To South America

Day 185-188 I stayed in Leon
Day 189 ta:2386 kt:93 gps: N 12°08.692' W 86°16.914'
Day 190 and 191 I stayed in Managua
Day 192 ta: 2109 kt:48.1 gps:N 11°55.905' W 85°57.414'
Day 193 I took the ferry to Ometepe Island

After travelling through Mexican colonial towns, Central American colonial towns seem pretty unimpressive. These cities have always been poorer and, hence have more interesting colonial architecture. Moreover, it seems like every Central American town has been destroyed, at least once, by an earthquake. Granada, Nicaragua has been destroyed by pirate raids. That being said, I stayed multiple days in Leon because it is very hot and I was comfortable in the place that I was staying. I didn't do anything special; I just lazed around and did mundane things like file my taxes and watch movies. The main highlight of my stay in Leon was meeting yet another cyclist who is on his way to Southern Argentina. His name is Eric. He is from California and he left from Northern Alaska nine months ago.
The other highlight of my stay was the food. Though it is not quite as good as the food from Mexico, it is a significant improvement over the food from Guatemala and Honduras. I enjoyed the manuelitas, which are like pancakes wrapped around cheese, and the tortas de lechuga, which is rice and beef wrapped in lettuce and then pan grilled.
I finally broke free from Leon and headed to Managua. I rode 90 kilometers starting at noon. On the road, I saw a pedestrian who looked like they had been killed by an overly aggressive bus driver. This seemed kind of ironic to me because, if anything, the drivers in Nicaragua seem to be infinitely more polite than other Latin American drivers. I even had taxi drivers yield the right of way to me. I was stunned. I think that this probably has something to do with the fact that the police actually enforce traffic laws here. I actually saw police using radar detectors while going into Managua on the main highway.
It is really hot in Nicaragua. It feels like an eternal Texas summer in the lowlands. I am well accustomed to the heat but it, nevertheless, saps my energy. I find myself staying in cities for extra time just so I can watch T.V. shows about spoiled, selfish Americans spending thousands of dollars so a plastic surgeon can suck miniscule amounts of fat out of them. I can't help but wonder about how the average Nicaraguan who is struggling to survive feels about Americans when they see these shows.
My guidebook says that Nicaragua is the second poorest country in the western hemisphere after Haiti. This isn't immediately apparent until you reach Managua. There are shanty towns constructed in the cities public parks, the roads have no labels, and there are holes that drop all the way into the cities sewer system as if people stole the lids and sold them for scrap metal. The poverty is not concentrated in any part of the city because it is entirely decentralized after having been destroyed more than once by earthquakes. The working poor of America have nothing on the working poor of Nicaragua. I would like to see an American survive by selling bags of water for ten cents each. As long as these conditions exist in Latin America there will always be illegal immigrants coming to the U.S. no matter how high we build a fence nor how many laws we pass against them.
I spent several days in Managua running errands which proved to be quite tedious due to the lack of proper road markings. I purchased a needle and thread so I can sew my tire back together if need be, sent a form to the I.R.S., and extended my visa in the immigration office.
Bureaucracy is the worst form of oppression. I would rather have my eyes gouged out by birds, take a tazer to the balls, or use sand paper as toilet paper. My personal version of Hell would be just like that of Sisyphus but instead of having a rock to roll up a hill only for it to roll down again I would have a form that needed to be notarized an infinite number of times in an infinite number of government agencies. That being said, I thought I would be able to get my visa extension in about an hour or so which was unrealistic because that would be some kind of bureacratic record. Not only did the clerk quit helping me to check her text messages on her cell phone but she actually left one line in a document unsigned so she could go eat lunch. I just said, "Fuck it." and went to go eat lunch myself. If I ever run amok I make sure to do it at some sort of bureacratic office and make sure I only kill bureaucrats. The experience was so aggravating that I decided to stretch my errands out to two days instead of one.
I eventually left Managua for a one-day stop at Granada and the onward to the Island of Ometepe. I have heard good things about this place so I hope that I won't be disappointed.

