Central America, mud, sweat, lightening strikes and brain eating bugs

After meeting Barton on the boat crossing from Colombia to Panama I decided to team up with him and his friend Patrick who was flying his bike down from Seattle to Panama City to join Barton on his ride back to the US. Patrick 's bike was delayed a few days so we had some extra time in Panama city. It's a modern city with a population of around half a million and a centre of international banking and trade and of coarse is also home of one of the greatest engineering projects, the Panama Canal.

Ships pay according to their weight, with the average fee around US$30,000 and highest being US$200,000. The Canal is not simply a channel cut from the pacific to the Atlantic at sea level but instead uses a massive man made lake created by the Gatun Dam that spans around half of the crossing. The lake is 20 meters above sea level and reduced the amount of work required to cut through the dividing range. A series of double locks on the Pacific and Atlantic sides of the lake raise and lower the ships between sea and lake level at an impressive rate. With each ship that passes through 52 million gallons of fresh water is released into the ocean. In 2014 a new series of locks 60% wider and 40% longer are due to be completed.

Tall high rises of Panama city viewed from the old city centre of Casco Viego

A large cargo ship at lake level is carefully positioned between the two gates at the Miraflores Locks where it is lowered 20 m down to sea level. The gate behind the ship is closed and the water released to the ocean lowering the ship in the process. The front gate is opened and the ship powers off at sea level!!

The boys about to leave Panama City, Me, Barton and Patrick

After studying the Panama map it was going to be difficult to link up back roads, there's lots of them but they all seem to head of perpendicular to the main road and have no exit. And after the delays in the city it was tempting to head up the highway and make up some time but we opted to head over to the Atlantic side of the canal which would be interesting in it's own right and then attempt to link up a possible small back road route north. Patrick and Barton had new knobbly tires and were keen to find some mud.

Four hours into the ride and we had found the mud. Too much mud to be precise. The dirt road had started out nice, rolling, flowing and fast but when we were directed down a clay track by some locals and arrived at the same time as a thunderstorm and also a herd of cattle coming from the opposite direction things got messy. Clay, water, and a hundred or so hooves made for one really cut up track. We slid our way down the trail a short distance and promptly sunk into the first bog hole on our fully laden bikes. On light unloaded enduro bikes the bogs would have been way more manageable but on our heavy bikes it was hard work.

We pushed on through a few more bogs and meet up with some locals on horses, it was clear that this was the only form of transportation using this track. I think they enjoyed watching us attempt this trail, they helped out extracting the bikes and continually offered us Vodka! I think the horses would have been having laugh too, they made light work of the mud. We asked the horseman about conditions up ahead, sounded like there may only be half a dozen or so more bogs, the trouble was we were now having difficulties negotiating the sections of trail between the bogs!! We took Barton's bike ( the lightest ) ahead up a climb and almost died in the near 40 degree heat and humidity. It seemed as if there was so much water in the air that there was no oxygen, it felt worse than being up at 5000m in the Andes! At this point we concluded that the sensible thing to do would be to head out and we still had a bit of work ahead of us just to get out!!

Early on in the mud, still relatively clean and smiling

Barton's face say's it all, and that's me dying from exhaustion in the background. After several hours and less than 1 km  at this point we decided to turn around

Escaping the mud

After several hours grovelling in the mud we accept an offer to stay at a nearby house.



Back on the Pavemento and heading for the Pacific coast of Panama

Pacific coast, Panama

Border crossings tend to be rather unpleasant and frustrating experiences, lots of people and lots of waiting for inefficient systems and inefficient workers. With the bikes we have to apply for temporary vehicle importation which can take a while. Central America's many borders are known to be bad which is another good reason to avoid the Pan American Highway with it's crowded border crossings and seek out some out of the way crossings. 

To avoid the only road crossing from Costa Rica to Nicaragua on the Pan America at Penas Blancas we head for the small town of Los Chiles where there is another crossing, only thing is it doesn't have a road! Instead backpackers take small boats down a river to largo Nicaragua at San Carlos. After some Internet research it was unclear if we could do this crossing with bikes or not, we decided we had nothing to loose and were keen to stay off the Pan Am. On arrival at Los Chiles we had no problem with immigration and getting our passports stamped as expected. If there is no Aduana (customs) however we would be in trouble as we wouldn't be able to process the bikes.

We find the Aduana, problem is there's no one home. Turns out the officer is in town and will likely turn up at some stage during the day! Meanwhile we talk to the boat operators and get a boat sorted which can take the bikes. The Aduana officer arrives and processes our temp vehicle papers without any questions or blank looks, it's all working out.

Loading bikes at the Los Chiles boarder crossing

The boys are happy, we have our bikes on board, paper work complete and about to cruise down river to Nicaragua

Unloading at the other end was a little more challenging. No problems with the paperwork though







I put my helmet on to shift the bike. A minute later it feels like something is in my ear, I put a finger in there, bad idea. What ever is in there is now in there deeper and begins chewing on my ear drum. It's becoming extremely painful and concerning. Patrick grabs his water bladder and we attempted flush this brain eating beast out before it's too late!

