January 21, 2008
Sorry for the long wait but believe it or not my first priority has not been to sit at a computer for two or three hours and get my updates done. There is actually more interesting things to do here.
This is actually take two on this update. I do not want to say where I was because I want to keep everyone in suspense. I spent 45 minutes doing the update at an Internet cafe´ and then the computer shut off. As it turns out at this particular cafe´ the computers are set up for a period of time and then it logs off. 45 minutes of work was lost and I walked out after yelling at the worker and not paying.
It was another early day for me. It started out by getting up at 6:30 a.m. and leaving the house at 7:00 a.m. with Felix and Gerardo. It was a half hour trip to a tour of their family coffee farm. Felix says that their farm is approximately 3,000 acres but it appears to be much larger than that. They employ about 150 people year round and during the height of the harvest season there can be as many as 900 people working there. It starts at about 3,500 ft where the rain forest starts and continues up to about 4,500 ft. The beginning of the tour was where they process the coffee beans after they are harvested and then a tour of a house that the family uses for special occasions and parties. After that it was on to a tour of the property. The scenery was simply amazing. It is all on mountain sides with very little flat land and all I kept telling them is I could make a great off-road motorcycle track. It is really pretty sad when all I can think about is using their land for motorcycle riding instead of growing coffee and employing a small city. After driving around for about an hour or so it was time for breakfast. Before leaving the house Felix grabbed some eggs and when we arrived at the farm Gerardo dropped them off at the kitchen that cooks three meals a day for the workers that live and work on the property. There are about ten men and women that work in the kitchen that took some time out of their schedule to 
cook our breakfast of rice, beans, cheese, eggs and homemade tortillas made on the huge comal that is heated by wood grown on the property. I even had my first cup of coffee in I don't know how many years. They said it was great coffee and I am sure they were right but I have no perspective to speak from so I will just say it was good and I enjoyed it thoroughly. After everything was said and done, I could see myself spending some nice quality quiet time there but it was time to move on. We headed back to the house, packed up the bike and I hit the road at 11:30.
I took a different route out of the mountains than I took in and the views were beautiful but the moment was tainted by the potholed road and a lot of traffic. It was about a 45 minute ride to the town of Matagalpa on tight twisty roads and then it opened up a little bit until I hit the valley floor in Sebaco where the temperature was hovering around 92 degrees. I started out at 65 degrees in Jinotega 1:15 minutes earlier. The road from Sebaco to The border of Costa Rica was hot, fast and straight with not much top mention of interest.
I did happen to have an encounter with the local police department that is worth mentioning. As I approached the town of Masaya the road came to a "T". The right lane was forced to turn right by ways of a median which directed it to the right and the left lane did the same to the left. As I pulled up to the stop sign to make my left turn I saw there were about six or seven police officers with people pulled over. I made sure I came to a complete stop, looked both ways and began my turn when it was clear. Before I had even rolled 10 feet they were waiving me over to the side. I pulled over and started practicing my acting lessons that I never took. They were telling me that I did not use my turn signal which they were correct but I could not let them know that. I had the Stupid American act in full affect. They were pointing at my turn signal and asking for my license which I gave them. Once again they did not like the international driver’s license. After a few minutes of them pointing, waiving my license and telling me I am going to get a ticket they finally just got frustrated because I apparently could not comprehend what they were saying and gave me my license back and sent me on my way. I think the best part of it all was in the end one of them asked me where I was going. I told him to Costa Rica, which he then gave me directions for in Spanish. I thanked him and continued along my merry way.
Stupid American 1
Cops 0
As I mentioned before the rest of the trip to the border was uneventful. I arrived at the border to Costa Rica at 3:13 and figured I would have plenty of time to get through and find a hotel before dark. As I pull up to the border I see that it is by far the busiest border I have seen yet. I end up hiring a helper to get me through. It cost me $10 to employ him and to bribe the workers to get me to the front of the lines which easily saved me an hour or so exiting Nicaragua. Past that hurdle I figure I am in the clear but as it turns out there are just as long of lines entering Costa Rica. I acquire another helper and pay him and the officials $20 to put me on the fast track through. After a bunch of back and forth I am waiting in my last line with my helper long gone and the sun going down pretty fast. I have about five people in front of me and the person processing the papers calls the next person in line. That guy tells him to take me first because I am on a motorcycle and he also notices the sun going down. It took another five minutes and I was on my way. Now it is almost dark and I need to find shelter for the night ASAP. I turn up the speed a little bit and make my way to the first town about 10 miles inside Costa Rica, La Cruz. I locate a hostel type hotel right on the beach and inquire about a room for the night. He tells me that they are booked up. I ask him out of curiosity how much the room is and he replies $10. It turns out that I missed the deal of the century because it is all of about a 30 second walk to the Pacific. As I throw a leg over the bike to continue the search he comes out and tells me he has one room left. Once again luck is on my side for no apparent reason. I check in, do a few days updates, find something to eat and turn in for the evening.
