*BIKE/BOAT CENTRAL AMERICA* Great Scott, he did it!

FIRST up was Huatulco, Mexico where I did a short ride to get my bike feel back after a winter of Nordic skiing. I had assembled the bike the night before from out of the Samsonite suitcase that came with the bike. The New World Tourist had arrived in January and I assembled and disassembled it several times at home to gain confidence in that process. It’s a bit more complex that my previous folding bike but once apart, it goes in a suitcase with ease and because of this, I feel it is far less vulnerable to damage during the airport to airport transport.

Folding bikes permit you to see sights you otherwise couldn’t; you get a feel for the country that a ship’s tour just can’t offer.

After a day at sea, the next stop was San Juan Del Sur, Nicaragua. I was a bit nervous riding by myself in Nicaragua but the ship’s tour staff assured me that it would be all right.

I rode out of town and took a turn down a dirt road. You really get to see how people live. I said, “Hola” to many people and finally one young lady suggested that I not go any further. She didn’t have to ask twice! I went back to the main road and continued on through a primitive toll barrier (bike riders were not charged). I had ridden about half way to Lake Nicaragua (roughly ten miles) over a very poor road, mostly unpaved, before I decided to head back. About this time I began to suffer from sore butt syndrome – a result of not sitting on a bike for any length of time since last fall. So after much standing on the pedals, which also was less stressful on the bike as well as my rear (since I don’t have a shock), I returned to the ship. Each of my rides on this trip lasted two to four hours.

In Costa Rica the ship came into Puntarenas. The port town is located on a 6 mile spit that juts into the Pacific. The road to the mainland is filled with traffic and I was warned to be extremely careful of careless drivers. I’m not sure how you can really control that situation and some passing buses came within inches of me, which was, to put it mildly, very uncomfortable. I finally reached a good road that even had a bike lane and eventually a paved bike path.

Another day at sea brought us to the entrance to the canal and on a second day on board we experienced the wonder of passage to the Caribbean Sea.

The next morning we arrived at Puerto Limon, Costa Rica. The naturalist on board had told us to expect vegetation to be far more lush on east side of Central America due to the prevailing east to west winds that caused rain to fall. This certainly proved to be the case. I really enjoyed this ride over some substantial hills leading to a flat agricultural region and eventually to a tourist area where locals were swimming in a river and tourists were experiencing canopy rides in cages hanging from cables in the trees.

We sailed to the Caribbean Island of San Andres, Columbia where I went on a snorkeling tour in the morning and rode the New World Tourist into the town of San Luis in the afternoon. The road was flat as it wound along the shoreline through some small towns for about 10 miles. I cut it a bit close on time and leaving town I realized I had taken a wrong turn and was heading on past town instead of back to the port. You really don’t want to miss the ship’s departure on one of these jaunts so I recommend that you carry a pump and one or two spare tubes and know how to use them!

My last biking stop was St. Thomas de Castilla in Guatemala. Last and best. I got a recommendation to go up to a waterfall about 3 miles from the port. The bumpy concrete road turned into an excellent smooth dirt road outside of town. A world apart from Nicaragua. While I was riding through town a young boy, who gave his name as Kevin, and a buddy of his joined me and asked where I was going. I really didn’t want the company but seemed to have no choice. We gained altitude rapidly and soon arrived at the waterfall. Kevin showed me a hidden path where we could get down to the base of the cascade to enjoy its beauty. On all the many hills, including a very steep, long hill, this 65 year old was able to drop into the lowest of 24 gears and climb up. Naturally at the top I found it convenient to stop for a photo op. Afterwards he said he had to get off to school and while I’m not sure it was the right thing to do, I gave him five dollars for accompanying me. This boy was intelligent and needs to focus on his education, not begging. I hoped he saw this as an entrepreneurial endeavor.

The dirt roads did a job coating the lower part of my NWT with mud so upon return I took a rag and cleaned it off as well as I could before getting on board. Since I was not going to ride again, I took the bike apart and realized that this was a golden opportunity to do a thorough job cleaning the last of the mud off the frame and components. I know I wouldn’t have gotten around to this if I had put it away with dirt still on the bike.

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