The brain eating bug

While riding the bike you are constantly on the lookout on the roadside for anything that might run out and hit you. Dogs are always coming at you, stray livestock and bad drivers on the wrong side of the road are all a common occurrence. You have to alert and expect the unexpected.

During a particularly heavy down pour Barton and myself were not ready for what was about to hit us in Nicaragua. One hell of a big bang and a flash off to the right and before we new it we had just been hit by lightening. Both of us experienced electrical current through our arms and across the handle bars. Luckily it was no more severe than an electric fence, another one of my nine lives used up there I reckon!

Patrick got off lightly and was missed. However a couple of days later a spooked bull shot out onto the road in front of him and he bounced off it, the deflection in his travel causing him to put his leg out to keep the bike upright and in the process straining his knee badly. Could have been a lot worse too.

Farmers on the way to a road block protest to increase crop payouts

Another protest, this time teachers in Honduras

On arrival at this river crossing the dirty water looks deep and we check out the foot bridge just up stream....

Turns out the foot bridge is as dodgy as hell with many rotten deck boards. It would be do able if we shift some timbers around!.....

....So we check out ford and it's not so bad at all and a little less risky than the bridge

We time our lunch break with another thunderstorm!

And more water crossings

We decide to ride this one

With all the thunderstorms, river crossings, combined with sweaty humid heat and never ending use our wet boots were becoming a breeding ground for all sorts of nasty smells. Than fans  found in most hotel rooms become useful for drying.

Honduras turned out to be my favourite Central America country. People in the rural areas are very friendly and interested in seeing us, which is just as well as alot people carry guns in these parts!

The Honduran Police are heavily armed. We passed many check points but had no problems.

....and don't even think about stealing gas in Honduras, you'll get your head blown off!!

Nice riding in Honduras

 We stop off at a very small mountain town in Honduras. This place was just beautiful.

Maintenance time in Belize City. Valve clearance checks, oil changes, new rear brake pads and I wire up a new GPS mount.

Checking the valve clearance on the DR, 41 000 km on the clock and running sweet

The tropical island paradise of Caye Caulker. It's off the coast of Belize and is part of the second largest barrier reef in the world after the great barrier in Australia

Snorkeling trip at Caye Caulker, Belize. We turn up at the first sight and are greeted by swarm of sharks and sting rays. It took a bit of persuading to go overboard into the middle of this lot! They turned out to be a friendly bunch and it was incredible to be up close to them.

The Caribbean

After a long break in Bucaramanga the time has come to move on. I've had a great time here but there's only so much time I can handle in a city and only so much beer consumption which is healthy for a diabetic!

Spending a decent amount of time in one place you really get to know the people and how they live, It's been a fantastic experience. During my stay here I've meet a bunch of great people and managed to get repairs to various bits and pieces which were suffering from wear and tear. Alex from Motopartes was great helping me out many times and guiding me around. I got my panniers fixed which required dis-assembling them and re-stitching and riveting. And I used his workshop to replace my rear wheel bearings and tyre which makes the job so much easier.

I don't think I would have spent so much time here if I didn't have such a great place to stay. A big thanks to Richi for opening up his place for me. I think I must have set a record for the longest stay without actually paragliding. I had a great time firstly with Robin, Lewis and Evan from Canada and then Henk and Patrick, plus a heap of other people that passed through during my stay. Patrick is also riding around on a Dr650. And then there was Sarita, a real lovely lady who managed the house and was pretty much my Colombian Mum for 6 weeks.  And yes there was one more reason for staying as long as I did. Laura.

This trip has been quite the ride in more ways than one, at times it's an emotional roller coaster with highs and lows as big as the Andes themselves. Riding on your own is extremely rewarding. You're a free person, just you and where ever you point the front wheel. Sometimes though it's a lonely road. The ride out of town was hard, it's my biggest low yet. The more time you spend in a place the more attached you get to it and the people that you meet. It's been a while but now it's just me, the bike and the road ahead again. I start talking to my bike, I apologise for riding her around in the congested city traffic for over a month, the combination of slow speeds and 35 degree heat producing some unhealthily high oil temperatures.

I'm heading for Cartagena and a sail boat crossing to Panama. It Also marks an important stage of my travels, I'm about to leave the South American content which for the last 8 months or so has given me some of the best riding in the world. I'm feeling sad and on top of that it's uncomfortably hot on the boring highway that I'm riding, there's rubbish all over the roadsides and I get upset. How can we be so abusive to our environment. I question what I'm doing, how long can I ride my motorbike, how much damage am I doing consuming all this fuel and oil. Should I be on a push bike?

One day I'm riding into the city centre and meet Jose, the producer of a local motorcycle TV show, he invites me to his studio and I get myself on Colombian TV.

Almost done, new wheel bearings and tyre and looks like I've been swimming. It's hot here!