Sorry for the long wait but believe it or not my first priority has not been to sit at a computer for two or three hours and get my updates done. There is actually more interesting things to do here.
This is actually take two on this update. I do not want to say where I was because I want to keep everyone in suspense. I spent 45 minutes doing the update at an Internet cafe´ and then the computer shut off. As it turns out at this particular cafe´ the computers are set up for a period of time and then it logs off. 45 minutes of work was lost and I walked out after yelling at the worker and not paying.
It was another early day for me. It started out by getting up at 6:30 a.m. and leaving the house at 7:00 a.m. with Felix and Gerardo. It was a half hour trip to a tour of their family coffee farm. Felix says that their farm is approximately 3,000 acres but it appears to be much larger than that. They employ about 150 people year round and during the height of the harvest season there can be as many as 900 people working there. It starts at about 3,500 ft where the rain forest starts and continues up to about 4,500 ft. The beginning of the tour was where they process the coffee beans after they are harvested and then a tour of a house that the family uses for special occasions and parties. After that it was on to a tour of the property. The scenery was simply amazing. It is all on mountain sides with very little flat land and all I kept telling them is I could make a great off-road motorcycle track. It is really pretty sad when all I can think about is using their land for motorcycle riding instead of growing coffee and employing a small city. After driving around for about an hour or so it was time for breakfast. Before leaving the house Felix grabbed some eggs and when we arrived at the farm Gerardo dropped them off at the kitchen that cooks three meals a day for the workers that live and work on the property. There are about ten men and women that work in the kitchen that took some time out of their schedule to 
cook our breakfast of rice, beans, cheese, eggs and homemade tortillas made on the huge comal that is heated by wood grown on the property. I even had my first cup of coffee in I don't know how many years. They said it was great coffee and I am sure they were right but I have no perspective to speak from so I will just say it was good and I enjoyed it thoroughly. After everything was said and done, I could see myself spending some nice quality quiet time there but it was time to move on. We headed back to the house, packed up the bike and I hit the road at 11:30.
I took a different route out of the mountains than I took in and the views were beautiful but the moment was tainted by the potholed road and a lot of traffic. It was about a 45 minute ride to the town of Matagalpa on tight twisty roads and then it opened up a little bit until I hit the valley floor in Sebaco where the temperature was hovering around 92 degrees. I started out at 65 degrees in Jinotega 1:15 minutes earlier. The road from Sebaco to The border of Costa Rica was hot, fast and straight with not much top mention of interest.I did happen to have an encounter with the local police department that is worth mentioning. As I approached the town of Masaya the road came to a "T". The right lane was forced to turn right by ways of a median which directed it to the right and the left lane did the same to the left. As I pulled up to the stop sign to make my left turn I saw there were about six or seven police officers with people pulled over. I made sure I came to a complete stop, looked both ways and began my turn when it was clear. Before I had even rolled 10 feet they were waiving me over to the side. I pulled over and started practicing my acting lessons that I never took. They were telling me that I did not use my turn signal which they were correct but I could not let them know that. I had the Stupid American act in full affect. They were pointing at my turn signal and asking for my license which I gave them. Once again they did not like the international driver’s license. After a few minutes of them pointing, waiving my license and telling me I am going to get a ticket they finally just got frustrated because I apparently could not comprehend what they were saying and gave me my license back and sent me on my way. I think the best part of it all was in the end one of them asked me where I was going. I told him to Costa Rica, which he then gave me directions for in Spanish. I thanked him and continued along my merry way.
Stupid American 1
Cops 0
As I mentioned before the rest of the trip to the border was uneventful. I arrived at the border to Costa Rica at 3:13 and figured I would have plenty of time to get through and find a hotel before dark. As I pull up to the border I see that it is by far the busiest border I have seen yet. I end up hiring a helper to get me through. It cost me $10 to employ him and to bribe the workers to get me to the front of the lines which easily saved me an hour or so exiting Nicaragua. Past that hurdle I figure I am in the clear but as it turns out there are just as long of lines entering Costa Rica. I acquire another helper and pay him and the officials $20 to put me on the fast track through. After a bunch of back and forth I am waiting in my last line with my helper long gone and the sun going down pretty fast. I have about five people in front of me and the person processing the papers calls the next person in line. That guy tells him to take me first because I am on a motorcycle and he also notices the sun going down. It took another five minutes and I was on my way. Now it is almost dark and I need to find shelter for the night ASAP. I turn up the speed a little bit and make my way to the first town about 10 miles inside Costa Rica, La Cruz. I locate a hostel type hotel right on the beach and inquire about a room for the night. He tells me that they are booked up. I ask him out of curiosity how much the room is and he replies $10. It turns out that I missed the deal of the century because it is all of about a 30 second walk to the Pacific. As I throw a leg over the bike to continue the search he comes out and tells me he has one room left. Once again luck is on my side for no apparent reason. I check in, do a few days updates, find something to eat and turn in for the evening.
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