Day 194-199 I stayed on the Island de Ometepe
Day 200 ta:970 kt:30.8 gps: N 11°26.614' W 85°49.566'

My gear and my body are going through some wear-and-tear. The valve on my camelbak has a hole the size of a bird's eye, rendering it useless and forcing me to divert my trip through San Jose, Costa Rica to find a new valve or, if necessary, a new bladder. I can carry the same amount of water but I have to stop to drink it now.
I had a case of athlete's foot that turned into some painful blisters between my toes and then a bacterial infection. I have finally solved this problem by lazing around my hotel room and only wearing flip-flops so my feet could breathe. Since I am going to go back to exclusively camping in Costa Rica, I figured it would be best to solve this problem now. I don't want to get my feet amputed because I have gangrene( I am far from having gangrene).
While in Ometepe, I hiked to the top of the taller of the two twin volcanos named Concepción. I managed to save $20 by refusing to hire a guide. After the fact, one of the guides practically begged me to tell other travellers that it was possible to hike to the top without a guide. Seeing that it was his bread-and-butter, I acceded to this request. I would not particularly recommend this to the general traveller anyway because the trail is relatively dangerous and if you got hurt you might be stuck there for a couple of days. I, however, am stupid and have a G.P.S. device making it nigh impossible to get lost. The trail was steep and very rocky meaning that it was actually harder to descend than ascend. I conquered the mountain only to see a cloud-obscured sulfurous pit at the top and to be humbled later on. During the descent I had to step very carefully because there was always the danger of losing my footing or getting my feet wedged between rocks and stumbling forward, thereby breaking my ankles. I descended slowly, stoped a lot, and planned almost every step. By the time I got to the bottom, I was stumbling forward and my legs were trembling from having to balance backward on such a steep slope. As an added treat, my quadriceps stiffened up over the next few days to the point that it hurt to walk or get up from a lying or seated position. The spasms were so bad that it hurt when I barely touched them. I looked like an old man inching around with muscle spasms in my legs and blisters between my toes. I am better now and my feelings of youthful immortality have returned.
While recovering from my various ailments, I mostly found myself lying in a hammock and reading or watching movies with the hotel crew. Oh what a thrill it was to see the retrofuturistic dystopian shoot-em-up Robocop dubbed in Spanish. I actually remember going to see that movie in the theaters when I was kid. It actually made me start thinking about the present state of the world. The prices of food and fuel (they are related) have been marching inexorably upward for the past year while we are most likely about to enter into a multiyear recession caused by the bursting of the international housing bubble. There are food riots in Haiti and road blockades in Managua to protest rising fuel prices. The Chinese and the Indians want to drive their cars everywhere and eat meat every meal just like the Americans and in doing so are proving just how unsustainable our lifestyle is with a planet of only six billion people on it. I hate to think about how bad these problems will be in 2050 when the world's population is projected to reach 9 billion people. In a few decades the Detroit City of Robocop will seem quaint compared to the reality. Make and sure to stop and smell the roses now while you can before global warming kills all of the rose bushes.

Day 201 ta:2383 kt: 59.1 gps: N 11°03.142' W 85°37.565'

This morning when I woke up there was a man who had just gotten his passport and $600 stolen from the people he was sharing his room with. I think he was Costa Rican. I felt sorry for him because he was in a bad situation but I also feel like he could have been more careful. If I am in a shared room I sleep holding my wallet and passport and my knife is never farther away than arm's reach. You can never be too careful.
I crossed into Costa Rica today. It was surprisingly more annoying getting out of Nicaragua than getting into Costa Rica. I had to stand in line and wait for the immigration officer to give me my exit stamp whereas when I got to the Costa Rican immigration office I didn't have to wait in line or pay any money for my entrance exam. I have become a veteran border crosser at this point in my journey.
Costa Rica is supposed to be a lot better off than Nicaragua. This is not immediately apparent as you cross the border but becomes more so once you go further inland. The houses are constructed more or less like they are in the U.S. and not made of mud and scrap metal like they often are in Honduras or Nicaragua. There seem to be more trees than are on the isthmus in Nicaragua but it is still hot and dry which should change as I enter more highly elevated land soon.
This morning, the morning before I left Rivas, Nicaragua, I went to the marketplace to eat breakfast. There was a crazy homeless man who seemed to get his kicks by touching people on the back of the neck. When he tried to do it to me earlier, I just turned around and said, "No!," thinking that he was trying to ask me for money. I don't like being touched by strangers at all. It wasn't until later that I realized that this was how he amused himself. I felt bad entertaining myself with his insanity but I couldn't help but laugh while watching the reactions of different people. Some people just ignored him and continued walking while others slapped his hand away. The funniest moment is when a man reared back in a boxer's stance to fight him. When I asked some ladies at the bus station next to the marketplace what was wrong with him they told me he had smoked too much crack. Oh well, I guess he brought this on himself.

