Knowing that I had a bouncy rough ride to get back to the Pan American highway, I departed Monte Verde early. After reaching the main highway I headed to San Jose, Costa Rica to fight my way across the city. There are no Loops/ Beltways to route you around the cities in Central America. One must travel on city streets to get to the other side of town, causing you lose a lot of time. Getting lost is the norm and I had to ask for directions often.
After my adventure in crossing San Jose I headed to a road named “Camino de la Muerte” (road of death). I now know why it is named as such. The road starts at about an elevation of 5000 feet and as it goes higher the road is normally covered with clouds. At about 8000 feet I started to get into cloud cover with a little fog, light drizzle with some wind. Normally this would continue for only a few miles, therefore I did not put on my rain gear. This time the cold wet conditions did not stop within a few miles and before I realized it I was soaked. According to the GPS I was at an elevation of 10,000 feet. The temperature got colder so now I was wet, cold, and freezing. The road climbed to an elevation of 11,200 feet. The fog (clouds) became very thick, making it very difficult to see more than 10 feet in front of the GS. It took me over two and a half hours to travel the 60 mile road (pass). So traveling on the road named “Camino de la Muerte” you drive on a road with high cliffs, risk getting hit by other travelers who cannot see you because of the fog, heavy clouds, or rain. There seemed to be many options for meeting death on this road.
Touch by the clouds