From Anchorage to Ushuaia by Bike

We forgot to tell you in our last article that the night that we met Sylvie and Kevin we also visited another Microfinance Institution in Léon, Nicaragua.

We’ve been riding with Kevin since Managua along the Panamerican, the only road between Nicaragua and Costa Rica. We’ve been up against a constant and strong headwind…. Our worst enemy – I hate it most of all. You could say that my mood is pretty much dependant on which way the wind blows. But I have to admit that in Central America, even though the wind slows us down and makes us work a little harder, it is also nice since the temperature never dips below 30°C. It’s actually better to have the wind on our faces rather than at our backs. Disconcerting, yes?

We rested for a day in San Juan del Sur, an old fishing village recently converted into THE beach front town in Nicaragua. 30 km away, we starting seeing English signs, and we were worried that it would be pretty much spoiled by North Americans. But we pleasantly surprised: the tourists hadn’t really upset the balance of the village. You want proof? We looked everywhere and we couldn’t find a single postcard! But we did find everything we needed for a perfect “rest” day: a little market for our local culinary needs, the ocean and a beautiful beach, and a wi-fi connection….

We took our time crossing the border from Nicaragua to Costa Rica. Before we could even get to the border, we were relieved of $1 each in the form of a “municipal tax,” a kind of rite of passage, if you will. Then we had to pay $2 each just be able to leave the country. We had already had to pay $7 each to get into the country! Kevin had only paid $3… nobody really knows why we had to pay more. It was free to get into Costa Rica, much to our surprise. As soon as we passed the border, the countryside changed dramatically: the vegetation was denser and more varied, the animals more frequent and diverse, and the road was narrower, windier, and steep. There was less garbage by the side of the road, although any garbage is still too much in our opinion. After La Cruz and a magnificent sunset, Kevin left us to follow the dusty roads through the mountains. We rested on the asphalt of the Panam – not the best choice. This is the most dangerous road that we’ve been on since Anchorage. The road is as narrow as the little country roads in the backwater provinces in France and there is same amount of traffic as a major toll highway! It’s horrible! We shook with fear every time a tractor-trailer or bus passed by us. At least our rear-view mirrors gave us a heads-up for the really dangerous ones, and we did have to “jump” a number of times onto the shoulder to avoid being fatally scrunched.

We detoured every chance we got into the side roads, although in the end they were just as busy as the Panam. Thanks to some vertiginous hills (inclines 12 km long with a 7% average grade and bits of more than 15%!) we dragged ourselves up to more than 1000 m in altitude, then headed back down into the central valley of Costa Rica. This was actually our most difficult day in terms of the ratio of altitude to distance (1521 m over 46 km). We were able to see Costa Rica, and all its well maintained landscapes, very different from the rest of Central America. English is common and there are shopping centers with prices in American dollars.

Coming up

Sara’s uncle, aunt and cousins are coming to visit us for two weeks. We’re taking a vacation with them in this peaceful paradise, after all the adventures of travelling through the last few countries.

This break will be outside the purview of the Association, but we’ll post all our stories on the website!

Sébastien