Street side overhaul outside Alex's shop

I've managed to get a booking on a preferred sail boat to Panama but it leaves several days after my 3 month visa expires so I have to make a visit to immigration and customs and get it extended. The guys at customs don't seem to have much to do and spend a while checking out the blog.

Bikers at the Flysite Hostel, Patrick, Lili & Richi, me and Clemente

Me and a bunch of Para glider pilots at the Fly site Hostel

Richi and Lili about to Leave on a year long trip around S. America

Day of  departure with my Colombian Mum, Sarita

Me and Laura

Colombia has an awesome selection of fruit

....And Venezuela has incredibly cheap gas at just a few cents a litre. Some of it is transported across the nearby border to Colombia and sold on the road side just like this.

I time my arrival in Cartagena with a massive thunderstorm which sees me riding around the streets in 2 feet of water. I have a couple of days here to explore the city which is Colombia's prettiest, a massive stone wall was constructed to protect this important port city and a lot of the original colonial buildings have been retained within the walls. The old town is now surrounded in tall sky scrappers.

I meet up with Patrick again and also Barton. Barton is riding a Husaburg 570 enduro back home to Montana. He and two others have just set a new world record for the highest altitude riding of a motorbike down in Chile and got right up to 6300 meters. Afterwards rather than fly his bike home he decided to ride home. Impressive stuff. He's looking for a boat to Panama and I convince him to join me on my boat.

The city is very touristy and the locals are not shy, during the day they're in your face continually trying to sell you something, at night it's the prostitutes.

Horse and cart in the old part of Cartagena

Maria, Patrick and Barton

Although South America is connected to Central America by a narrow land strip there is no road. This is known as the Darien Gap, it's a swampy jungle land full of Drug traffickers and Guerrillas and although a few backpackers have footed it through here it's not a recommended place to go, some don't make it out!. There's really only two options for motorbikes, fly or use a number of sail boats that do the crossing over to Panama.

The Stahlratte ( Steel Rat ) a German owned 2-mast-schooner is a well recommended boat for crossing with motorbikes. It's big at 40m in length and the crew are well used to handling bikes and organising the proper documentation. It's a boat with plenty of character, it's steel hull was built in the Netherlands in 1909 and was worked as a fishing boat for 80 years. In 1984 it was brought by the current owner where it helped with green peace and is now and used as a non profit sail training vessel and is currently based in the Caribbean Sea.

For our trip we have 6 motorbikes on board, 16 passengers, and 3 crew. We load the bikes a couple of days before departing using a small inflatable dinghy to transport the bikes out to the boat a few hundred meters out in the harbour. It seems a little too small really but everything goes smoothly. I've dosed myself up on sea legs but am still uneasy about the crossing. The journey will take about 4 days, the first 2 being in open water which is known to be particularly rough and the remainder in the beautiful and sheltered San Blas Islands.

Two hours into open water crossing and I'm not well, It's not real rough it's just my weak stomach. Looks like this is going to be a 30hr endurance event of survival for me! I manage to slowly eat some lunch and during the afternoon feel a lot better. We have full sails up and I'm enjoying the wildness of being on the open sea. Maybe I'm adjusting to the swells and this isn't going to be so bad after all?

I'm not sure if it was the effect of darkness or the thought of more food but just as everyone else started consuming dinner my body decided it was time to expel lunch. I stayed up on deck for the entire night. As the winds dropped the engine was fired into life to give the sails a hand. The old 4 piston diesel chugged and shuddered the entire boat along and sounded like a steam engine. The noise and vibrations probably annoyed most of the passengers but I found the subtle changes in tone as we crested waves fascinating in a way that probably only someone who has just spent 8 months listening to a vibrating motorcycle could.

I didn't sleep all night, but I was happy, I'm feeling better. In the darkness the sea seemed like a continuation of the starry night and it felt like we were pitching and rolling our way into space itself on some old fashioned space machine from a fantasy movie.  The next day we arrived at the Paradise of the San Blas Islands just in time for an evening BBQ and then had the entire next day and night to just relax and enjoy before making the final few hours up to the tiny town of Carti were we unloaded and rode off into the Panamanian Jungle. Another unforgettable experience, bring on Central America!

Last time on South American soil, Cartagena city in background

That's a very big bike going into a very small boat!

Crew members Nicole and Juan load the DR

The bikes getting winched on board the Salhratte

Bikes on the deck with covers for salt water protection

Open Water, full sails

The Stalhratte anchored in the San Blas Islands

Captain Ludwig goes over board in style on dropping anchor at San Blas. He did a fantastic job of running the ship and also kepted us well entertained with his sense of humour!

Dug out canoes of the local Kuna people who inhabit the islands

Barton and the Husaberg photo shoot!

 Juan (left) and Captain Ludwig (right)

The mast swing was fun

Last night on board the Salhratte

Pablo is enjoying a fast trip up to North America on a BMW 1200 GS, He enjoyed himself in the bar too!

Unloading in Carti, Panama