Taking a punt on Puntarenas

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Well, Gentle Readers...where are we now?....still in Costa Rico and, as usual, feeling a whole lot better about these places once I've spent a couple of days...same old misconceptions, preconceptions etc etc ...so, we headed off to Playa Naranjas, a couple of hundred kms I think, roads were average, which means v good for CR, along lots of roads up to here I've been seeing gangs of guys with machetes slashing the grass at the side of the road..even right out in the middle of nowhere...but here in CR the grass grows right up to the edge of the bitumen and plants and trees have branches right up to the edge...and over...so a lot of the time its like riding thru a tunnel...I'm not normally claustro but this got intense and kept me on my toes..and sometimes we went thru enchanted forests...or haunted forests I guess, depending on your medication!...it was quite dark, lush green grass over the ground, hundreds of trees, all identical, trunks uniformly 4 inches thick and about 1 metre apart, no branches until about 4 or 5 metres high, then thick foliage across the entire area...fantastic...or spooky........also long stretches of rough, unmade road, like all good road authorities they have just torn up the bitumen in long stretches rather than have the potholes...we were playing cat and mouse with the rain, off to the left I could see this monster thunderhead and the rain falling out the bottom was like a giant tap it was soo thick...the road curved away...big sigh of relief, then turned back towrads it....big panic...eventually we caught the edge of it and pulled in to a servo to wait for the worst of it to pass...also to put the covers on the tank bags!....so, bits of rain on and off until we got to Playa Naranjos and the ferry....as expected we had just missed one and had 4 hours to kill....but around the building and the wharf, they had plenty of benches, even some of those cast circular concrete tables and benches....and an increasing line of semi-trailers gathering ...finally the ferry came into view...this thing is going at about 2 knots max!...but eventually pulled up, swung around and backed up to the ramp....at least it was cheap...like 2 bucks for the xing....looked familiar, same as the infamous Mexican ferry, like I'm hanging for the bar/restaurant and its a cattle carrier!...I had the dubious honour of being first on, we stashed the bikes off to the side and out of the way...then they started loading the vehicles....about 7 guys were giving instructions to each car and truck...you can imagine it!..luckily most drivers only listened to whistling boy who directed them with his whistlres like a farmer with his sheepdog...and he was packin em in...I mean, this was mirror scraping accuracy and cigarette paper, bumper to bumper...and they kept coming, container trucks felt like containers of lead!...this is a fairly substantial boat but you feel her heeling over as these suckers rolled on, an open back truck full of cattle, then more and more, finally a low-loader, one last container truck (Gash Trucking Co.) and then they squeezed 3 more cars in the very back...fcuk!!....like 8 or so truckas and 20 cars!!....then they tie a net about as substantial as a hammock across the back!!!....hope you've got the handbrake on!
So we finally sail off with necksnapping acceleration up to top speed...maybe 3 knots...I'm wandering around the top deck then I go for a wander, down below the vehicle deck...where no-one would go...hey, there is a bar...and a disco!!....hehehe....this is an ex-German ferry and turned out with a huge, air conditioned bar/restaurant...oh happy day...this is what I had wanted in Mexico!...so we got to Puntarenas about 7pm and dark so we holed up for the night. Pretty exy place, but we were able to park the bikes inside.....I woke up about 4am and the room was about an inch deep in water!!...I picked up all our stuff and dropped back into bed...in the morning we dried everything out .....sort of ironic, after keeping dry all day thru the rain storms, all Grant's paperwork gets soaked in the fcuking hotel!!
Next day into San Jose...do you know the way to San Jose?.....thats the easy bit, how do you find your way around or out of SJ...that is the question...you know, you look at the map...hey this is a no-brainer, neat grid pattern..soo simple...but the reality...jesus wept (sorry Benno) its a nightmare, no street is straight, theres hills and dips, the city is spread over rolling hills with massive gorges cutting across, roads suddenly swoop around and down, cross bridges and swoop up again...the map means abso nothing!!....anyway, after severak false moves and phone calls we track down our new best friend Dave, a young Canadian guy who has just set up the BMW dealership in SJ.....he got us sorted and we all went out for an educational evening to meet some local people....next day.....sort of a slow start...then we headed off to finally get to the Carribean.
Somehow found the road out of town...I kid you not, there are no signs on the streets and it seems like there are no real addresses...hard to imagine but you give the taxi driver instructions according to landmarks...too weird...so we got out, Grant and I, and headed for the coast....along the main road the signage was fantastic!......We had been warned about the cops here and there were lots and lots of them...and somehow they have gotten hold of radar guns and some lessons from the Vic Govt about fundraisers....but everyone driving is more or less forced into breaking the law!...the speed limit is 80kph...pretty sad...and everyone pulls out to pass whenever theres an op....and we were fanging it ...well, we had to get to where we were going!.....so we go up into the mountains again, nice and cool, riding thru the couds...they have cloud forest walks here...look out and see more of those high-flying, hungry eagles!!.....