Day 202 ta: 1966 kt: 82.8 gps: N 10°31.544' W 85°15.755'

It was surprisingly cold when I woke up this morning. I was, after all, in the lowlands where it is quite hot during the day. The reason for the chilliness was the strong wind that was blowing from the mountains to my east towards the sea to my west. There were times when the wind was so strong that I had to ride diagonally just to ride straight and keep myself from being blown off the road.
My previous two days were meant to be light, therapeutic days to stretch out my still tight quadriceps. This definitely did the trick. I feel as good as new and I think I could have conceivably rode another 60 kilometers today if I hadn't taken my four hour lunch and internet break.
I have seen a lot of people riding nice bikes here. This leads me to think that I should have no problem replacing my camelbak and finding new bike tires. I think that I will save this errand for San Jose as I am getting along fine with these tires right now.

Day 203 ta: 4372 kt: 51.4 gps: N 10°26.272' W 84°56.836'

Though beautiful in many places, the entire country of Costa Rica seems to be one giant tourist trap. The citizens of Costa Rica have devised numerous ways to get gringo money. I even see signs, in English, advertising time shares. Everything here is at least 50% more expensive than the rest of Latin America except, maybe, the internet cafes. For this reason, I have decided to camp the whole way except for when I am in San Jose looking for bike supplies. Fortunately for me, there seem to be laws governing the offset between the highway and fences. I haven't had any problem finding good hiding places.
I spent most of my day charging up a hill and into a headwind. I knew I was in trouble when I saw the windfarm on top of the hill. I have a feeling that I am going to be charging into this headwind for the next couple of days.
The part of Costa Rica that I am travelling through is cowboy country through and through. When I stopped in the town of Tilaran, they even had some kind of horse parade. All the horses were trimmed and made-up while the men and women were wearing their cowboy best.
I decided to call an early day, not because I was tired, but because I liked the spot where I was at. My original plan was to ride to a hotel close to the bioreserve of Monteverde and use it as a base of operations to explore the park. My new plan is to ride to the park and ride back. I don't trust the accuracy of the Lonely Planet anymore and I don't want to be gouged by a local hotel.
When I was riding up a hill today I found a new treasure: it is a motorcycle helmet, not one of those full-face helmets but one that only covers the top of my head and has spikes on it. It has a faded sticker on it that says, "Ride it like you stole it." I usually don't like helmets but this one makes me look lie a post-apocalyptic bandit in a Mad Max movie. Hell yeah!

Day 204 ta:3196 kt:23.3 gps: N 10°21.222' W 84°52.217'

I woke up with a sore throat, afraid that I was coming down with a cold. This is not the greatest way to feel before you enter a dirt road. The useless Lonely Planet, or course, doesn't mention that it is an unpaved road. There are all sorts of trips for gay travellers but none for cyclists. The funny thing is that I haven't met a single openly gay traveller but I have met nine other cyclists. I am happy that there are tips for gay travellers; I just wish that they indicated unpaved roads on their maps.
The feeling crappy and riding on the dirt road were all worth it because I saw one of those gorgeous green-beaked toucans. Parrots are as common as pigeons and monkeys are as common as squirrels, but toucans are relatively rare and elusive. Maybe some time shortly I will get to see a quetzal. That would be something.

