Met Dan an Australian who’s driving a Jeep Alaska to Tierra Del Fuego – his blog is here
Adrian (from the Netherlands) has been on many long trips with his BMW 1100GS and is great company – his trip log is here
I’ve decided to stop for the night in Tamarindo, Costa Rica. I can’t recommend it to anyone except those that want a mini-Cancun style holiday with surfing. All the shops are US style fruit/smoothie bars, multinational food or hotel outlets, and more non-Spanish speaking foreigners than I’ve seen in a while. After spending a second day here I can recommend Buon Appetito at the south end of the strip, a restaurant run by an Italian woman where I had the best coffee I’ve had in 7 countries and 3 months or so. The pancakes were light with strawberries and tropical fruits – well done. The town has an air of frustrated and bored US/CDN couples airing their grievances publicly, whether about the prices in the supermarket or each other. The other component are silent surfers who carry a certain stoned disinterest in their surroundings. Perhaps the Subway sandwich shop is all one needs in paradise.
I forgoed the fancy hotels when I came to town after being informed hautily by a receptionist that it was $70 USD and when I asked if they had anything less expensive she rudely told me It was four stars. So I ended up renting a pretty filthy room in a semi-permanent lodging place where I encountered Sergio the resident Chilean artist. Sergio’s a decent flatmate although doesn’t shine with his interests in cleaning.
The border crossing should be fairly simple, this one wasn’t.
It took me 4 hours starting at 9am. The steps included:
1) Paying municipal tax and then got across road for a ticket upon entry Nicaraguan side
2) Waiting in line at customs and being told I needed a signature on the ticket from a policeman somewhere outside.
3) Back in line and I’m told I don’t need anything else from Nicaragua. Get stopped to pay $3 USD for fumigation. They must have forgot about it because nobody even splashed water on my tires this time…
4) Go to Costa Rican side and get told to go to customs first for my bike. Customs says go to migracion first.
5) Wait in line for 30 minutes at migration and am told I need an exit stamp from Nicaraguan migracion.
6) 300 meters back to Nicaragua (through checkpoint) and get exit stamp.
7) 300 meters back to Costa Rican migracion where I just push in front of the 200 people waiting and get my stamp from guy playing with his iPhone before doing anything – like handing back my already completed paperwork. No air conditioning and 60 people in the room.
8) Back to customs building – can’t continue, need insurance in other building and copies, but copier is broken.
9) Get insurance $15 USD for Costa Rica and copies of stamp in passport and insurance receipt
10) Back to customes, get everything and am told I don’t need anything else – except a permit to drive in Costa Rica
11) Go 150 meters forward to another unmarked building, wait in two lines (first one incorrect) for 30 minutes. Told there is no stamp on my customs documents.
12) Back 150 meters to customs and get stamp.
13) Forward 150 meters to unmarked building and someone takes pity and says go to the front of the line. Exchange all documents for a printed one.
14) 100 meters forward to checkpoint. Incorrect plate number (A instead of a 4 for the first number on the plate)
15) Back to unmarked building, swearing and sweating. Get new document after short argument about whether it’s a 4 or an A
16) Back to checkpoint. Sorry, last two digits are now reversed (53 shown instead of 35)
17) Back to unmarked building, get new document with correct plates and get cheeky wink from bastard who gave me two wrong numbers.
18) Exit planet idiocy finally and get stopped by two police checkpoints within 20 minutes.