..eventually and inevitably I won the cop lottery and got pulled over coming down a hill. I'd pulled a passing move on a couple of trucks over the double lines...so this cop waves me down and starts telling about the seriosness of crossing double lines.....I apologised profusely, said I just had to get past...he started talking about 20,000 cojone fine..about 50 bucks!!...I started trying to steer the conversation to the possibility of getting some tickets to the policemans ball...he goes and gets the big wad of tickets book, I realise I'm almost totally broke!!...he asks for my licence...I whip out one of the duds!!...and he wants to see the papers...no probs...then I show him my wallet and tell him I can pay 1 US dollar and 350 colones in coin...embarrassingly puny ammount!...I can see I'm fcuked...however, suspecting a curious mind in this guy, he's not unfriendly at all...I crank up the charm to 11 and start talking about life in Australia, the high cost of travel, how wonderful Costa Rico is...especially since they have eradicated corruption...jeez am I laying this on a bit thick!!....then he gets all keen on the travelogue....his mate strolls over and does the tough cop thing...gibbers on mas rapido, waves the ticket book...then he goes away....(Dave had told us the night before that 2,000 colones (5 bux) is the standard get-out-of-jail-free-card but, as I said, I had 1 buk and coins)...so we chatted and I smiled a lot and then he said OK, no ticket, you can go!....
About 20 kms up the road I'm thinking how lucky that was...and taking it easy on the road...a little silver car with 3 guys is right up my clacker so I let him pass, a bit later a huge silver Chrysler twincab pickup comes up fast behind me, I let him by as well...so...... the liitle guys about 150m ahead, the truck is 100 ahead.....were all doing about 100 kph ....next thing another big silver pickup coming towards us, veers across the road and straight at the little car!!...he gets forced off the road, the pickup stops right in the middle of the road, the pickup in front of me goes another few metres and slides to a stop across the road, hemming in the little car...as I pull up, right in the middle of the action, 8 guys all heavily armed jump out of the pickups, pointing the guns, yelling and screaming, they pull the guys out of the little car and flatten them onto the road...I'm sitting about 10 feet away wondering if they think I'm part of the plot, it was all so quick...fcuking unbelievable...so I start moving forward slowly, trying to slip away, one of the guys with a gun yells at me to stop...shee-it...then another car pulls up and a senior looking guy gets out...he comes up to me and signals that I can go...but the guy with the gun can't see the other guy telling me to go on so I'm waiting for him to suddenly turn around, see me going and start shooting!!...they're all military or cops or something, and fcuking twitchy as all get down....so I bite the bullet and try and drive away keeping the boss man between me and the gunman...like something out of the movies...how could this happen right here, right now!....
So, then I got to the turn off to Playa Viejo and waited for Grant, I wasn't sure if he had passed me while I was with the cop as I couldn't see....so I'm sitting on the bike by the corner...man, I could have sold tickets...once again these bikes are like sticky-beak magnets...everyone wants to know...and in a nice way, don't get me wrong...everyone is just curious..and when I smile and they see that Martians aren't all head hunters, everyones supercool...and up here theres a real Jamaican feel, settled by the Poms who imported the slaves from the west indies its like a liitle Carribean ....everyone speaks English..and with that far-out jamaican accent...like all good rastas mon...this taxi pulls over from the road and a woman in the back starts asking me all about me, the bike, the trip ...etc...shes got her baby with her, like its not a pick up or anything...just curious...and guys walking past start to gather, want all the details of the bike...fantastic...
Eventually Grant turns up...he got pinged for 120 in a 40 zone...they managed to fleece him totally...about 30 bucks he had on him...lesson for us all...carry a wallet with about 2,000 and just hand it over...thats what the locals say anyway....we'll see on the way back manana...
So Dave and his mate George turned up last night, we ran ran into them almost by accident...partierd on ...it pissed down for about an hour, real torential, tropical rain, beautiful...then today we got some fins and gogs and snorks and cruised down to the next beach for some skin diving...fabulous to be in the Carribean again, at last!!...and reasonable coral, not barrier reef stuff but mobs of fish and lovely deserted beach...goes on for miles...
Then on the way back, I went thru a big puddle and the front wheel just went side ways out from under me...shit!...but nothing broken as I was almost stationary...finally I get to join the club...Ted's had 2 downs and Grant 2 also, so I knew my time was up...luckily all our downs have been at stop or close......if that keeps up it'll be OK.
OK, time to go again...check out Ted's site www.tedgrambeau.com.au or via ripcurl...he's got more pix up and he gets back tomorrow with the camera fixed...and Grant's homepage.mac.com/gforbes3 for facts and photos too...
Ja is great

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