Day 205 ta:3252 kt:32.4 gps: N 10°28.177'
Day 206 I stayed in Tilaran
Day 207 ta:1145 kt:12.5 gps: N 10°31.245' W 84°57.724'

I still wasn't feeling super-great on the day that I was supposed to go to Monteverde. Because of this, I ended up stopping and turning around about 8 kilometers before I got to the park. I was just going to turn around anyway and I was getting tired of the crappy dirt road. I had reached a point in the road where I couldn't start back up after I had stopped to take a rest. There are not a lot of things that are as frustrating as losing your traction while going up a 15° dirt road. I had already seen a green-beak toucan, a green toucanette, and some pretty scenery so I was happy.
Going back towards Tilaran was a lot easier due to the fact that the head wind was now a tailwind. The wind was so strong that there was actually one part of the road where I accelerated uphill without pedalling.
I still felt a little funky when I reached Tilaran so I decided to stay at a hotel for a day. I had a slight fever and a runny nose so resting seemed like a good idea. When I took a shower, an entire river of dirt flowed off of my skin into the drain. It was satisfying to be clean again.
When I finally made it out of Tilaran today, another screw in my bike rack jiggled loose and caused me to turn right back around. I found one screw but the other was missing and I thought it would be better to deal with this while I was close to civilization. I think that I had been missing one screw for a while because I noticed a strange feeling whenever I stood up while going uphill a couple of days earlier but I couldn't figure out what was wrong with my bike. Since I often spend entire days on my bike, I am quite attuned to weird sounds and feelings but I can't always figure out what is causing them. I stopped and checked my bike many times but didn't notice the screw was missing until today. This was an easy problem to fix but it delayed my leaving the city even longer.
I am camped right now on top of a hill in someone's ranch. How can I not camp at a place like this when they make it so easy to enter their property by giving me gates. Anyway, I plan to get up early tomorrow and leave before anyone notices anything. If there were no clouds, I would have an unobstructed view of Mount Arenal, the most active volcano in Costa Rica.

Day 208 ta:4038 kt:71.8 gps: N 10°28.731' W 84°36.200'

I rode along the northern edge of Arenal for most of the day today. There was a lot of tree cover so I didn't have to deal with the fierce headwind but the hills did add up. There were many signs, in English, proudly proclaiming the area as Costa Rica's "Lake Tahoe". Yuk!! I saw so many "For Sale" signs that and ads for realtors that I couldn't help but wonder if Costa Rica was going through a housing bust of its own. The lake isn't that great in my opinion. I would much rather live along Lake Atitlan in Guatemala than here. The only active draws here are the jungle wildlife and the very active Arenal which constantly puts on nighttime lava shows.
I saw more toucans today. I was also finally able to take a good picture of a monkey. He was perched on a branch right off of the road, just at eye level. When I got my camera out he just stayed there calmly while I shot my picture. That will not happen again.
When I was riding by the volcano, it started smoking real heavily. This excited me because I thought I was going to witness a major eruption and I have always wanted to see one. I didn't want to see anything of Krakatau magnitude but I did want to hear explosions and feel the earth tremble. Alas, it was not meant to be. By the time I stopped my bike to take a picture, the angry volcano had relaxed a bit and was no longer pumping out large amounts of ash. Maybe, I will get to see something like this in South America.
After I arrived in the town of Fortuna, Costa Rica, I was very surprised to run into Sjaak, the very first cycle tourist whom I met in Zacatecas, Mexico. I thought he would be well into South America by now. I felt bad that I had to cut our conversation short but the sun was about to set and I had to get out of the tourist-trap town. It is always a bad sign if you are in a Spanish speaking country and, yet, all the signs are in English. There are also lots of expensive looking hotels with views of the volcano along the road. I got out of the city with about 30 minutes to spare and am now camped on the edge of some kind of orchard. I can not identify the trees which have all been planted in rows here. Maybe they bear some kind of nut. Anyway, I would have a good view of Arenal if it wasn't shrouded in clouds, again.

Day 209 ta:3615 kt: 69.5 gps: N 10°20.794' W 84°14.678'

I have been slacking off recently but I have a nice punishment planned for tomorrow: I get to start my day off with at least 5,000 of ascent. Woo hoo! The mountains to my south look imposing and intimidating being cloaked in clouds. A number of people tried to give me directions for an easier way to San Jose from Ciudad Quezada but I paid them no heed because I would rather suffer a little and go on the more scenic, mountainous route.
There were a bunch of red-winged blackbirds on the side of the road today. They are supposed to migrate as far north as Texas but I have never seen one there before.
Right now, I am camped above the Rio Toro underneath the bridge that passes over it. The rapids here have the muddy appearance of volcano run-off. The water has stained the rocks on the edge a coffee color. It really makes me want to take up kayaking.

