12-14-05
It was an interesting day coming out of San Jose. I knew that the road went up in altitude so I went out to the bike and got a set of long johns in the morning. One of Davids friends is a cab driver and he had him come over at nine in the morning and lead me out to the main road (Pan American Highway). As we made it out on that road a guy on a Harley pulled up next to me and started chatting. It turns out he is a cop riding a cop Harley and he just wanted to say hi and be friendly. He lived in Florida for a few years but now is a cop in San Jose. Weird for a cop to want to be friendly while riding down the road, eh? I guess there are different rules down here.
It had rained early in the morning but by the time I took off it was nice and partly cloudy. By the time I got headed up into the mountain it turned very cloudy and I was in clouds and light rain all the way over the mountains. I had no idea what I would get into at ten thousand feet and was imagining being above tree line and maybe even snow!!! Well, all those stories I have been getting about snow in the north country aint gonna happen down here. It turns out that I rode through a cloud forest and it is usually cloudy up there and consequently it is sort of a high rainforest. From what I could see with the limited vision, it is a jungle up there. When I got lower and the clouds were left to the high ground, it was very beautiful. The mountains were broken up into little patches which I guess are farms or private holdings. The arboretum said that the natural virgin forests are disappearing fast and soon there wouldn’t be any. I could see some reforestation and some orchards planted while a lot of the land was used for grazing at the lower elevations while the high ground was farmed on the hillsides. They seem to use rotational grazing and maybe some mechanical growth management on the flatter ground. The flat ground is used for rice production. I saw quite a bit of sugar cane under cultivation as well as some tobacco and corn.
I met a guy along the road where I stopped to read my map. I was not too far from a town and wanted to look at the map and be sure to take the right road. It turned out that he was an English teacher riding a new 225cc Yamaha dual sport bike. It was a really nice little bike and we talked quite a bit about bikes and Costa Rica. This town was where the road splits and I could go to the coast and ride along it until it came back to the Pan Am highway at Puente Norte. This guy said by all means go the coast route but that the road to the coast had holes. Boy, were there ever holes. Some of them were just small wells and I had to be extremely careful on the way over. The road was a beautiful one tho and I am really glad I took it. The road along the coast was new and in great shape other than a few holes that the highway department dug to fix pot holes I guess. They dug out a perfectly square hole about 3-4 inches deep with perfectly vertical walls and the holes were about four feet square. These would be tire killers and probably rim benders if you hit one. There were only a few of them but well worth watching for.
I found a room somewhat away from the center of town with a good fan and settled in for the night. In the evening about a block away from the hotel a bunch of guys started playing drums. I went over to see and listen. There were 23 of them and they were all sizes but mostly young. They had every kind of drum from small snare drums to big base drums. They seemed to be practicing or something. There was a leader who blew a whistle and let them in different drum routines. They were so loud I wished I had brought my earplugs with me. They played for over an hour and I really liked it. When they started, someone fired off a few rockets I guess to get things rolling.

This morning I made it out fairly early and headed for the border with Panama. A nice ride but damn those potholes are really dangerous. Traffic coming the other way can be in you lane while they dodge holes as I was in their lane often dodging holes in my lane. A bike can make better time though that mess than a four-wheeler or truck, for sure.

The border wasn’t that bad. I had a young kid that just had to help me through and he did point me in the general direction but I held all my papers and did the copy thing myself. I met a guy standing in line to check the bike into Panama who helped me with understanding what they wanted. Mostly it was just what color is the bike and what is the license plate number. I had to have my bike sprayed down for bugs and I think I had to pay about five bucks for the bike permit but all in all, an easy crossing.
Bike spray X

It was a short ride to David, Panama where I searched around and finally found a nice hotel with a room that only cost $18 and it has air and a tv with 80 some channels. I like the cable tv as I can get some news in English which makes it much better than wondering what the hell is going on with the Spanish stations. My friends that I was supposed to meet in the town square never did show up, so I don’t know what happened to them. I haven’t heard from them by email either but I guess someday I will hear from them again. It is no big deal, it is just that I liked them and would have liked to see them one more time. I may see them on the road as they were going to the canal and then heading back from there.

12-16-05
oh fuck, here I am in Panama City. It is huge and I am surrounded by skyscrapers.
Panama City X

How in the hell did a big gringo get downtown Panama City on the 8th floor? Well it all started out innocently enough in the morning headed down the road at a leisurely pace. Around noon I found a restaurant on the main drag and parked my bike out front so if and when my friends Dan and Bonnie should happen by, they would see it. It turned out that half way through my meal they did ride by and didn’t see my bike!!! I finished up as soon as I could and headed down the road hoping to see them at a gas station or stopped for lunch. It was a nice day and I was just cruzing the fairly good road when two guys on BMW’s blew past me!! What the hell? They were going fairly fast but I was able to keep up with them although they were going way over any speed limit. We finally over took Dan and Bonnie and it was good to see them. They were surprised to see me. I finally took the lead and motioned for them to pull over at a gas station. It was old home time for Dan and Bonnie and interesting to hear that they were in the square looking for me and I was in the square looking for them and we didn’t see each other. There must be two squares in David or something as I just cant see how we could have missed each other.
It turns out that one of the guys named Evan is from Colombia and is in the US Marine corps.
Evan X

