Panama…!!

I have arrived in Panama, technically, the first country on my North American Ride…

Security is not as strict here, but the baggage handlers might just be the slowest in the world...!!

At the cargo section of the airport, a $15 taxi ride away, I discovered that it was a Public Holiday, and the chances of getting anything done, was next to zero….!!

"Get me outta this stuff....!! I'm sweating bullets...!!" The Big Fella seemed to be in reasonable condition, and his usual forthright mood...!!

After a run-around to find an ATM, I was able to pay for the air freight, and then told that Customs was probably closed today…. But if I could get the all important “released” stamp on the Bill of Lading, they would let me have the bike today….!!

And it did look closed... The place was deserted, but there WAS a lady on "duty" watching a Spanish soap opera on a small TV set...

A big smile and a patient manner, got the dis-interested woman to assist me, but getting the stamp took a long time… Apparently there is no country by the name of “South Africa” on the Panamanian Customs computer system….

By 1.00pm, I had the documents all stamped, and trudged back to the warehouse a few hundred metres away, through the searing heat of the afternoon…

The warehouse staff stared in disbelief as I waved the documents under their noses…. If they could speak English, I am sure they would have said something like’

“How in the name of all the Virgins did you manage to get Customs to do anything on a Public Holiday…??”

Then it was getting down to re-packing and re-assembling the parts that had been removed for the flight...

I rode out of the airport VERY slowly, willing an empty bike to get me to the nearest service station, which luckily was only a few kilometres away… Another lucky break….!!

I had hoped to ride a few hundred kilometres this afternoon, but Lady Luck bestowed more than enough of her kindness on me already today, and went off to make somebody else happy….

Leaving me with a wallet full of Colombian Pesos that I could not change in US Dollars until tomorrow….

Heading into Panama City, a place that I had been very keen to avoid, and with good reason...!!

I quickly discovered that things are not cheap here in Panama… I had only $43.00 left in my wallet after paying for the air freight of the bike, and the cheapest place I could find to stay at, cost $35.00 a night without breakfast…

I used the money I had left to buy four litres of water and a small hotdog, believing that I was in more need of water than food…!! Some might argue that this is not necessarily true, having told me that I am losing too much weight…!!

My plan is to ride through Panama, Costa Rica and into Nicaragua; then cross southern Honduras and ride through San Salvador in a single day, before entering Guatemala… From there I plan to visit the Mayan Ruins in Tikal, and then ride the seldom visited area between Tikal and Belize…

This route will give me the Central American “full house”, visiting all seven countries that make up the region… From Belize City, I will ride to Carmen del Playa to visit my good friend from Ushuaia, Roberto Ramirez, and one other that will be flying in to visit from the islands nearby…!!

My planned route through Central America and up to the Yucatan Peninsula in Mexico...

The most consistent advice about Central America that I have received, was to get through it as quickly as possible… There is always an element of risk in this region, which has been frought with political unrest and civil strife for many years…

Getting through it quickly, was exactly what I planned to do…!! I hope to cover the 3 200 km to Playa del Carmen in under two weeks…

Today is May Day, but I have been told that it was moved to yesterday and that everything will be open on May the 1st….!!! Time will tell, otherwise I will be stuck here another day… I am not willing to take a chance that I will be able to change my Colombian money, over $200.00 worth, further into Panama…

If all goes well, I will make for the border of Costa Rica, about 500 km away…

Let the Final Chapter begin…

©GBWT 2012