Day 210 ta:7395 kt: 74.2 gps: N 9°56.277' W 84°04.480'
Day 211 I stayed in San Jose
Day 212 ta: kt:14.8 gps: N 9°50.927' W 84°05.976'

Near the beginning of my day riding towards San Jose, I found a hummingbird on the side of the road. It actually willingly perched on my finger when I went to pick it up. If it was sick, I didn't want it to die the undignified death of being splattered by a semi. Eventually, after I tried to get it to perch on a barbed wire fence, it flew off on its own as if nothing were wrong.
I knew that I was going to have to pay for my sin of sloth and, boy, did I suffer. I actually ascended more in one day than I have ever done before. There were several times when I had to stop and ring about a pint of sweat out of my shirt. Despite my suffering, the ride was beautiful. The whole area between the town of San Miguel and San Jose is mostly undeveloped cloudforest. There is some development along the side of the road but it is mostly untouched. I even passed by a couple of pristine waterfalls that are right next to the road.
I didn't get to San Jose until after nightfall because of my all-day-long ascent. Arriving in a large metropolitan area at night is not my favorite thing to do but it is a necessary evil sometimes. I had to come to San Jose because I needed to look for replacement parts for my bike and camelbak. I did manage to find the hostel where I wanted to stay but not without riding through some sketchy areas of town filled with the usual suspects of glue-sniffers and thuggish looking people.
The place where I stayed is called Tranquilo Backpackers. It is in downtown San Jose and was a pretty good value for my $10 a night. They whip up a bunch of pancake batter every morning for all of the guest to make their own pancakes. It is kind of fun to see the disasters that some people cook up. They have free internet and the first steel-stringed guitars that I have seen in all of Latin America. Most importantly, they have a kitten. I could see myself being comfortable at this place for a while but that $10 can add up fast.
As usual, I didn't actually leave the city until real late. I discovered some loose screws with stripped nuts that I felt that I had to replace. This of course, took more time to do than I anticipated because it was hard to remove the old screw. I also promised a guy from Singapore that I would fetch a pair of sunglasses for him because he like the pair that I had just purchased. That being said, I barely made it out of the city. I am now camped in a banana/coffee plantation right now hoping that I don't get discovered. Because I am crazy and a glutton for punishment, I think I am going to ride straight through the highest part of the country over the next couple of days.

Day 213 ta:1744 kt: 16.1 gps: N 9°46.527' W 84°04.247'
Day 214 ta: 2796 kt:18.1 gps: N 9°44.596' W 83°58.337'

I haven't travelled much in the last few days but I did read over 300 pages of a book and finish it. I have become a voracious reader on this trip. Already, I have probably tripled the number of books that I have read since I graduated college four years ago. I have been reading so much that it has slowed me down every time I have a good book.
The mountains where I am at are covered in coffe plantations. If they aren't covered in coffee plantations they are covered in cloudforests. It is mostly cool and misty where I am at right now. I might top out at over 10,000 feet tomorrow so I expect it to be downright cold. I will probably have to dig out my cold weather gear. I am already wearing my full length bicycle tights.
Yesterday, I passed the satellite dish that I believe scientists use to try to communicate with extraterrestrial life forms. It was huge, at least 50 feet across. Shortly afterwards, I saw a turquoise-browed motmot. It has a funny name but it is a beautiful bird. It is the national bird of Nicaragua but they live in Costa Rica, too.
My flashlight has become my latest gear casualty. It barely gives off any light at all and bleeds the battery after I turn it off. I don't think that there is a single piece of gear that I can't destroy on a bicycle tour.

