Harry,

I am 21. I planned to ride my motorcycle when I graduated highschool (I was 19 and only had about 3000 miles 8 months experience) to Panama. I have a pretty dang good head on my shoulders and decided not to go. Now, I'm 21 and am leaving in a month for Yavisa, Panama (end of the Pan-American hwy). I have been to Costa Rica (several times) and Nicaragua (just once) and love it down there. Costa Rica is great, safe, friendly and scenic. Nicaragua is beautiful, colorful, and adventurous. Salcar, I'm sure could rent you one of his bikes to ride around Nicaragua once you get a bit of experience. Otherwise, Wild-Rider.com in Costa Rica can hook you up with a bike down there. But, you wont be able to cross the borders with either.

A good option you might find is to spend a couple weeks in Nicaragua and a couple weeks in Costa Rica renting from the two places. A bus from San Jose to Managua costs about 30-50 bucks on a grey hound style bus... and takes about 10 hours. Or you can fly for about 180 or so.

But do yourself a favor and learn to ride before you go. I have driven (not ridden) in Costa Rica.... and its delightfully scary how they drive. Road signs are non existant and its extremely easy to get lost.

For now, maybe you should do the backpacking trip. Lots of folks are doing it without problems. Its cheap and exciting. Spend a couple weeks learning spanish and just have fun visiting the beaches, hiking, seeing.

In Costa Rica, dont miss the Arenal Volcano, Osa Penninsula, Santa Elena Cloud Forest, Tortuguero, Limon and the Carib coast.

Nicaragua: Lake Nicaragua and island and Granada. Salcar can fill you in on more.

Like I said, I leave in a month on my XR650L to spend 6000+ miles and 6 weeks on the road .

Good luck with your decision and keep us posted.