La Moskitia Honduras (Plus Broken Leg)

I've been reading this since Part I. You're riding those muddy roads with those tires! Thanks for the follow up.

This is an incredible read. Thanks for taking the time.

...thanks for sharing




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Appreciate the comments! have internet today and will try to get some more pics up.

well as it turned out I just stayed put in dominical and surfed my ass off for a few days. good times. back on the road now but sadly, no time left to meander and explore the dirt. need to head straight to panama city tomorrow and see about shipping the bike. short trip is better than no trip!

Next day I got up to catch the boat to los chilles but the 9am boat was full. They said come back at 4pm for the larger boat which can fit a bike and has plenty of space. My only other option was to backtrack around lake Nicaragua to the main border crossing with costa rica, which was an 8+ hour ride. Figured I would wait instead. Took off for a ride for the day, a loop up the river north of san carlos.

The San Carlos dock



The morning boat, which was full. Personally I could've got the bike in there but they weren't interested.



Exploring around San Carlos









Row harder: the gringo wants a picture! haha.



Got back for the boat and got the bike all loaded up. Got my passport stamped etc. boat cost was $12 for me and I think like either $50 or $70 for the bike. The customs agent asked for my bike permiso, I explained that I didn’t have one because I came in at Leimus/Puerto Cabezas and he was confused and then just waved me on. No sweat! All the passengers get on board and we’re about to leave when this soldier appears and says the bike has to come off because the boat is just for passengers not cargo. We all pleaded with him but there was no changing his mind. Took like 4 people to get the bike off the boat. What a PITA. Spent another night in san carlos.

Here's the boat that they said wasn't ok for cargo. This is seriously the most seaworthy boat I've put my bike in on the entire trip! What a joke.



Next morning I woke up early to do the ride around the lake. At this point I had no permiso for the bike, and also my passport stamps were screwed up and I didn’t have my original entry paper from leimus. I did some research online and talked to a buddy of mine and it seemed like crossing at the other main crossing could be problematic even when everything was right. Plus I was not at all stoked to backtrack around the lake. So I went down to the dock and chatted with the other boat captains. One guy was willing to take me for $225. That seems like a lot for a short boat ride but he said they have to pay $100+ just to cross in/out of CR. Whether that’s true or not, no idea. More importantly he said we wouldn’t have any issues with the guard.<?xml:namespace prefix = "o" ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-comfficeffice" /><o></o>

Got the bike all loaded up and the same soldier from the day before appeared. Captain chatted with him and we got the ok and took off up the river. I relaxed and enjoyed the ride after that. Great trip up the river, maybe 1 hour total. We got stopped at the military checkpoint on the river right on the Nicaragua side of the border and the soldiers again asked for my bike paperwork and the captain said he’d bring them a bag of ice on the way back and they waved us through. Paperwork problems behind me. I was happy to be in CR.


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Immigration was a breeze in los chiles, but there was nobody in the customs office so I hung out for like an hour before he showed up. I’d read that they don’t sell CR car insurance in Los Chiles so if you want to come in with a bike you have to first take a bus 100k to the next town, buy insurance, and then come back. I was mentally prepared for this when he asked about insurance. He told me I’d have to take a bus etc, and I asked if there was any other way? He made some calls and boom: the insurance company has a website! For future travelers, it’s: www.ins-cr.com . However he was not too good with computers and I think he screwed something up in the application process the first time he tried, and after that we were locked out of the system because the bike VIN was already in the system under our first failed attempt.
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He got another idea. He has a friend that works at the other main border crossing. We texted his friend pics of my passport and title, his friend bought the policy, and I deposited the $26 in his friend’s bank account by going to the bank in los chiles in person with the account number. His friend emailed him a pdf of the policy which we printed out. Worked like a charm. I got my permiso for Costa Rica and was on the road, no bus rides needed. I gave him a tip at the end. Hopefully that info helps some future travelers avoid the bus ride as well. If I did it over, I would buy a policy online before I even got to CR. Worst case you could probably do it from an internet café in los chiles as well.
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I've been lurking on your site since the beginning. Every once in a while I would check back to see if you re-started your adventure. I've lurked for a couple of years now and just now began posting. I just wanted you to know that someone you don't even know is watching and that I appreciate the report.

