Double Jeapordy! Double Fun! Recon tours to Jesus Maria river. (And a bit about Nicaragua.)

It has been a while since I posted. I went to Nicaragua for nine days. First with a tour with Moto Travel Central America for three nights, then I stayed on my own to see more of the country. The group I went with was great! We laughed and enjoyed each other very much. The best of this ride with them was going to Ometepe Island and a ride through a wildlife refuge, where we crossed several creeks and one river.

I enjoyed the aliveness of Nicaragua, the wonderful highways, the cute little houses and shacks, the natural beauty, the people, and especially the volcanoes. What I did not like is the garbage and the scavenging, starving dogs. My favorite was the colorful, lovely historical city of Granada and the North-Eastern mountains. I made it home from Juigalpa in only eight hours, crossing the border in about 25 minutes.

The day after my return on Saturday the 18th, I went on a ride with Honda Red Riders, my first motorcycle group.

It was wonderful to see my friends, especially my Sensei, Felix Franco.

Anyhow, getting to the main theme of this Double Jeopardy post, yesterday, Thursday, December 23rd, my friend Robert and I first went to the mountains of San Ramón to check out a hotel where some friends of his wife were thinking of staying.

It is obvious that there are lots of roads to explore in the San Ramón area. (Hopefully, we will do route 742 down to San Jeronimo de Esparza with the Off-Road group this summer.)

However, throughout the ride, we FROZE!!! It was unbelievably cold and windy, especially through foggy Llano Brenes, but also all along the mountains. Neither of us were feeling well. My body ached all over, and the cold was unbearable. We decided to seek warmer weather down towards the coast. On our way, I asked him if he was willing to explore a left on route 756 between Cambronero and Jesus María. I had seen a sign that said left led towards the river Jesus Maria. Robert was willing, and off we went.

The road down had about 400 meters of big rocks.

Here is a video of Robert coming down, which shows a bit of the terrain towards the end.

We went down, but then decided to turn around. 😦 Given how the road was that we had passed, we did not know what was ahead. Robert always says that with one more guy, he would continue, but with just the two of us, best not. We were probably only about 150 meters from the river. 🙂 Oh well. Next time!!

Tell the truth, I was surprised at how one can go down and up these kinds of roads without any trouble.

After this, on our way San Mateo, I again asked if he was willing to go on another recon tour. For a long time I have wanted to do a loop up to Maderal, Dulce Nombre, and back down to Jesus Maria. He said yes! And, again, off we went!! Yay!!!

There were nice mountain and ocean views up there, and the road looked just fine. 🙂

But of course, the thing about recon tours is that one doesn´t know the route until one is already in the middle of it! Hahaha! It turned into a narrow, extremely rocky lane! I mean loose rocks! Lots of them!!! Down and up and down.:-)

We came upon an abandoned church. Interesting. Seeing two dogs, we knew were were close to civilization now and that the worse was over.

We crossed a little creek, then made it out.

Though worn out, we were delighted to have had such an exciting adventure on yet another recon tour! Yeah, double risk, double fun!!!

RIDING IN COSTA RICA: FEEL THE BEAUTY. KNOW THE LOVE. LIVE THE POWER.

Song: Thrill me!!!