Motorcycle Costa Rica, Day 1

December 28

I was in Puerto Viejo for 10 days and only 2 of them were sunny; Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. The remaining days it just poured down.
The 27^th the mini van picked me up for the return to San Jose where I will stay one night before I go for my motorcycle adventure (hopefully!). About 60 km from San Jose we stopped for some food and the driver looked at the sky and said: “27^th of December and it rains like this? I have never seen anything like it all my life!”. We had been driving for hours in a rain like this:

When we arrived at the hotel, it was clear. San Jose is situated about 1000 meter above sea level and the temperature in winter is below 20 C during night.
After a solid breakfast, it was time to go to the motorcycle shop to pick up my BMW 1200 that I had paid a fortune to rent for 6 days. We stopped outside the store and after all the paperwork was finished the guy started to open up the side boxes and the top box on a BMW 800. I asked him if that was the bike and he nodded his head. I pointed at the voucher that I had given him where it stated 1200 cc. He looked at it for a long time, then he looked at me like he would start to argue, but then he just resigned. And from that moment all service was gone. He went back inside the store and came out with a nearly brand new bike with only 1600 km on the meter. I asked if it was possible to rent one of those mandatory reflective band that every MC driver in Costa Rica have to use, but no. We don’t have any! I looked at the MC and found that there were no USB outlet on the bike that I had specifically asked for. I told the guy that I needed it and that I had a confirmation from the tour operator that the bike would be equipped with one.
- We don’t have, but we will get one on Thursday.
- But I’m not here then!
- I know.

So there I was, with my planned route on the Waze navigation App on my phone, but not able to use it because it just drains battery. Because the bike should have been equipped with an USB I had not topped the battery either. I had the route written on paper from the tour operator, but with no map holder to put on the tank it is actually no use riding alone. My brain don’t work the way that it can memorize Spanish place names and I get confused and mix them. On a motor bike, you have to have the paper in your pocket, zipped up so it don’t blow away. When you need to look at it, you have to stop the bike, put it in neutral or stop the engine and fold down the kickstand. Then it is off with the gloves, open the jacket and the pocket. After reading, it is all reversed. You don’t want to do that very often so you hope you are in the right direction and try first…

BMW 1200 without USB

Here is the standard description from the tour operator for the first leg:
The first stop will be at the active Irazu Volcano National Park. The winding road to the volcano travels through fertile lands and will take you to an altitude of 3432 meters (11260 ft) over the sea level. Following this visit, you can tour around the Orosi Valley, where creation overflows in unparalleled beauty. You will be able to visit one of the few remaining colonial churches and can stop for lunch in one of the local restaurants.
Continue east to Turrialba, a valley dotted with coffee, banana and sugar cane plantations.
Overnight at Villa Florencia Hotel.

Climbing up the hills against the volcano Irazu, the temperature started to drop. I had only a t-shirt on with a mesh jacket over that was specially chosen for the tropical climate so the cold wind started to blow straight through it. I stopped and put my rain jacket on that I had packed the last minute. When I came into the clouds, the temperature dropped even more and wet weather in 8 degrees (C) is not what I will call tropical climate. The gloves were wet, but luckily, BMW makes heated handles even in motorcycles sold in the tropics. Those Germans…

The top point of the volcano is 3432 meters high and it has three calderas; one main caldera that is 300 meters deep and and 1050 meter in diameter, and two smaller of one we can walk on. The volcano is still active, but the last serious eruptions was in the period from 1963 to 1965 were many eruptions even infected the nearby citys Cartago and San Jose. 

The main crater 

The lake in the crater Diego de la Haya

The third crater where you can walk

Irazu (from the navtive word Istaru meaning Thunder and Earthquake Mountain). 

On the way down from the mountain, I had the following rout description on a paper that I was given the same morning during pickup at the hotel. It was as followed:

From the Irazu volcano, continue to Turrialba. Take the same road back to Tierra Blanca and then to Cot. There you will get to the main road to Turrialba. Turn right and drive over Pacayas to Turrialba. 

That's it. 

I looked for a sign for Cot and I found one that pointed to the left in the next crossroad so I turned left as described. I didn’t know how far it was from the crossroad to Cot, but I soon realized that it was right by the main road to San Jose. I had problems finding the road trough Cot to get to the other side and then find the way to Turrialba. I tried them all. I was driving among cows, dirty roads, steep hills, and one time I thought I was on my way back up to Irazu. Nobody in Cot and the area around could speak one word of English.
After two hours I managed to get back to the main road and on a gas station I finally found an English speaking man. He could tell me what I already had figured out by myself; I should not have driven to Cot, but taken the next road to the left and then I would find my way to Turrialba.
Because there was no time or distance indications in the routing, I had no idea for how long I should ride before I should start to look for new signs. It was very confusing and I started to hate Lorena Amador from the tour operator Costa Rican Trails deep and heartfelt.

It had started to rain constantly and the visibility was reduced to the road only. I don’t like to ride in rain because I’m not a very skilled driver and on wet tarmac I feel like driving on ice. I never know where the limit is and I don’t dare to explore it with an expensive rented motorcycle. The route paper was starting to disintegrate in the rain. I needed my GPS and a functional USB charger!!

Don’t get me wrong, I had expected some rain and cold weather so I asked Lorena in an email what to bring of clothes to be prepared for everything. This is what she came back with: 

Costa Rica is an extremely casual, adventure-oriented country.  There will be no need for sports jackets or dressy attire.  You may find one or two pair of long pants to be sufficient as you will most likely spend most of your time in shorts, casual shirts and sandals.  Be sure to pack comfortable walking shoes and a light jacket for cool evenings. You will be visiting rainforest destinations so expect afternoon showers (During the months of May through November only).  Don't forget your bathing suit and sun-screen!

