November 30, 2018

Today I was in the workshop with our RV again. They first tried to get a new diesel filter case. But without luck. Then they tried to close the leakage again. It looked good when I left the workshop. But some hours later it leaked again. We have now to get a new diesel filter case. Until now our search didn't lead to a result. The picture shows a nice beach with black sand at Puerto Viejo.

November 29, 2018

Today we went to visit the Cahuita National Park again. This time we entered the other entrance which is only about 4 km from where we live. And we saw again some animals. I don't even know the name of the animal I could picture the best. When we were back from this visit I noticed that there is again diesel dripping out of the diesel filter case. I have therefore to go back to the workshop tomorrow.

November 28, 2018

Today the motorhome was ready to get from the workshop at 4 pm. The case of the diesel filter had a crack. It is a plastic part. They had to cold weld it since there are no new parts available here. I hope this fix holds for a few weeks. Furthermore, we had bad internet connection today. Therefore I could almost do nothing then resting. In the evening we went to the village for dinner. The picture shows the most important crossroad in Cahuita. Here are a lot of restaurants, hotels, and shops.

November 27, 2018

Today we brought our motorhome to a workshop. Since some days we noticed that some diesel drops down from the motor. A friend of my brother, a Swiss who permanently lives in Costa Rica recommended the workshop and came with me there to explain the guy there in Spanish what the problem is. We found out that the diesel filter device is leaking. The guy said that it could be the sealing ring. Since I have a spare part with me I handed it to the guy. Since the filter is at a bad place he needed some time to get there. He didn't finish the work today. I hope we get the repaired motorhome back tomorrow. That gave me some time to work on my website and do some pictures of the flowers in my brothers garden. I attach one here.

November 26, 2018

Today we traveled south along the coast of the Caribean Sea and back (40 km). There are a lot of nice beaches. Tourists like this region because there are a lot of hotels and restaurants. We visited the town of Puerto Viejo and walked along the sea and in the city. The picture shows the bay of Puerto Viejo. Out on the riff, there is a sailboat stranded.

November 25, 2018

Today we visited the National Park here in Cahuita. It's a jungle just on the Caribbean Sea. It's nice to walk there. We only saw a small part of it. But we saw a lot of animals like this sloth in my picture.

November 24, 2018

Today we stayed in Cahuita. We organized our further travels and are still searching for the transportation of our motorhome from Panama to Colombia. On the property of my brother are some banana trees. Some carry some fruits as my picture shows.

November 23, 2018

Today we stayed at Cahuita. We are still searching for a possibility to ship our motorhome from Panama to Colombia. But we had time too to start to discover the area. We drove to the village and walked along the seashore of the Caribbean Sea. The picture gives an idea of how it looks here.

November 22, 2018

Today was our second day at my brother's house In Cahuita in Costa Rica. We organized here the shipment of our motorhome from Panama to Colombia. We don't have any concrete offers until now. Besides this, we watched howler monkeys in a tree in my brother's garden. It is difficult to take pictures of them. Here is the best one until now.

November 21. 2018

Today we did relax at my brother's house. The picture shows our RV in front of the house.

November 20, 2018

Today was a rainy day. We traveled from San Jose to Cahuita (201 km). First, we had to descent from the altitude of San Jose of 1200 meters to sea level. To drive down the hill was not a problem. But we saw a lot of cars which didn't make it up to the hill. In the plains, we saw a lot of pineapple and banana plantations. And some kilometers before Limon there are very huge container stations. From here the pineapples and bananas are shipped all over the world. We came to Cahuita because of my brother Ernst and his wife Verena have a house here. They are in Switzerland working. We will rest some days in their house. The picture shows some banana trees.

November 19, 2018

Today we traveled from Puntarenas to San Jose (96 km). After we found a hotel we went with a bus into the city to get a feeling about it. San Jose is the capital of Costa Rica. It has modern quarters with modern buildings and heavy traffic. But the center is more historic and has a lot of pedestrian streets with a lot of shops and street vendors. A lot of people are walking in these streets. It is very lively. The picture shows one situation in one of the streets at sunset time.

November 18, 2018

Today we traveled from La Fortuna to Puntarenas (169 km). We came to La Fortuna to see the two volcanoes Arenal and Cerro Chato. Yesterday evening the volcanos were hidden behind rain clouds and this morning they were still hidden behind clouds. We drove around the vulcanos and then around the Laguna de Arenal which is a big barrier lake (photo). Then we wanted to drive to Monteverde a village in the mountains. Here it's possible to walk into the rainforest. But in a steep piece of the road, I managed to drive the motorhome into the roadside ditch in the way that it couldn't be moved in any direction anymore. I needed someone to tow us out. Some people who live near there helped me without that they wanted to have anything for it. With this, we lost so much time that we decided not to go further up the hill but return down to the valley. In the end, we landed in Puntarenas on an island in the Gulf of Nicoya which is an arm of the Pacific Ocean.