Day 215 ta: 4890 kt: 89.4 gps: N 9°22.461' W 83°42.183'
Day 216 ta: 1075 kt: 32.9 gps: N 9°15.296' W 83°30.427'

Yesterday, I climbed to the top of el Cerro de la Muerte which means the Hill of Death. It seems like a pretty ironic name since the place is overgrown with plant life. I topped out just 8 feet shy of 11,000 feet. Even in the tropics, it is cold above 10,000 feet. The rain didn't make things any better. It was misty all morning but it actually started raining about 4 hours before sunset. I had finally figured out a comfortable clothing arrangement until it started to raining. I kept my torso covered while I allowed my body to cool through my bicycle tights. The rain fucked that arrangement up. I was able to stay warm until I started to descend but, once I started to descend, I got real cold real fast. I had to stop at a restaurant and have some hot soup and hot tea. I didn't want to get hypothermia. I also put on some extra winter gear for the descent.
The 8,500 feet of descent might have been a lot more fun if the roads weren't slick and I wasn't cold and wet. I had to hold onto my brakes the whole time just to prevent myself from sliding out and losing traction. I used my brakes so much that I had to stop just to give my hands a rest every once and a while. If the conditions were dryer, I would have zoomed down the entire mountain at 50+ kilometer per hour and would have had a hell of a time doing it.
The whole area that I rode through has an almost enchanted feel. All of the forests here are as green as can be. Plants grow on plants which grow on other plants. Occasionally a view of the mountainside with clouds rolling up the hills would open up. If I wasn't so cold and wet, I would have been mesmerized by the beauty of this place.
I pretty much decided that I was going to ride all the way to the town of San Isidro, Costa Rica, named for the patron saint of farmers. I wanted to stay in a hotel as soon as it started raining. Unfortunately, the sun set before I got there. All those years of riding my bike at night ninja-style without any lights or reflectors paid off as I was able to successfully navigate the highway and avoid vehicles.
I only got a half-day of riding in today as I got enmeshed in the comforts of the city as I have a tendency to do. With about three hours to go until the sun set, it started raining again. Rather than tough it out, I decided to set up camp early. I really get tired of waking up with wet shoes. Hopefully, I can make it to Panama with minimal rain.

Day 217 ta: 2321 kt: 71.1 gps: N 8°57.815' W 83°08.993'

I rather enjoyed a nice leisurely ride through many miles of virgin rainforests today. My favorite part was when the road followed the clay-red colored Rio General. There was even one spot where two twin 200-foot waterfalls flowed into the river. While I was relaxing by the waterfalls, I saw a coati. I should cross into Panama tomorrow. I am expecting more mountains and more cloudforests. The stretches of road that travel from San Miguel to San Jose and then from San Jose to San Vito on the border have been two of the more scenic routes that I have followed.
I read in the news recently that an Arkansas is supposed to give birth for the eighteenth time. I am disgusted. I don't care if the family is debt free. The average American consumes 32 times more resources than the average person in the developing world. Since the world's farmers sell their crops to the highest bidder, people like here are the reason that Haitian children eat mud.
I have also been thinking about Barack Obama's former pastor, the Reverend Jeremiah Wright. I think he is taking it a little far to say that there is a conspiracy to kill black people with A.I.D.S. but I think he has a point when he says terrorists attack us because we commit acts of terrorism. When our government assassinates a Somali warlord we say it is a necessary strategic elimination. When Hezbollah assassinates a Lebanese leader, we say it is terrorism. When we secretly fly someone to a country that uses torture and don't allow them to communicate with anyone, we call it extreme rendition. When the F.A.R.C. kidnaps someone and holds them for ransom we call it terrorism. I am not saying that these are not terrorist acts, I am saying that we commit terrorist acts, too. There can be no double standards. All is fair in love and war and war is hell. For every terrorist action there is an equal/greater terrorist reaction.

Day 218 ta: 4355 kt: 51.3 gps: N 8°49.079' W 82°51.783'

I planned to cross the border into Panama today but my plans were thwarted by dirt roads and rain. When I arrived at the border, the immigration offices for both countries were already closed.
Just to prove that things operate differently here in Latin America, I am camped at the police station. I asked permission and they said yes. I could have easily crossed into Panama illegally but I am not anxious to find out what kind of bureaucratic delays this could cause. I plan to get my exit and entry stamps when I wake up tomorrow.
The rear hub on my bicycle is loose and it is making me nervous. If it wasn't a sealed hub, I would swear that I needed to regrease and repack the bearings. My wheel jiggles from side to side. I can feel the play in the wheel whenever I go uphill. Hopefully, I will be able to tighten my hub and solve this problem tomorrow morning. If not, I can add sealed hubs to the growing list of bicyle parts that I have ruined in my eleven years as a bicycle commuter. I should be able to make it to David, Panama soon where I should be able to get a new hub.

