Southern Exposure

Saturday, January 10

Today we planned on going to the airport to find out about shipping the bikes to South America. In reading other riders’ reports we were hoping to ship and fly to Medellin, Colombia by using Copa Airlines.

On the way to the airport we stopped by Panama Bikers, a custom Harley shop that was recommended on ADV. The place is popular with ADV riders, and has a log book that is signed by many riders who have made similar trips as ours. Matt was looking for oil for my bike, and while we were at the shop, he met the owner. The owner recommended a good mechanic – Antonio Cabassas (who Matt read about on ADV) to look into my oil leak problem as well a welder who could fix Matt’s splitting pannier. He called the mechanic from his cell phone and made an appointment for us for Tuesday morning. He told Matt that when we came back from the airport, his “second in command” can take us to the welder. What a productive shop visit!

When we arrived to the cargo terminal at the aiport, we found out that Copa was not flying to Colombia until the last week of January. We tried DHL, which directed us to Girag, another air freight company used frequently by riders. Girag had cargo flights to Bogota, Colombia every day for $900 per bike. We were hoping to pay at least $150 less, but apparently their prices went up just recently, and that was our only air freight option.

We decided to check with Ross as he had talked about taking a roll on roll off ferry to Ecuador on January 15, or possibly splitting a shipping container between our bikes and his car. Ross was going to see his shipping agent on Tuesday, so we made plans to go together.

After the airport we were back at Panama Bikers. In addition to selling Harleys and scooters, they also have a little cafe that serves a surprisingly good lunch for a bike shop. We ate, signed the ADV riders log book, and left with “the second in command” to see the welder.

Apparently this welder is the best in town and mainly specializes in building custom tanks for boats. He did a very good job on Matt’s panniers, but it cost us $45 (for 15 minutes of work!) We were quite stunned at the price, but the job was well done and we would not have to worry about it anymore, so we paid up and rode back to the hotel.

In the evening we went out to look for a place to eat. The neighborhood we were in seemed mostly residential and we could not spot a restaurant anywhere around. We finally stumbled on a street with a casino, a pizza place, a fancy Italian restaurant and an Italian take out joint, that looked like an upscale burger drive trough and seemed to have been on that corner for many years. We decided to make it a cheap night, and ordered from the take out place. We ate dinner and drank wine in our hotel room while watching a movie on the computer.

Sunday, January 11

Greg emailed and told us he moved to Hostel Amador, which was nice and cheap and had availability. So we decided to move out of our posh bed and breakfast that morning. After a torturous ride through the city trying to find the hostel we finally made it. Greg was hanging out outside, so we made plans to venture into the old part of the city and have dinner together.

We split a cab and were dropped off in Casco Viejo – an old part of town which reminded us of New Orleans – narrow streets, attractive colorful buildings with balconies overlooking the streets, some recently fixed up and repainted, and some completely run-down and crumbling.

To our surprise a lot of the ramshackle buildings that seemed unusable were occupied by families, and I was a bit appalled by the living conditions which we could spot from the street.

Overall, what struck me the most was a contrast between the old and the new – the old crumbled buildings in the historic part of the city and the futuristic high risers in the striking distance across the bay; and contrast between the rich and the poor – the immaculately remodeled buildings turned into five-star boutique hotels and dilapidated houses with the worst living conditions imaginable.

After looking for a suitable place for dinner (most places were closed on Sunday) we ended up at a famous (for being cheap) local joint Coca Cola. The place was kind of stinky and hosted a mix of people from local elders, to families, to tourists and everyone in between. The dinner was nothing to write home about, but we satisfied our hunger and headed back to the hostel.

Matt and Greg sat out on the patio for some beers while I stayed in the room trying to catch up on the blog.

Monday, January 12

Monday was a national holiday – honoring the martyrs who were killed by the US troops in the 60’s. Yep, so we figured it was a good day to do some tourist activities. On our agenda was a ride along the Panama Canal, a canopy tram tour in the jungle, and a date with Ross and Greg at the Miraflores locks to watch the ships in transit being lowered through the locks.

We started out riding along the canal, which seemed much narrower than I imagined.

We then rode on the Centennial Bridge which we have seen on the tourist post cards and in the distance coming up to the canal.

It was very dramatic in person, comprised of thick metal cables attached in a modern architectural pattern to a simple stately frame.

Our next destination was the Gamboa Resort where we hoped to catch a canopy tram. We found out that it was not running on Mondays so we settled for a Canal boat tour to the Monkey Island to see the monkeys in the wild. We grabbed a quick fruit drink at the resort’s bar, which was of course hugely overpriced (and terrible!) and went outside to wait for our tour.

A special monkey mobile picked us up and drove us to the dock. We were given safety jackets, loaded into the boat and headed off on our tour.

We were cruising the canal and passing gigantic cargo ships that moved slowly to the locks. Their size was absolutely mind-blowing.

I have never seen ships this big so up close. After about 15 minutes we started pulling closer to a group of islands and spotted Howler monkeys hanging around high in the trees.

