Cycling Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Panama, Jan 17 09

Hi Penny:

 My daughter and I will be joining you on this wonderful adventure.  Like yourself, I am nervous but I think it will be a blast.  I'm not flying with the group but my flight is supposed to get in a half hour before so hope to meet up with everyone in Managua.  Really looking forward to seeing the active volcano and spending time in San Juan del Sur, all of Costa Rica and  the Bocas del Toro Islands in Panama.

Sue from Canada

Hello Sue! Thanks for replying!

Do you know, although the whole holiday sounds wonderful, I haven't picked out individual sights - all I've really thought about is the cycling!! As I say, I've never been on a cycling holiday before. Do you do much pedalling?

HI Penny:

 I'm more of a runner than a cycler - I usually only cycle about 80k's a week when the weather is nice and I haven't been on my bike since October (it gets too cold).  No doubt it may feel challenging the first couple of days but that should pass.  If you are moderately fit, you should have no trouble at all and the support vehicle is there at all times.

 There was an earthquake in the northwest part of Costa Rica yesterday.  It will be interesting to see if this affects our trip at all.

I know someone who grew up in Costa Rica and she says that earthquakes are just part of everyday life there (!) - whereas we used to have firedrills in school, she used to have weekly earthquake drills!

There wouldn't be the active volcanoes if it weren't geologically unstable - so if it's par for the course in Cosat Rica, then hopefully it won't affect us too much.