When Ernesto “Che” Guevara and Alberto Granado set out to conquer the continent of South America one kilometer at a time, what was their chosen instrument of travel…..La Poderosa, man!  This incredible journey is documented in Che’s diaries, published in English as The Motorcycle Diaries and immortalized in the movie of the same name.  La Poderosa was an ancient motorcycle, a Norton 500 to be exact.  In actually conked out in Chile and never made the entire trip as the two had to resort to hitchhiking. Well I have my own La Poderosa.  She is a 2000 Mitsubishi Nativa and she has never left me hitchhiking.  She and I have conquered some of Costa Rica’s most treacherous stretches of road.  I remember one time on and adventure deep into the Osa Peninsula with my co-horts, Edwin and Yuri.  We had no where in particular to go, just driving deeper and deeper into parts unknown.  We had to cross many rivers and we arrived at one such crossing that looked a little ominous.  I stepped out of the car and heaved a large stone into the middle of the impasse as if the sound of the splash would give me some indication of depth.  It didn’t sound good.  I noticed a local with some horses in a nearby field and walked over to ask him if he knew if it were safe to cross.  Sure go ahead, he told me.  Yuri had been driving, but gladly gave me the wheel for this one.  I backed her up a ways, engaged the cuatro por cuatro (4-wheel drive) and let her rip. The water came completely over the hood of La Poderosa and almost into the side windows. But we made it!  La Poderosa hasn’t let me down, not once, in situations like this (at least not with me at the wheel) and there have been many of them.  Well, she has gone through two transmissions and more clutches and brake pads than I want to remember.  But that is just part and parcel of taking on the challenge of Costa Rica’s back-roads.  It not so strange or uncommon  to get attached to one’s car.  Is it?  Even to the point of naming it……ah, perdón, her?  The sad thing is that the point in time when La Poderosa will have to be “put out to pasture” is sooner than I really want to admit.  I just returned from a little adventure this past weekend.  Once again La Poderosa valiantly did her duty.  She is a little dirty now and needs a good bath, but as always she stands ready for the next challenge. There just ain’t no quit in the old gal. My hot-shot mechanic, Rainer, who patches her up sometimes after the road gives her a little too hard a beating, has been urging me to think about replacing her.  I make sure that when he goes on about such things, that he speak quietly and not in the presence of La Poderosa.  Talk like that could put her in a grumpy mood.  Don’t want to end up like Guevara and Granado.  In the movie, when it was time to finally admit that their La Poderosa had traveled her last kilometer, Granado tearfully bid his farewell.  I guess one day I will have to do the same. But until then it is off to the next great Costa Rican adventure in La Poderosa, man!

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100 Cool Things to Do in Costa Rica

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