted along the way. stay tuned for the Grit

finally made it to san juan at 00:00 this morning. i was supposed to be here at 11:00 but my plane was late coming iinto the shit hole that is miami. english is dead there. anyways. they overbooked the flights . i missed 3 flights. they put me on stand by . i got lucky and got a seat on the last flight out of MIA.

the customs officer wanted to take my tires from me. he asked me if they were new and how much they cost and what i was going to do with them. i told him they cost $50 and that i was going to put them on a bike i would be riding. "is this a problem?" anyways. ill pick up the xr in about an hour. change t5he tires and get a move on