Vy and I are headed south to ring in the New Year! That means that ‘bike for sale’ posts will be less frequent for the next week, but I’ll make up for it with a travel story of our time there. I’ve been hearing several requests to try out rental agencies and share how the experience goes, so for this trip I’m investigating Elephant Moto Costa Rica.
Typically, whenever Vy and I (and Baby Jack, of course) save up enough to travel internationally, we want to explore a country that we’ve never been to before – you may remember that we welcomed 2018 in Cuba and I shared some photos of the fun vehicles we encountered.
But this trip marks a return to Costa Rica for us, and the reason is simple: Mr. Chris White. I met Chris at a RawHyde Adventures training class, but it wasn’t until the end of the weekend that I found out Chris wasn’t a regular customer. He was a friend of RawHyde who completed a 2 month ride with them through South America called Expedition 65. They made a documentary mini-series about it, here’s the trailer:
I didn’t get to spend enough time with Chris at RawHyde, but we stayed in touch via email. Born and raised in Newfoundland, Canada, Chris ended up settling in Costa Rica and it was a tour of Morocco on a BMW GS that truly got him hooked on adventure riding. He’s suggested that Vy and I come out to see what he’s up to a few times, and the possibility of seeing sloths again seemed to be enough to convince Vy to return. Plus, when I randomly shared a video of Shawn Thomas renting from his shop on Motorcyclist, he responded with “Get your ass back down here for a different CR experience!” 7 months later, my ass is finally heading down there.
Vy’s favorite thing about our last trip was this baby sloth at the Sloth Sanctuary of Costa Rica.
Chris only recently started Elephant Moto Costa Rica, but the company is already the country’s official partner with BMW Motorrad and Chris himself is a BMW Motorrad certified tour guide and instructor – when I see him again I’ll have to find out exactly what that means.
The most important thing to me is that Chris is simply a nice guy that knows his stuff. Normally when Vy and I travel, we stress out about planning our destinations and route. But Chris is the local expert, so we’ve been able to relax while he suggested his highlights and arranged bookings. I’m trying to do this on a tight budget, so I’ve asked Chris to give me a “Lite” version of what he’d normally queue up for one of his tours, but I’m hoping my adventure will still give you a good idea of what it’s like to see Costa Rica with the assistance of Elephant Moto!
Vy was on the fence about returning to Costa Rica until I showed her this photo. I’m still trying to figure out who’s fuzzier – Chris, or the sloth.
If there are specific questions you have about Elephant Moto Costa Rica, riding down here, or anything else that tickles your fancy, let me know in the comments and I’ll do my best to answer. Until then, Happy New Year, everyone!
Feature photo from the last time Vy and I were in Costa Rica.