November 17, 2018

Today we traveled from San Miguelito in Nicaragua to La Fortuna in Costa Rica (164 km). The roads were good in both countries. The border crossing was a nightmare. We needed 3.5 hours for it. The Nicaraguans controlled our RV very rigorous. They had an X-Ray Scanner to scan the whole RV. I saw this the first time in my life. Then one guy came with the pictures and searched in the RV for things the pictures did not show exactly. But in the end, they didn't complain about anything. On the Costa Rica side, we had to wait because the customs guy was at lunch. Then we needed insurance for our RV. This took another half an hour. Then we got our TIP and were able to leave the border. I thought in Costa Rica everything looks much better than in Nicaragua. But everything looks about the same. What is special in this area are the many huge plantations. The first one we saw already in Nicaragua. In Costa Rica, there were much more of them. There are plantations for oranges, sugar cane, pineapples, bananas, and other fruits. The picture shows some orange trees.

November 16, 2018

Today we traveled from Sébaco to San Miguelito In Nicaragua (291 km). We had a peaceful drive through nice green hilly landscapes on very good streets. San Miguelito lays at the Lago Cocibolca. We arrived here just right to see the nice sunset.

November 15, 2018

Today we traveled from El Paraiso in Honduras to Sébaco in Nicaragua (160 km). The checks at the border took two hours. On the Honduran side, it was quite easy and straightforward but on the Nicaraguan side, it was very complicated. We had even to send in a form seven days in advance. Since I did this, the checks were shortened a lot. I read from other travelers that they needed 4 to 5 hours to cross the border without this form. One office asked US$ 24.- for the visas. But on the bill was only mentioned $ 4.-. Where did the extra $ 20.- go? And at every border after the USA-Mexico border, there are guys in official uniforms helping you from one office to the next. At the end of the process, they ask you for money! The streets in Nicaragua we drove on today were very good. I say only a handful potholes on the 147 km. Everything looks a bit cleaner and more modern as in Honduras and Guatemala. I think even Nicaragua is a peaceful country and nobody must be afraid to travel here. Short before our destination of today, we passed a huge rice plantation. This is what the picture shows right and left of the road.

November 14, 2018

Today we traveled from La Esperanza to El Paraiso in Honduras (293 km). The journey led over a lot of hills (photo) on very bad and on very good roads too. For last night we booked a hotel room in a cheap hotel. First, our RV did not fit through the door into the courtyard. We had to park in the street opposite the hotel. Second, we found, in the end, the room too dirty to sleep there. Therefore we slept in the RV on the street. We only used the bathroom in the rented room. And this went well too. It seems we even survive Honduras, which should be the most dangerous country on our travel. This night we are in a cheap hotel too. But the RV is in the secured courtyard and the room is very clean.

November 13, 2018

Today we traveled from Copán to Intibucá La Esperanza (238 km). Mostly the roads were very good. They build this road with concrete lanes. But they are still building it and therefore some parts are still dirt roads. The road led over a lot of hills and was quite winding. We got the impression that Honduras is an emerging country and is more modern than Guatemala or Belize. I don’t know why people want to leave here and live in the USA. Maybe they think they get something for free there. The picture shows how a bad road looks like.

November 12, 2018

Today we traveled from Zacapa in Guatemala to Copán in Honduras (90 km). On the way, our RV got an oil change. We read about a workshop who has European oils and filters stocked. And yes we got the oil change done with about the right materials. Then we crossed the border to Honduras. It was quite easy to do. They needed copies of my passport, the driver's license, and the car registration paper. I had to organize them. Then I had to pay the TIP in Honduran currency which is Lempira. I had to change with a guy who stood around there. But he gave me an astonishing good rate. Then we drove into now the 6th country on our journey on the Panamericana. Copán was the destination for today. Since we were there quite early we could visit the Maya ruins of Copán. It is a small site. But there are a lot very well preserved sculptures as my picture shows one.

November 11, 2018

Today we traveled from Rio Dulce to Zacapa in Guatemala (154 km). Today we experienced a totally different Guatemala. The road was mostly very good. Women didn't wear traditional clothes anymore. We saw a lot of trucks with Chiquita, Del Monte and Dole logos on them. Street vendors sold Bananas, Pineapples, and other fruits. This region must be very fertile. People are a bit richer and more modern. Since there are no RV Parks here we found a nice hotel away from the city.