Hawler monkey make very loud fearsome noises which make you feel like you are encountering a huge primate, but in real life they were cute little black rascals playing around and chilling in the trees.

Our next encounter was with white face Capuchin monkeys. As we pulled up to one of the islands, our guide made special monkey noises and a group of about six monkeys started descending from the trees. The guide had some food which is what they were really after. Taking turns and sometimes in pairs they would jump in the boat to pick up their treats. They caused quite an exciting commotion among the people in the boat. Everyone was thrilled to see the adorable little monkeys with cute white faces a foot away. In the end we were probably more satisfied with the monkey tour than the tram tour we missed. We were able to actually be in a boat in the canal and the monkeys were great fun.

During our boat trip we also saw a crocodile resting on the shore, a large turtle swimming near the boat and a sloth doing its usual sleeping on the tree. When the tour was over and we were taken back to the dock it started drizzling. We were already quite late for our meeting with Ross and Gregory at the locks, and the monkey mobile has not pulled up to the dock yet, so we decided to walk/run to the resort. By the time we got to the bikes it was raining very hard and we were soaked through.

We suited up and jetted to the Miraflores locks as fast as we could. We saw Greg’s bike on the parking lot and ran into Ross at the entrance. After a quick tour of the museum and a movie (in Spanish, wrong showing) about the building of the canal, we located Greg, and the four of us along with a crowd of people were impatiently waiting for the two large ships to pull up to the locks and get lowered from one lock to another. The process was taking a long time and was not that exciting. Ross had a tough day so he left shortly. We waited until one of the ships was lowered and left as the visitor center was closing for tourists. The visitor center didn’t even wait for a ship to pass through before closing.

We picked up some produce and wine at the supermarket and rode to the hostel where we cooked a nice dinner (home cooked meal is a such special treat on the road!), drank three bottles of wine and hit the bed feeling pleased and satisfied with our day.

Tuesday, January 13

Getting up in the morning was tough as we weren’t feeling too crisp after three bottles of wine last night. But it was our Judgement Day, when we needed to decide our fate for shipping the bikes from Panama. The plan was for me and Greg to meet up with Ross at 9 am at the shipping agent’s office while Matt would go to his appointment with the mechanic.

We got an email from Ross in the morning that he would be going to the agent at 8 am instead to make it to the very opening. We changed our plans slightly and decided to drop off Greg’s bike at his new hostel which was two doors down from the mechanic and for him and I to take a cab to the agent’s office. It took us about two hours to combat the traffic and get to the agent’s office. Protestors were demonstrating for or against something or other, closing down a central artery of the city. We found out that Ross will be taking the roll on roll off ferry on Thursday to Ecuador which was already full. The only option for us would be to split the shipping container between three bikes which could be arranged by Saturday and shipped from Colon to Ecuador. The price was about $650 per bike, but the process involved a lot of paperwork hassle, going to numerous governmental agencies in Colon and Panama City, so we decided to give it some thought before committing.

Greg and I went back to the hostel/mechanic shop to check on Matt’s progress. It was 11:30 am and the work has just started on my bike. Greg hung around for a few hours, but it looked like it could take a more time, so he left.

At about 3 pm it looked like the work was done. Antonio noticed the outer countershaft seal was not seated properly, so he removed the seal and rode off to get a new one. After installing it, Matt took the bike for a short ride and no oil was leaking. Antonio worked in a very deliberate and methodical manner, which was confidence inspiring. We rode to the DHL office to pick up the new head sets that Matt’s parents sent us from Houston which was another sweltering journey through Panama City traffic. Finally after a long and exhausting day we were back at the hostel around 6 pm.

We ordered pizza from the nearby restaurant and watched The Day the Earth Stood Still movie, which neither of us liked.

We made the decision to airfreight the bikes the next morning to Bogota, Columbia, using Girag and hopefully fly out tomorrow as well.

Wednesday, January 14

We got up early, packed the bikes and were at the Girag terminal at 9 am. Initially, the woman at the info window told us we could ship the next day, but we asked if it could be done today and after checking with the shipping manager she told us it would be okay. We just had to drain the gas tank (which we didn’t do and no one checked on it), disconnect the battery and pay $900 cash for each bike.

We read about the cash requirement on other riders’ posts so were prepared with a fat stack-o greens. The shipping manager took our passports and bike documents and while were were preparing the bikes, he prepared the paperwork.

The whole process took about two hours, and was very painless. We were out of Girag by 11 am, heading to the airport to see if we could fly to Bogota that day.

Unfortunately, there were no flights available, only for next day, so we decided to spend a night at the only airport hotel in the area that was VERY overpriced, but had a pool, which we were willing to pay for. We were willing to pay to not have to endure more city traffic.

After we took care of our ticket reservation online, we spent the rest of the afternoon swimming and reading by the pool. After dinner we were trying to find a suitable place to stay in Bogota. All reasonably priced places we could find online were booked. We agitated over it for a couple hours and finally gave up, hoping that the situation would somehow resolve itself tomorrow.