Day 219 ta:4564 kt: 54.8 gps: N 8°40.140' W 82°37.916'

When I woke up this morning, I had to wait for the Costa Rican and Panamanian immigration offices to open so I played with my rear wheel. I managed to tighten the two bolts on the outside of the wheel and this solved my jiggly wheel problem but now it doesn't seem to spin as well. I think I am going to have to replace the hub.
I had to wait an extra hour for the Costa Rican immigration office to open. Even though the buildings are no more than 200 feet apart, they operate in different time zones. That was no problem. I just went and ate breakfast while I waited. It cost me $25 to enter Panama, about $20 more than I expected. I might as well throw my fucking useless Lonely Planet away because, although it is the newest addition, it is thouroughly outdated by the time it is published. This, fortunately was no problem because I expected to have to pay the Costa Rican immigration office $26 and didn't have to pay anything. I should have plenty of money to make it to David, Panama.
Speaking of money, although the Panamanian standard of living is high, Panama does not suffer from the scourge of too many tourists like Costa Rica does. I immediately realized that the food was about 33% cheaper than in Costa Rica; it is better, too.
I probably rode through my last Central American rainforest today. It is replete with exotic plants, wildlife, and waterfalls cascading down cliffs on the side of the road. Tomorrow I should enter the Pacific lowlands where I expect to see a bunch of boring farms and ranches. Oh well, I should be in Colombia soon.

Dady 220 ta: 1247 kt:70.2 gps: N 8° 24.038' W 82°12.816'

Rain has been the story of my last week. It has rained 5 out of the last 6 days. It rained real hard today. I think that the rainy season is beginning.
I remember when a friend of mine from high school and I would trade irreverent jokes. I would say, "When it rains, God is pissing on us.", and he would reply, "It only rains when the angels masturbate." Ancient cultures prayed to the rain gods but I wonder if the nomadic tribes were among them. Rain is great when you are inside by the fire and you have crops planted but not so great if you are on the back of a horse or on foot in an open plain with no trees. All the rain does then is makes you cold and wet.
I have been a waterlogged nomad for the last week. At 11,000 feet, I had to take precautions against hypothermia. I had to hold my brakes while riding downhill so my wheels wouldn't lock up and slide out from underneath me. A slide-out at 50 kilometers per hour can be deadly and, at the very least, break my hip. It also only seems to rain when I am climbing mountains and it is uncomfortable to wear my rain gear because of all the sweating I do underneath. From now on, I am going to try to do most of my riding before the afternoon because that is when the rain comes in the tropics. I am camped underneath a bridge right now which means that I won't have to use my rain fly for my tent and I will wake up dry and happy.
I read in the news that the Vatican has given its official approval to the belief in extraterrestrial life forms. If only it could approve of contraception.

Day 221 ta: 4133 kt:96.6 gps: N 8°12.151' W 81°30.575'

It didn't rain today and for that I am grateful but, man, was it humid. The air was so dense with moisture that it actually started drizzling without there being a cloud in the sky. I have actually seen this phenomenon a couple of times in Costa Rica as well. It did not rain but it might as well because my shirt, bike shorts, and socks were completely soaked with sweat. To make matters worse, I have developed one of the rashes caused by the excessive moisture and friction in a sensitive, unmentionable area. All I can do is apply appointment to it.
Aside from the heat and humidity, I actually had a good day. I discovered a distinct form of Panamanian music called cantadera. When I heard the music, I had one of those reactions where I geeked out and starting asking as many questions as possible about it. I plan to do some more investigation and buy some pirated CDs soon.

