Day 40 – San Juan del Sur to Arenal, Costa Rica – Tabacon

From Motorcycle NY to SP

Short ride to the border which was not that bad once we selected a “helper” – the border crossing itself was pricey but it all went quickly as far as border crossings go – not the chaos we’ve seen in some other borders.
Driving into Costa Rica wasn’t all that different initially but then we started to realize that the roads were immaculate, the cars were all better and faster, the vegetation was more lush… less stray dogs, people, and street vendors on the side of the road… you can start to
see clearly that it is a richer country.
About 65 miles outside of San Jose we stopped to eat a little and met Gabriel. Turns out him and his family work with tourism – they build high end hotels in Central America.
He convinced us to go back a little ways on the road we just came through to go see the Arenal Volcano and to the resort his family built – the Tabacon – according to him the best and largest thermal spas in he world – not to mention an amazing drive along the lake and a very special rate he called in for us.
It was getting late and we didn’t want to drive on the small roads in the dark so we opened the throttle – ok ok – we just wanted to go faster and have some fun.
But our fun was cut short by a radar gun – yes – they have them here!
It was a 60km/h zone – he clocked us at 127km/h to my relief… let’s say we were going a little faster than that.
After saying I was really sorry, didn’t see the 60km/h sign, bla bla bla – he said it was a very serious offense, loose your license, apprehend the vehicle, go to court, 8 days, US$150 each driver bla bla bla…
Anyway – he let us off after a hand$hake worth more than a couple cups of coffee.
We slowed down and turned towards the secondary roads that were going to take us up to the lake and volcano region and finally to the spa.
The road was amazing, and then got better when we decided to take a short cut that showed up on our GPS – definitely the most technical/challenging off road stretch we’ve gotten so far. I enjoyed it immensely. Unfortunately I did not record it – thought I was recording but in all the excitement I did not start it properly..
We finally got to the spa on some secondary but well marked roads.
I guess we’re trying to break the world record of most luxurious motorcycle trip across Central America!
We checked in and went to spa – a large area full of natural pools of varied temperatures and mini water falls that massaged our tired backs.
Tomorrow back on the road to San Jose and get my bike serviced after I take some photos of this amazing place in the morning.