Distance to Date: 12,866 km, 7,977 mi

It's HOT, HOT, HOT!!! The heat and humidity while riding through Central America are unbelievable! We are now in Leon, Nicaragua (we should be at the Honduras border in two days) and starting to feel the cooler temperatures. Panama and Costa Rica were HOT! HOT! HOT!

In Boquete, Panama, we stayed with a family with an adorable 5 year-old girl. Lots of good and sweet memories with her. It was hard to leave, ...but we must cuz Alaska still beckons.

Sofia shows Christi how to search for music on YouTube. Her favorite song? Lady Gaga's Alejandro. We also met two Argentinian cyclists calling themselves Astrociclistas. They travel with a 20 lb. telescope! Here, Princess Sofia poses with one of them. No Ortliebs (popular panniers used by many cycle tourists)? They made their panniers out of plastic containers. Here we are with Kirt, Sofia, and the Astrociclistas. One of the fun things about cycle touring Central America is all of the fruit stands along the road. Christi buys a papaya and asks for ice-cold tea drinks to beat the heat. And finally we depart Panama. And enter Costa Rica. Christi waits in line to get our ENTRY stamps. The bike is anxious to ride into Costa Rica. We'll take Ciudad Nelly 18 km (some 11 miles) for the night. We've got to find a route that will by-pass busy San Jose. Let's get there before it rains! Ooops, too late. Tauru puts important things in plastic bags to protect from the rain. Costa Rica is very tropical. Adam and Eve could have made entire suits and dresses with these leaves! Tauru uses it as a hat. We meet other cyclists on the road. Today, it's Canada! Two from Ottawa on a 6-wk trip around Costa Rica and two from Edmonton, Alberta known as Two Wheeled Wanderers on their journey down to Ushuaia. Camping in Costa Rica is HOT, HOT, HOT! Just gotta watch out for scorpians. Food for the road? A can of garbanzo beans! YUM!!! And now it's time to cross into Nicaragua (a couple of days ago). Christi shares our project at the border. Nicaragua so far has been AWESOME! We've just entered and are now having lunch before we ride further into the country. Nicaragua is on the right track with harvesting the wind. We didn't want to, but we had to try Nicaragua's homebrewed beer. Awesome! Like. Another food on the road: refried beans in a pouch. Do it, Tauru! You need it. Roadside lunch of local tamales wrapped in banana leaves rather than corn husks. What's this? Tauru eats canned and/or pouched foods while Christi gets to eat homemade foods?