November 10, 2018

Today we stayed in Rio Dulce in Guatemala. In the later afternoon, we went with a Tuc Tuc into town and then on a boat ride on the Rio Dulce. We saw the bridge over the Rio Dulce which should be one of the biggest in Central America. We saw the Bird-Island with a lot of birds and we visited the Castillo de San Felipe de Lara which was built by the Spanish in 1644.

November 9, 2018

Today we stayed in the RV Park in Rio Dulce in Guatemala. We planned the next steps of our travel and did laundry. Rio Dulce is not only the name of the town here but the name of an arm of the Caribbean Sea which is about 47 km long. The RV Park is in a harbor where many sailboats are on land. They come here to be safe during the hurricane season and to clean and repair the boats. Here are about 100 boats from all over the world. I saw boats from Germany, Holland, Australia, and the USA. Some people travel the world by boat and others by car!

November 8, 2018

Today we traveled from Tucurú to Rio Dulce (144 km). At least half of the way was on unpaved roads. We needed about 5 hours for the 144 km. On the way, private people are fixing the road and ask for money. Today this happens about four times. The worst situation was when a group of men blocked the road and wanted 100 Quetzals ($ 13.-). I was always willing to give something. And the people were always satisfied with 5 Quetzals ($ 0.60). I was not willing to pay 100 Quetzals. I backed the RV and wanted to show them that we go back. One guy came running and wanted 20 Quetzals ($2.50). This was still a lot, but we paid for it and they let us go. The picture shows how the road sometimes looks.

November 7, 2018

Today we traveled from Lanquin to Tucurú in Guatemala. Last night we decided to stop visiting other places in Guatemala. The roads are everywhere so bad that we need very much time to drive to these places. And our RV doesn't like such roads anyway. We follow now more the Panamericana. We searched for the best road. But in the end, we are now on a very bad road again. We had to cross two rivers and did some kilometers of unpaved road. I hope tomorrow we will have better roads again. And there are almost no RV Parks. Therefore we spend the night again in a hotel room. The picture shows the landscape we see all the time. We are still in the mountains.

November 6, 2018

Today we visited Semuc Champey. For this, we had to hire a 4x4 taxi which drove us the 10 km on the very bad road to this place. Here are limescale barriers in a river which created pools. We visited them, climbed up the hill for about one hour to a view platform called «El Mirador» and finally did swim in one of the pools. Then we got brought back to the hotel where we had some time to relax. The picture shows the view from El Mirador over Semuc Champey.

November 5, 2018

Today we traveled from Fray Bartolomé de Las Casas to Lanquin in Guatemala (177 km). Since the short way is blocked by the bad road, where we get stuck yesterday (70 km) we had to drive a detour of 107 km. And it worked out well. We had good roads but it went up and down and there was one curve after the other. We drove through some villages. The women here wear traditional clothes and wear things on their heads (picture). The last 10 km before Lanquin starts again a very rough, steep, small and unpaved road. We parked our RV just before this bad road starts and took a public bus. Now we are in Lanquin in a very nice resort in the jungle near a river.

November 4, 2018

Today we wanted to travel from Flores to Panjal. All the information I had was that we can drive with our RV to this place. Our GPS stated from the beginning that we need 5 hours and 30 minutes for 234 km. We always knew that there is something on this road that will slow us down. Then we came to a ferry and thought maybe this is the problem (photo). But it went pretty fast. But about 40 km before we arrived at Panjal, the road became very, very bad. We didn't want to drive on this rough, small mountain road and turned around. Since there are near and far no campgrounds around we took a hotel room in the next bigger settlement. Here in the hotel, they don't know how we can reach this place we want to go. I have an idea and we will find out tomorrow if it will work out.

November 3, 2018

Today we took a bus to Tikal (66 km). Here we visited another Maya ruin site. This one is still in the jungle. And it's big and has many very high pyramids. There is only one square which is completely cleared. The picture shows one of the pyramids at this square. I took the picture from the top of the pyramid on the other side of the square.

November 2, 2018

Today we crossed the border from Belize to Guatemala. The border formalities went smooth and after about a half an hour we were driving in Guatemala. Our first stop is Flores a nice little town on an island in Lake Petén Itzá (109 km) (see picture). Since we were quite early in Flores we walked around the island and had some Happy Hour drinks before dinner. All in restaurants with lake view. We planned to be on a campground outside of Flores but just before we arrived we decided to take a hotel room in the town. Our RV is parked in a small street outside the hotel. I hope it will survive well there.

November 1, 2018

Today we stayed in San Ignacio in Belize. I had my administrative day. It was a hot day. I sweat a lot in the RV. It would have been nice to go out to a cool place. We did that for dinner. There is a pedestrian street where we could eat almost on the street. The picture shows the restaurant in front of the one we ate.