San Jose to Panama

After our extended stay at Popoyo, Nicaragua for 2 weeks of surfing, it was time to get our asses back on the road. We got an early start and headed off for the next surf town just down the coast but because we were so far out and the roads were so bad, it took us over an hour just to hit pavement. By the time the road was good, the weather had gone bad. It started pissing rain, and after trying to ride out the storm under a tree for half an hour, we decided to axe the surf town and just headed straight for the Costa Rican border. We ended up meeting another couple from Victoria at the border, doing a similar trip on motorbikes. At most of the borders we have crossed, there have usually been teenage kids trying to help us through in order to make a few bucks. This was no exception. In fact at this border we ended up getting some "special" help. We needed 4 different stamps from different officials, one being the police. So instead of going through the lengthy, proper process, we opted to simply pay our new "friend" 10 bucks extra and he skipped all the line ups, bribed a few cops, and came back 5 minutes later with all the stamps we needed. Sweet. Using our new little buddy, saved us about 2 hours- (the couple from Victoria ended up spending about 5 hours at the border.)

The next day we made it to San Jose. We wouldn't have even gone there, but we needed new tires and some other work done on the bikes. Hartt and I have both traveled Costa Rica before so our only real mission was to make it to my friends' Rami and Larissa's house in Puerto Viejo on the Caribbean coast. For the entire 3 and a half hours it took to drive from San Jose to their place, it pissed rain again. Lame. We were soaked.

In San Jose we had bought Santa suits. So when we figured out where their house was, we stripped down on the main road and changed out of our moto gear. A bunch of people drove by and honked at the free show. We showed up in Rami and Larissa's driveway wearing Santa outfits on the motorbikes. It was great to see the two of them. They have an awesome place just steps away from the ocean. They were incredible hosts. Larissa cooked us amazing home cooked dinners on several nights. They had even bought a turkey for us to cook on Christmas Eve. It was great. We feasted and partied, watched movies for our hangover day and then did it all over again. It was a great Christmas. Thanks guys!

After 4 rainy days of eating, partying, and relaxing, we packed up and headed for the Panama border. But just when Rami and Larissa thought they were rid of us, we were stopped about 1 mile from the border. Because of all the rain, the road was completely washed out. Check out the size of this rock that came down from all the rain. So ha ha. Back to their place we went for another few days of the same schedule.

Though it was hard to leave, we finally set off for Panama 3 days later. The hardest thing about this border crossing was the crossing itself. We had to wheel our bikes across a rickety-ass converted train bridge. It wasn't so bad, but about an hour later, we had to go across a similar bridge, only 4 times as long and higher. Sketchy.

The Northwestern Panamanian country side was stunningly beautiful. As you can see, so beautiful that it's easy to take your eyes off the road.

We made it to Panama City and grabbed a central hotel. This city is really cool. It has an amazing skyline with with tons of modern buildings. Not to mention the Jesus/Playboy buses.

Hartt and I went out for New Year's Eve. It was awesome. Crazy busy. Crazy fun. I think everyone in the city lit about 100 fireworks each at midnight. We had a blast bouncing around to different spots all night, and had the headaches to prove it in the morning.

The next day we met up with the couple from Victoria and organized to take a train ride up the Panama Canal with them to Colon. We were going to try to find a boat to jump on to take us to Colombia. We spent the day taking cabs to the far reaches of town and back again, following different leads on boats bound for Colombia. We found ourselves at shipping yards and marinas all over town. In between we stopped at the duty free zone which was super lame. It had great prices on tons of shit nobody wants. The only saving grace was the ridiculously gifted mannequins. We went home and planned to drive further up the coast on the bikes the next day to follow some more possible leads. That next day, we found ourselves in some pretty crazy spots looking to hitch a ride. At one point I even hopped on some guys fishing boat that drove me out into a bay so I could try to bum a ride on this Yacht. Too bad they were an uber stuck up rich couple from Australia. All in all, the best option we found was hitching a ride on a banana boat which, A: could take up to 14 days, and B: might be carrying drug money or illegal duty free goods.

So in the end, though it wasn't our first choice, we decided to ship the bikes(and us) by air. It just ended up making the most sense, time wise, given we only had about 2 months to make it from Colombia to the tip of South America before the snow starts to fly.

So we gave them the bikes...

They gave us some papers...

And we headed to the airport to watch the world's biggest plasma TV while we waited for our plane to Colombia.