COSTA RICA TO PANAMA October 26, 2014

Got up at 5:20 in my 8×8 ft A frame cabin and got going and Suzanne got me a cup of coffee which hit the spot and off I went to meet Tom in the downtown restaurant where we had a pancake and coffee.Tom mounted his bike only to discover that his GPS was missing, after searching his bags for a half hour and going back to his room it was gone !

Finally left town at 8 am and got to the border at 10 am which took us 2 hours 45 minutes to get into Panama, and only cost $14 for insurance , $8 for the privet egg of leaving Costa Rica and $1 to fumigate the bike.Then like a dumb ass I drove through the bay where the fumigation sprays the trucks and got fumigation myself .

The roads are terrible , they are widening the road the entire length of what we rode on today and replacing every bridge over every river and it rained heavily for two of the four hours it took to get to Santiago. Pulled in at the McDonald s  only to discover Tom had the shakes he was so cold, so had a cup of coffee of course and he thawed out eventually. Found a hotel and showered , so much for my waterproof pants and jacket....... 

 Tom checked his tank bag and his GPS suddenly appeared , much to his delight of course, I could hear him in the shower muttering to himself in delight. 

 

In celebration we went to the seediest bar across the street where we were the only white guys there, Tom ordered some food while I started to hydrate cause I hate eating on a empty stomach, then a Panamanian guy befriended us and then his mate bought me a beer and then another one and I believe he said he was welcoming us to his Panama . Earlier at breakfast the one guy told us that the Panamanian s don't like the white skin, I guess cause the Americans built the canal to narrow and to shallow and now they have to build a new  one. Just goes to show, you can't listen to the crap these people speak, this one Texas broad told us we needed an airline ticket to prove we were going to leave the country even though we were on our bikes ! She said yup even with a bike you need an airline ticket out  which was a load of codswhollop ,like I thought.

Anyhow Tom's food did not arrive cause a gas cannister blew up and that's why everyone ran outside while we sat and watched the Giants thrash the Royals. Tom suddenly departed to go find food elsewhere and I remained and they got cooking again unfortunately,  and I had some dead chicken and chips which I may regret tomorrow.