San Isidro

October 11th San Isidro
Nothing was going to happen today until at least 4pm, which meant a lot of hanging around my hotel room and sitting in front of my tablet scouring the internet. The longer I did this the more I brooded about the tyres and other unknowns I'd yet to face. I procrastinated about the means of shipping my bike to Columbia and though I'd decided not to go by boat I had the choice of three companies to fly my bike with. The company that Juan and Nick Saunders (round the world traveller) had used could not be reached by email and their website was useless, just a front page with telephone numbers. The other two companies had got back to me quickly with quotes and seemed pretty efficient. Should I go with the recommended or these new companies. I'm still undecided. I did manage to book my next day's accommodation in David, Panama and with all the worries It had at least taken my mind off the dreaded border crossing the next day.
Eventually it was quarter to 4 and I waited in the hotel entrance for  Juan to arrive who was going to take me to pick up the tyres and then onwards to the garage to fit them and do a rudimentary service. At this point I was still unsure as to whether I would have them as I had read conflicting information about fitting tubeless tyres on non tubeless rims, but having spent a whole day trying to resource some tubed tyres in Panama and Costa Rica without success I was ready to be convinced. Sure enough he arrived he arrived at 3.58 which endeared me to him further, I really like punctual people, as it shows a mark of respect and concern for the person they are going to meet. Juan is a bubbly character, but not overly so and one can tell he likes to get things done. The store where we had to pick up the tyres was close to my hotel and we were soon there as I followed Juan in his pick up. We were met by another bubbly character who was keen to find out everything about me, following football is a great advantage and having 3 Argentinians in the Man City team and a Spanish manager is a real ice breaker. I was asked my usual questions and in the right sequence - where have you come from, where are you going and are you going alone. Once all this was done we turned our attentions to the tyres and both Juan and the shop owner were convinced that they would be fine - their profile looked no different to a conventional tyre and on the casing it had printed if using on 'non tubeless rims to fit an inner tube.' Both of these facts convinced me to go ahead- also I had little other choice as I could not risk a dodgy tyre to cover the 5000 miles I had still yet to go. My tyre man commented on my blue eyes, which I thought strange, but on reflection I don't suppose they see many folks with blue eyes as San Isidro is not a tourist destination. He was also keen for me to convince other Brits to come to Costa Rica, insisting that it was a beautiful country - which it is.
We left the shop and headed to the garage along the main highway out of town. It was a fair few miles along a busy and thriving part of the town, I was surprised at just how big the town was and how much retail and commercial activity there was. We arrived at a meticulously clean workshop with a number of uniformed mechanics ready for action. They swarmed over my machine and fired questions at me excitedly for five minutes. They don't get to see many big bikes as they are quite rare and the Honda is quite unique with its automatic gearbox and other quirky features like the hand brake. It is also a beautiful looking bike - my Bonito. Eventually they got down to business and they were so efficient. The owner of the outfit hobbled out to greet me on his crutches (he'd broke his leg in a motocross accident) he took me to his office to show me his photographs of his motorcycling exploits and then into his home to show me his beautiful carbon framed racing and mountain bikes. We had a lot in common and when I told him of my triathlon exploits I had a fan. Meanwhile the crew had drained my oil and sourced an oil filter from across town and instigated its delivery all under the watchful and expert eye of Juan, supervising their every move. It was like a ballet as different characters moved in between one another to complete the job. By six o'clock the job was done and I paid my money, which was very reasonable and I now had spare inner tubes, new tyres and a well lubed machine. With a little luck Bonito should need very little attention. It really was a performance and like all good performances it had to be marked with the customary team photo. Here are the team below:

 The Garage team + me

 The young man who fell in love with Bonito

Mr Fixit (Juan Angel Mendiola) at the front

With the job done Juan and I drove back into town to get a bite to eat and a well earned beer (I hadn't had a beer for sometime, so was really looking forward to an ice cold beer). We had a lovely piece of fresh Tuna with vegetables and a few beers when a young man of about 23 asked Juan if he could join us. He was a strange character and asked the same questions many times over but was inoffensive enough, just a little annoying. towards the end of the meal I heard him ask Juan some question and suddenly Juan erupted and both he and the young boy squared up to one another and the kicking of chairs and the pushing of bodies took place. I was mildly amused, as it was a reaction that would never happen over such an issue in the UK. Apparently Juan had been asked by the boy to give him a lift home and I'm not sure if Juan was upset because his manhood had been threatened or because of the audacity of the boy to try to scrounge a lift home.
The young man was escorted from the restaurant and we continued our conversation about Juan's travels and his fascination with doing a ride from London to Mongolia that is completed annual by folks in old cars that cost less than a £1000. I have known somebody who has done this and I believed I may have sponsored him, as it is a charity event. What I didn't know was that it could be completed on a motorcycle as long as it was less than 125cc. We both got excited about the prospect of doing it when suddenly the young man returned inviting Juan to step outside and finish off what they began. He was fortunately dragged away as the shouting and threats echoed around the now busy restaurant. Strangely there was not much fuss made of the affair and people soon settled back into their meals and chatter as did we.
It sounds like I have my next trip planned for me as we determined to research it some more and to seek to do the trip together  in 2017. Juan has been a most kind and helpful guy and I sincerely hope we do manage to do this trip as he is one of those special people that you want to meet again and get to know a little better (so long as the fighting doesn't happen too often). 
So after a full stomach and an entertaining evening it was back to my hotel and to resume my thoughts and preparing to leave San Isidro the next day. My stay in Costa Rica has been eventful and not really what I would have planned and I feel because of this I have not really done the country justice, but perhaps I shall return and see and do much more.