Right on man!

From the Los Chiles border crossing, there's an easy & fast dirt route down to Lake Arenal.







Briefly considered stopping for a few days of kiteboarding on the lake but I do enough of that at home. I did meet a cool guy who has a hotel there and he hooked me up with a sweet room for cheap. I think this was called Rock River Lodge. He doesn't market it anymore, and I was his only guest, but super cool guy.



Next day I headed down toward the coast on a cool dirt detour I found. Then hit the pavement and rode past San Jose, ending up at Dominical Costa Rica on the coast right at sunset.











Dominical is kind of a hippie surfer hang out spot. I've been there before for surfing. I was tired and ready to chill for a bit so I posted up at a hotel on the beach, bought a bottle of the good stuff, and killed a few days just surfing, reading, drinking.





From here it was pretty much a straight shot to Panama City. All on pavement. And since the more exciting part of the trip was behind me I really wanted to get in a few days of relaxing and sun before heading back to the NW winter.

After Dominical, I bee-lined for the panama border, which was an easy and organized crossing compared to some of the earlier ones.



Clearly not in costa rica anymore!



ha!



Stopped in Las Lajas Panama for a few more nights of chilling, which was nice. It was really empty during the week.



Met up with Wendy, who is making her way toward South America with her paragliding stuff strapped on her KLR, and we made a damn good attempt at drinking the bar dry of tequila.



Next day: straight shot to Panama City.





Still trying to get in some chill time, I booked a room in a older casino type place with a nice roof deck.



And went down to the fish market to get down with some ceviche, which was ridiculously good. I didn't realize there were so many kinds.





From there I had to sort out the bike shipping back to Portland.

For future travelers looking for info on shipping a motorcycle to/from Panama City: the company I used was Servi Carga. My contact there was Alredo Amaya, and his email is amaya.alfredo@servicarga.com.pa. He speaks English. The actual shipping was done by FedEx and the total cost for everything was $1,270, including $150 for the packing fee. These guys are pros, it was super easy. I was in and out of the Panama City cargo terminal in about 4 hours total. Note: the cargo terminal is separate from the main terminal. Follow signs/ask as you get near the airport.

Here's some pics:



They were working with another rider named Sean with a bmw F800 when I showed up, so we hung out and worked through the various customs/border steps together.







Here's the crated dimensions/weight for my 2009 KTM 950 Super Enduro for shipping, in case anyone is ever searching advrider looking for that.



After that, I had one final stop to make: the panama canal!



And that was that. Caught a flight home to the snowy and freezing cold Northwest the next day.

Kind of a wacky trip. Making my way from Oregon to Panama riding as much dirt as possible and avoiding the main highway wherever I could. 4 months in total spread out over two years and including a broken leg, and I think a little over 6,000 miles.

In particular I really enjoyed the detour through La Moskitia in Honduras. Seems like a lot of people just ride right through Honduras as fast as they can. For me that was one of the main highlights of the trip, despite the broken leg obviously. If any future travelers want info on La Moskitia, hit me up!

Enjoyed your trip. Thanks for posting

Many riders seem to just beeline through Central America on the PanAm.

IMHO, the experience of traveling off the beaten path, meeting people in small villages, and facing the challenging road conditions/landslides/water crossings/missing bridges, etc. is what makes motorcycle travel so appealing.

You seem to have taken "off the beaten path" to the extreme. :eek1

Kudos for returning after your broken leg to complete the trip.


All the Best,

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I have been following since the start....and have been eating up your tips and routes....and your fortitude at border snafus

I can empathize with the spiral fracture to the fibula....but not both bones :huh.

Congrats on the whole enchilada of the adventure....

Thanks for the Story !!

This has been a great trip! Liking Honduras too. Thanks for creating the report.

A Hell of a trip Pete! I really enjoyed it.

Great read, man! Glad your leg healed up well!

Awesome trip Pete. You have been where few guerro's dare to go!

buen salud amigo, just missed you in Dom by a few days!