Back in Costa Rica

Greetings on another soggy Central American day.

Apologies for the delayed postings to the blog but with this incessant rain it is not always possible to get online and we do not want to use the satellite unit in the rain either.

Much has happened in the last few days but tonight we find ourselves back in San Jose for a few days.

Backing up a bit, on Sunday we took the first day off since we started the expedition and drove up the one side of the island and found this beach with no undertow and spent hours just swimming and relaxing by the ocean.

We had a good trip back on the ferry on Monday afternoon and drove till dusk to a small border town and crashed for the night.

Early the next morning we got to the Panama Costa Rica border and had to go through the normal under the table shenanigans to get through, though this time it was a little less expensive, it cost us two bus tickets.

The bridge crossing back to Costa Rica was also an experience unto itself because the bridge is an old railroad bridge with old planks and the railroad tracks still intact and in place that one has to keep the wheels centered between the wheels – it was quite the experience for the first time…

Back in Costa Rica we headed down the coast past Puerto Jiminez to Manzinillo where we camped out on Elsie on the beach for the night.

It rained a bit and was a little steamy but it was awesome going to sleep with the sound of the ocean and rain on the rooftop tent.

Leaving this morning we decided to head back to San Jose as we had some recent issues with Elsie to deal with once again – she is no cheap date to be sure.

Apart from still nursing the wipers along my blood ran cold on Tuesday morning when inspecting Elsie, I discovered that the nut on the rear left shackle bolt had worked loose and fallen off and the bolt had started to come free – all I can say is that I am so grateful to have spotted this as it could have meant a total disaster for us if it had in fact come free.

Also yesterday we were on some soft beach sand and started to bog down when I decided for the first time to engage the 4-wheel drive only to discover that the linkages to the transfer case had broken loose. It was only my past experience in 4-wheeling that got us out of the situation.

So that is the other reason we are back in San Jose a little earlier, to fix up Elsie and we also went to meet an attorney here who is a not only a gentleman but also someone I would highly recommend him to anyone looking for excellent representation in Costa Rica and he is also totally fluent in English.

For those of you in Guanacaste, we will start heading there on Friday if things go well tomorrow.

After a discussion with a client in Thailand and experiencing the same intense lateral rain that prevails in these high rainfall regions, we have come up with a method of covering the zippers to prevent the little water leakage that sometimes occurs.

Lastly we would like to thank everyone we have met so far for the kind welcome, hospitality and friendship you have all shown us, this has been truly appreciated.

We hope to get back on the blog by the weekend again.

Take care

Paul and Angelika