On January 15, 2017, Rick Ellis suffered a serious heart attack while riding his motorcycle and passed into the presence of the Lord. For more information please visit ellis.cl/rick This site will be left as-is.

Ride to Chile


From Oregon to Chile, a motorcycle adventure by Rick Ellis

Central America - Beautiful beaches of Costa Rica

November 03, 2016

I sense that there is a difference returning to a country where I’ve lived before, in this case Costa Rica, familiar sights and smells going all the way back to my childhood when I was here with my parents in 1962, then again in 1988 when Laurel and I were at language school.

As I neared Jacó, crossing a wide concrete bridge, a lot of people had stopped and were looking down at the river below. There were over a dozen crocodiles in the water and at the edge, weighing 350-400 pounds each.  

At this river bank you have to pay before you swim just in case you’re not around to pay afterwards.