Sunscreen my ass! Afternoon showers from May to November only? It had been raining constantly for 8 of the 11 days so far. Shorts and casual shirt? In 8 degrees? Was she drinking all the time she was writing with me? I sent her an email with the USB problem and she came back with a suggestion that I maybe could find one in the town of Turrialba. She was probably drinking again. 

And here is what she wrote back when I told her about the wrong direction in the route: 

I check the itinerary with driving directions and doesn’t mention you need to go thru Cot. 

Obviously drunk... And I discovered later that IF i had a GPS I could find a way through Cot. 

A travel blog should contain lots of pictures. I am sorry I was not able to provide you with any after Irazu. And it should be worse...
I checked in at the hotel at 17:15, just before sunset. I had not seen the creation that overflows in unparalleled beauty in Orosi Valley, I actually don’t know if I was in Orosi Valley at all. I did not see one of the few remaining colonial churches and I have no idea where it was. I did not have the time to stop for lunch at a local restaurant, and I did not see the valley dotted with coffee, banana and sugarcane plantations.

So thank you very much for that guidance Lorena!

Route Day 1. On the right hand side of the map you can see where Puerto Viejo is, the place I stayed for ten days. 

Jaguar Rescue Center, Puerto Viejo

Christmas Day erupted with sunshine and not a cloud in sight. It was he first day on my vacation with warm, sunny weather. I rented a rusty bicycle with a loose seat for the small amount of USD 7 and headed for the Jaguar Rescue Center (JRC) 3-4 kilometer away. They have one tour starting 9:30 (too early) and one at 11:30.
The rescue center take care of all animals delivered to them. It is a nonprofit organization that only rely on donations and sales of tour tickets and souvenirs. Most of the workers are volunteers that sign up for a minimum of 4 weeks. They get no salary, no food and no accommodation. Our guide was a volunteer and she had sign up for 4 weeks, one and a half year ago. She was still there.

There are no jaguars in the center at the moment. The first animal they had was a jaguar – the two founders got it and tried to rescue it, but unfortunately, it died. They then started the rescue center and gave it the name after the jaguar that is one of the most endangered species in the area. The goal for the center is to put all of the animals back into the wild, but for some it is not possible for various reasons. The animals that is not possible to set free will they try to give a good life inside the center.

The first section was the snake caves. I don’t remember most of the snake names, but they had 10-15 different.

Green snake

Brownish snake

Another green snake

The next section was the most popular; the sloth section. At the moment they have eight grown up sloths that had come to them for different reasons. Most of them had been abandoned by their mother, but some of them had been found on the roadside after they had been hurt by a car. Broken bones is not good for sloths that are depended on the ability to climb trees. Everybody loves sloths. For some reason they remind me of koalas. Not by their look, but the way they live. They live in trees, moves very slowly and only eat leafs. Most of the time they sleep, about 18 hours a day.
There are two type of sloth in Costa Rica – the two toed sloth and the three toed sloth. The once they had in JRC were mostly the two toed.

Hanging sloth

Sitting sloth

Cozy sloth

Happy sloth :) 

They don’t have any jaguar, but they have a animal that resemble the name, but has nothing else in common; the jaguarondi.

Jaguarondi

The big Boa Constrictor was beaten up by somebody in a village because it had taken a woman’s cat. The woman demanded the cat back and the people at JRC had to tell her that there were no way in hell they would kill the snake for the woman to get back her half-digested cat.

Boa Constrictor 

They have some crocodiles and some caimans. One of the crocs they rescued from a bar where it was tied up, and the owner and some guests took their time beating it . When the people from JRC heard about it and forced their way into the bar with help of the police, it was nearly dead and had lost an eye. The problem with all the crocodiles is that they will not get a permission to release them ever. The number of these animals has started to be too big in Costa Rica so the government are now talking about a limited hunt on them to reduce the number. Rescued crocodiles will not be allowed back into nature.

One of the small monkeys had injured his arm and was left by his mother. Others have fallen from trees or have been held as pets. These are howler monkeys and they are very common in the area. A group of 2-3 animals was in the trees around us just over our head.

Howler monkey baby in Rescue Center

A wild Howler monkey in a tree nearby

A wild sloth was climbing one of the trees nearby. The center is in the jungle and there is a thin line between the wild and the center. And that is their purpose. Monkeys will start to be let free, but will come back at night. They will then gradually be more and more familiar with the wild and hopefully, one day they will not return.

Sloth baby in Rescue Center

A wild sloth in a tree nearby

A hawk they had there for a long time because of a broken wing went back to the wild, and these birds migrate to Canada every summer. Every winter it comes back to the center to get some easy food. They wouldn’t give him any – he was wild, so he started to kill some of the residents like the monkey children. After he had taken several rescued animals, they understood that they had to give him food when he returned in winter season. They gave him the name Terminator.

The Terminator

We were close to the end of the tour when we heard a crack in a tree nearby. A huge iguana had fallen down and stood a bit shaken behind the tree for a while before it started to walk away.

Wild iguana

I just love the fact that there are people out there that are willing to sacrifice years of their life to help animals in need without earning anything in return. All our guide had to depend on was the tip she got from tourist like me. 

Here are some pictures of other animals in the Rescue Center:

A pelican with a broken wing that will never be able to fly again. 3 days a week they take it to the sea so it can swim. 

Capuchin monkey

A pair of owls

Another monkey. 

A rattle snake