April 7th 2024 – San Marcos, Costa Rica

All that luxury was making us soft. It was time for Katrine and me to move out. As we were getting ready to leave I found a note attached to my bike. It was from a fellow rider inviting us to reach out if we needed any kind of help. It was a heartwarming gesture and typical of the Latin American riders we have met.

With a teary-eyed Fin waving us off Katrine and I took our leave and headed into the mountains south of the capital.

As mentioned earlier Katrine’s bike has been burning oil since we left the US last year. A shop in CDMX had a look at it in January. That turned out to be a waste of time and money. They didn’t have a clue about what they were doing.

Aside from the oil consumption the bike was running fine, so we had decided to wait until Colombia, which has a reputation for having good cheap repair shops, to have the bike looked at again.
I always thought that the CRF 300 models weren’t sold anywhere in Latin America so I expected getting parts in Colombia could turn out to be a bit of a hassle.

A month ago, while we stayed at Lake Atitlan in Guatemala, I learned from Charlie that the CRF 300 models are sold in Costa Rica. On top of that he introduced me to Alejandro, the president of the Costa Rican CRF 300 Adventure Club. After some writing back and forth with Alejandro, I decided to see if we could get the oil burning issues solved when we reached Costa Rica. It would be nice to cross the Darien Gap with the bikes in good shape.

We rendezvoused with Alejandro, an hour’s ride from San Jose, and followed him to the mountain town of San Marcos.

First stop was at a coffee plantation at the edge of town where we had booked a room through Airbnb. A steep and twisty 300 meter long gravel driveway took us to the main building.
By sheer coincidence our host Jose turned out to be Alejandro’s wife’s cousin. With the bikes stripped for luggage we continued to the local motorcycle shop Moto Repuestos Blanco. It’s an authorized Honda shop, but more importantly it came highly recommended by Alejandro.

It’s a family business with the father Emilio Blanco, also known as “Pato”, at the helm.
His 3 sons Emilio JR “Chuta”, Martin “Tingo” and Carlos “Itos” work at the shop. They are all passionate cross country/enduro riders and skilled mechanics.
Because of the fathers nickname, which means duck, the shop is also known as “Donde los Patos“ and the sons as “Los Patitos” (the ducklings).
As soon as we entered the shop and were greeted by Chuta and Tingo we felt in good hands. This was exactly the kind of shop I had been looking for. There was an atmosphere of genuine passion and quiet professionalism. We explained the issues with the bike and left it with them to examine.

I gave Katrine a lift back to our temporary home. After a quick change of clothes Alejandro picked us up and took us out for lunch.
We spent the rest of the day settling into what will be our home for a while.

It’s a small cabin, surrounded by coffee fields on three sides above the plantation’s main building. Besides the cabin we also have another building with a fully equipped kitchen at our disposal. Our host José shares the main building with his parents Emilia and Marvin who are around our age. Marvin’s brother and father, Manuel and Abuelo Pocho, live close by. They are often around to help tend the fields. The regular field workers live with their families in a separate house halfway down the driveway.
Everyone was super friendly and put in an effort to make us feel at home.

I received a message from Alejandro the following morning. The shop had located the source of the oil consumption and asked us to swing by to discuss the options. Alejandro came and picked me up. We intercepted Katrine on the way to the shop. She had been out for a morning hike with Emilia.

The news at the shop wasn’t good. They had found two seemingly independent issues with the engine.

  1. One of the compression rings had failed. A piece of it had broken off and was stuck in the piston. It had scuffed the cylinder wall slightly.
  2. There was excessive play in both exhaust valve stem guides. It had caused a bit of uneven wear/damage to the valves and the valve stem seals have been leaking.

They showed us the parts in question. There was no doubt above the diagnoses.

The recommended fix, considering what we have ahead of us, was to replace all the affected parts – we were talking new piston, piston rings, cylinder and a complete OEM head with valves and valve components.
As Chuta took Katrine’s engine apart, he noticed that the cam chain was at its limit. We decided to replace it on both bikes now we were at it.
We gave the green light to go ahead and order what was needed.