He is on leave and is headed to his dads place in Colombia and will leave his 650 BMW there as he has to fly back to get back in the service. The other guy named Sacha is headed on south to the end of the world on his new 1200 GS BMW.
Sacha X

They were going to fly the bikes to Colombia but Sacha wanted to check on getting his bike on a sailboat and sailing it to Colombia. I asked if they minded if I traveled along with them and they said sure that would be OK. Well, they travel fast and I was able to keep up even though it started raining like hell and it was really hard to see. We hit a small river that went across the freeway (actually not free as it cost us fifty cents) and I lost one cylinder for about a mile and a half. It had me really worried I can tell you to have the bike limping along on one cylinder trying to keep up with those two in a rainstorm. I was sure glad when it snapped back into service and I had my power again. I will have to take it much easier through those stream crossing in the future. That is one problem when traveling with others.
We finally left Dan and Bonnie as they were headed to the coast and were going to spend some time there before heading to the canal.
The boys charged on down the road and we evidently missed a turnoff, as we had to go back. Sacha determined to cross over the huge ditch separating the lanes of the freeway, as there wasn’t a turnaround for many miles. They made it across fine but when I hit it I stalled the bike and had a hell of a time getting it out of the ditch but finally did without tipping it over. I can still hardly believe I didn’t tip it over, just dumb luck I guess. We stopped in what I thought was a really scary place, sort of a rundown housing project and a couple of cops on bikes pulled up to see what we wanted there. They told them that it wasn’t safe to be there and they led us out of there and put us on the road to go back and see the canal. It was getting late and when we talked it over I put in my bid to get a place to stay for the night first and look at the canal the next day. We charged around the freeway system for a while looking for down town when finally they stopped at a business and talked with a couple of guys. It turned out that one of them offered to lead us to the hotel area downtown. What a treat that was but jeez the freaking traffic was horrible and they guy switched lanes and it was really scary with everyone trying to fill up every little space on the roads. We finally made it to a hotel but they only had one room with two beds and they were going to charge us 20 bucks each and one would have to sleep on the floor. That wasn’t that good a deal we figured so they got out there lonely planet book and called one of the hostels that just so happened to be near by. They had room and a place to park the bikes so we headed over there and got a three-bed room for $8.50 each. They charged $5 for the key and we found that the key doesn’t work on the door lock. I think someone put something in the lock as none of our keys work in it. We do have one key that gets us onto the floor where our room is. I don’t have anything in the room of value as I keep everything on me or locked in the bike.
I just had a guy come up and ask me to give him a haircut. I could hardly understand him but I said sure and we went into the washroom and I tried to give him a buzz cut with the dullest set of electric clippers I have ever used. I asked him where he was from as I figured he must be German or something but it turns out that he is Australian! Shit I cant even hear and understand English and the Spanish is totally lost on me. I have been trying to listen and hear the Spanish spoken and I don’t get any of it. Woe is me????
The boys drank a few beers here on the deck overlooking a very busy street and city before we headed downtown looking for a place to eat. They immediately started hitting on good-looking chicks buy asking directions to a good restaurant. We ended up at a street side restaurant and ordered some food. I ordered a pizza as I figured that anything cooked in a pizza oven had to be safe to eat. My dang digestive track is still a little shaky from all the different foods I have been eating. I was on that lomatil for a while but am off it now. I like the food but that tube doesn’t especially like it to hang around. Easy in, easy out. While we were sitting there one of the guys started hitting on a single gal sitting at the next table and soon she is over at our table. They both speak excellent Spanish and worked that gal. It turns out that all the girls there at that restaurant are working girls except the two gringo girls that were sitting across from us. These guys really got the information from her. She was charging $60 but the other girls could be had for $40 or so she said.
Supper-girl X

They thought that she was upping her charge rate but could probably be had for the forty. Sheesh, what am I doing here, I am just an old guy riding south and not looking for prostitutes. We ended up heading back to the hostel as the guys wanted to ask the locals guys at the hostel where the action was. I was just happy to be back to the bed as it was after 10 o’clock. I hit the hay but the boys headed out on the town I guess. They think this is a wonderful town and are so happy to be here. I am damn near panicked thinking what a mess I have gotten myself into. I wouldn’t have the slightest idea how to get myself out of here and will have to stick close to the guys.
I have been waking up at first light and when I got up this morning they were just getting in. I finally got up and went down town and found a restaurant and had some pancakes and coffee. I will have to say that the coffee is very strong and probably very good. I cant taste anymore so I cant say about the taste but it pops my eyeballs open and kick starts my system. I am out on the deck of the 8th floor outside our room writing this. It is eight thirty and already I have been sweating here in the shade. It actually isn’t that hot, it is just humid I guess. I sure so like the non-cotton clothing I wear. I did buy a cotton Che tee shirt that I wear but it gets really soaked with sweat and not comfortable to wear. Oh, Fabiola says that the Che tee shirt is ok in all countries but Colombia so I guess I will have to stash it as a rag when I fly into Colombia or if I go to Ecuador it should be ok