5.40 in the morning with wet legs up to my knees and bike panniers dipping into the water I was told by a local guy that there will be no boat. I didn`t like what I’d heard but what could I do. 40 minutes with my feet in flood water and there is no boat! Bear in mind that the boat stop is under water, in fact there was very little there that was not under water. The rain was becoming a sort of Chinese torture for me. I’d had enough of being wet, damp, and drying my clothes on the fans in hostel rooms.
After three hours hanging around the port waiting for a lift, the same guy as in the morning told me about his cunning plan to beat the flood. Finally we set for a rollercoaster boat ride into the madness of fast rivers and flood plains to finally join a 4x4 taxi that was driven on what was left of the road (still underwater) to safety. The evacuation was worth every penny, but it wasn`t a Disneyworld ride: we bordered on capsizing at every corner, we were instructed to sit and hold the boat firmly. No live jackets of course!
Back to the town Siquiress and more time in the internet café. I took the computer apart but the keyboard was still dead - only 10 buttons are now actually working. The rain did not even slow down. Having already seen the town, I decided to leave town and head for a new adventure. I was on the way out when I spotted a person carrying a computer (I hoped he was service guy). I stopped and asked if he knew what my keyboard problem could be. He checked everything for me including system restore and connecting his own keyboard via the USB port. He told me it was probable a loose cable and recommended that I should buy a rubber keyboard (as my Spanish is rather non existent, he had translated everything, using Google, into Polish in his garden hardware store. What a guy! 13 dollars later I was on my way in to Puerto Limon with a new, light and working USB (Spanish) keyboard.
Still no joy with the rain, 60 km to go and 14.30 on the clock, 3.5 h of daylight left. The rain did not stop pouring and I got to the stage when didn’t really care whether I had my raincoat on or off! Two really near misses with American lorries ……. Decision time, no more riding next to lorries. I decided to stop and get off the tarmac when I could see a lorry approaching in my mirrors. Time consuming but I prefer to be safe rather than sorry. A few km`s later there was massive traffic jam and I cruised passed all the lorries that had tried to shunt me from the road. One of the trucks had collided with a money transfer van. 1980’s American film? I was not too sure what was happening, lots of police and ambulances; it could have been a robbery. I wasn’t able to take pictures. The bonus was that the accident/robbery had given me the opportunity to cycle on an empty road. I did it! In arrive in a dramatic downpour in Banana Republic town, where bananas are loaded on ships and send to us in the west. No tourists - mainly bananas. Christopher Columbus arrived here in 1502, but from then until about 1800 the port was used as a pirate hide-out thanks to the deep water harbour. The government is trying to boost the region with extra investments.
The streets were tired and with lots of high visibility alarms, cameras, wire gates and sharp objects: it reminded me of Liverpool. I checked into the 3rd hotel on my list. The previous ones did not like my bicycle…… It was a lovely colonial building with a tired feel to it. Not the best but it would do: to be honest I do not even care that night. I just wanted a bed.
p.s. The rubber keyboard is very difficult to use, and re-typing does my head in. But it works.
After three hours hanging around the port waiting for a lift, the same guy as in the morning told me about his cunning plan to beat the flood. Finally we set for a rollercoaster boat ride into the madness of fast rivers and flood plains to finally join a 4x4 taxi that was driven on what was left of the road (still underwater) to safety. The evacuation was worth every penny, but it wasn`t a Disneyworld ride: we bordered on capsizing at every corner, we were instructed to sit and hold the boat firmly. No live jackets of course!
Back to the town Siquiress and more time in the internet café. I took the computer apart but the keyboard was still dead - only 10 buttons are now actually working. The rain did not even slow down. Having already seen the town, I decided to leave town and head for a new adventure. I was on the way out when I spotted a person carrying a computer (I hoped he was service guy). I stopped and asked if he knew what my keyboard problem could be. He checked everything for me including system restore and connecting his own keyboard via the USB port. He told me it was probable a loose cable and recommended that I should buy a rubber keyboard (as my Spanish is rather non existent, he had translated everything, using Google, into Polish in his garden hardware store. What a guy! 13 dollars later I was on my way in to Puerto Limon with a new, light and working USB (Spanish) keyboard.
Still no joy with the rain, 60 km to go and 14.30 on the clock, 3.5 h of daylight left. The rain did not stop pouring and I got to the stage when didn’t really care whether I had my raincoat on or off! Two really near misses with American lorries ……. Decision time, no more riding next to lorries. I decided to stop and get off the tarmac when I could see a lorry approaching in my mirrors. Time consuming but I prefer to be safe rather than sorry. A few km`s later there was massive traffic jam and I cruised passed all the lorries that had tried to shunt me from the road. One of the trucks had collided with a money transfer van. 1980’s American film? I was not too sure what was happening, lots of police and ambulances; it could have been a robbery. I wasn’t able to take pictures. The bonus was that the accident/robbery had given me the opportunity to cycle on an empty road. I did it! In arrive in a dramatic downpour in Banana Republic town, where bananas are loaded on ships and send to us in the west. No tourists - mainly bananas. Christopher Columbus arrived here in 1502, but from then until about 1800 the port was used as a pirate hide-out thanks to the deep water harbour. The government is trying to boost the region with extra investments.
The streets were tired and with lots of high visibility alarms, cameras, wire gates and sharp objects: it reminded me of Liverpool. I checked into the 3rd hotel on my list. The previous ones did not like my bicycle…… It was a lovely colonial building with a tired feel to it. Not the best but it would do: to be honest I do not even care that night. I just wanted a bed.
p.s. The rubber keyboard is very difficult to use, and re-typing does my head in. But it works.