It turned out that Honda Costa Rica only had a few of the parts we needed in stock. We decided to order all of it from CRF’s Only and Partzilla in the US instead. I would most likely be both faster and cheaper.
Alejandro often buys stuff in The States. He let us use his address and freight forwarder in Miami to get the parts here as fast as possible.

Alejandro has been invaluable through the whole process. We are grateful beyond words for everything he has done/are doing for us! That we really like him and enjoy his company is an added bonus.

Even with all the help we have received and if everything goes smoothly, we’ll be stuck here in San Marco for at least 2-3 weeks. We’ll use the opportunity to perform full service on both bikes including new tires.

A couple of days after we arrived in town Fin dropped by. The engineer in him was curious about our mechanical issues and he wanted to have a look at the engine parts. He visited the shop before checking into another Airbnb in town. Later he returned to join Katrine and me for a home cooked dinner.
We enjoyed his company as always. Even though we have only known each other for a few months we have become close friends. During this journey I’ve experienced my already low tolerance for bullshit and idle talk dwindle away. As a result I get to the core of things faster.
Fin left town the next day in search of new adventures. It will be interesting to see when and where we bump into each other again?

San Marcos is the main town of the canton Tarrazú and located in a picturesque highland valley surrounded by the Talamanca Sierra mountains. We are around 1500 meters above sea level. The surrounding peaks are up to 3000 meters.
The canton is renowned for its highland coffee production. It’s considered to be the best coffee in the country.

Most people who live here have a share in the coffee business. Even Alejandro whose main source of income is something else, has a small finca high up in the mountains. Because of the altitude his coffee is being harvested now, weeks after the usual harvest season is completed. One day we joined him for a ride in his truck to pick up a load of newly harvested beans at his finca. He took the scenic route through the mountains.

Finca la Lorena, named after his mother, is Alejandro’s pride and joy. He bought the place a couple of years ago and is in the process of turning it into his version of paradise. Not only does he want to produce premium coffee, he also wants it to become a beautiful place that is an integrated part of the natural environment. Alejandro generously shared his knowledge about the area and coffee production. On the way back to town he invited us for lunch at a renowned roastery and cafe that processes some of his beans. They served delicious coffee and food to match it.
Katrine and I learned a lot and had a great day.

The ride to the finca revealed why most everyone is driving 4×4. The access roads to the fincas are typically narrow, twisty and very steep dirt roads. With good reason smaller japanese pickups seems to be the most popular choice around here. I’ve never seen so many beautiful old Land Cruisers before. They are everywhere. It’s impressive that they are still in service.

I wanted to wash my bike before dropping it off at “Donde los Patos“ for the cam chain work. Alejandro invited me to use the facilities at his place. While I worked on my bike, he was preparing his for an upcoming trip.
Riding off road on two wheels isn’t Alejandro’s only hobby. He has been racing nitro-powered RC cars for years. It was interesting to have a close look at his race car and hear him explain the technical aspects.

Besides beautiful scenery we also find ourselves surrounded by kind, generous and wonderful people. It seems like everyone here is related in some way. We get introduced to new people all the time.
Yesterday we did another coffee run to Finca la Lorena. This time Alejandro’s wife Mónica joined us. On the way back Mónica’s sister, Noelia invited us over for dinner. She spoiled us with all kinds of delicacies and we had the pleasure of meeting her husband Antonio and their 3 kids.
The family business “Ecopollo” is doing well. When we finally headed home it was with enough chicken to fill our freezer.

We have signed up at the rather impressive local gym and the area is great for running. This is a perfect opportunity to get into a regular workout routine for a while. José, our host, owns a bicycle shop in town and has supplied us with MTBs so we can get around and explore the area.

Time has been flying during our first week in San Marcos. We still have a long list of things we want to see and do while we are waiting for Katrine’s bike to be fixed.
Being stuck in San Marcos for a few weeks might turn out to be a classic case of serendipity. Up until now it certainly feels that way.