Day 222 ta:2653 kt: 103 gps: N 8°08.214' W 80°41.078'

I had two wildlife highlights today: I saw a large butterfly with purple wings and a live snake. I have seen plenty of snake roadkill but this is, surprisingly, the first live snake that I have seen in Latin America. I did not see if it was a pit viper nor did I try. I am not particularly afraid of snakes but I am wise enough to let them run since I do not carry antivenom as part of my medical kit. Generally, if you make any noise at all when you walk and watch where you step, you won't have any problem with snakes.
After I passed through Santiago, Panama today, the land flattened out and I had a nice strong tailwind. I was flying. If the land remains flat tomorrow and I have the same tailwind, I might try to ride the entire 215 kilometers to Panama City. That is a big if though. If anything, I would like to ride over a hundred kilometers tomorrow so I can get to Panama city before nightfall the next day.

Day 223 ta:1376 kt:64.9 gps: N 8°30.834' W 80°20.954'
Day 224 I stayed in Penonome
Day 225 ta:1520 kt:60.5 gps: N 8°29.871' W 79°57.482'

Whenever I plan on a long day, something always ruins it. The strong tailwind shifted into a strong headwind, I had several flat tires, and my rash graduated from being merely irritating to being painful.
I had the opportunity to learn how to sew my tires shut when the steel wire that gives my tire form seperated from the rubber in another spot. At first, it was frustrating trying to figure out the proper stitching but I eventually figured it out. My rear tire looks bad. Not only have I worn off the treads but I can actually see the thread mesh poking through the rubber. I absolutely need to replace my rear tire in Panama City. It will not last much longer. I also need to replace my rear cassette, chain, and brake pads. I rode around Penonome for a while looking for replacement tires but to no avail.
My bike is not the reason I stopped in Penonome. My rash in the unmentionable place, let's just call it saddle sore, became so painful that it hurt to ride my bike. There is only one cure for saddle sore: get off the saddle and don't wear tight shorts. I rented a room in the cheapest hotel room that I could find and spent a lot of time watching T.V. in my room naked. The day of rest helped me and I can now ride my bike without grimacing in pain.
Panama actually seems to have a culture distinct from other parts of Central America. Children here play baseball instead of soccer, lots of men wear distinct straw hats that look like cowboy hats curved upward at the front, and there seems to be a lot more racial diversity here. There are blacks on the Caribbean side of all Central American countries and there are Asians in all of the big cities but Panama has sizeable minorities of both in all of the towns on the Panamerican highway. Another thing that I noticed is that most of the general stores and restaurants are owned by Asians. There also seem to be larger numbers of indigenous people in Panama than in the other Central American countries with Guatemala being the obvious exception. The Kuna Indians seem to have the most style out of all the Indians I have seen in Central America. I really appreciate all this racial diversity. It all contributes to a very unique culture.
All say several items in the news that were of interest to me. One is that there is a church of the Jedi in Great Britain. The entire religion is based on the philosophical musings of Yoda and the rest of the Jedi Council from the Star Wars movies. George Lucas should be proud that he unintentionally spawned a new religion.
The other article that I saw was an article that stated that the average American wedding cost over $28,000. I was disgusted. That is so wasteful. To put in context, I would like to show how much money this would be if it were invested over a 50 year period at a 10% rate of return which is doable. I estimated up to $30,000 to simplify matters. When I punched the number into an interest rate calculator, it ended up being over three and a half million dollars. Considering that most marriages in the U.S end up in divorce, I would rather keep the money. I would rather have a pepper spray enema than marry one of these golddiggers.

Day 226 ta: 3025 kt: 89.1 gps: N 8°58.976' W 79° 31.494'
Day 227-231 I stayed in Panama City

I made it into Panama City with a few problems but nothing that I couldn't handle. I had to fix a spoke and my rash came back. When I reached the Bridge of the Americas, a cop made me get off my bike and hitchhike across. I was ready to go across but the cops seem to frown on that. There are some gnarly looking ghettos on the other side of the bridge but I didn't have any problems there.
I haven't done anything special here in Panama City. I have just rested and surfed the internet a lot. One day, I rode down to the ghetto and bought a pirated copy of the new Indiana Jones movie. The quality of the movie is terrible but the credits were in French which makes me think that a person snuck a camera into the Canne's film festival in France and filmed the premier of the movie. Go pirates!
My bike was hurting. I replaced the rear tire, rear cassette, chain, brake pads, and rear hub. I am proud to say that this is the very first time that I have destroyed a hub. I am very proud of that accomplishment.