Monday November 2, 2009. It was a rough night with another tremendous thunderstorm and all the darn jungle animals would not shut up, We left the resort at 6:00 a.m. to be at the Costa Rica/Panama border when it opened at 7:00. The Sixaola border crossing is infamous for motorcyclists because it is not a road but a 100 m. dilapidated wooden railway bridge. The ties are rotting, uneven, and missing in many places. You look straight down to a raging brown river filled with jungle debris. The guard rails? If they still exist, they are twisted, rusted wire. Crossing this bridge is a test not only of one’s motorcycle skill but one’s confidence...or stupidity. Despite the horror stories that circulate among the motorcycle world, I was confident in Plata and myself - we are a great team.
From my perspective, there is a big difference between Panama and Costa Rica. We saw children begging, shining shoes, and one child naked in the street but we keep in mind that this was at the border crossing and in north Panama.
We stopped in a cafe for breakfast where the kitchen was located in the sitting area. The owner and her family were entertaining and she deep fried some great “sweets” for our coffee.
The northern mountain scenery and waterfalls were spectacular. Then we climbed over the clouds and the temperature dropped dramatically. The vegetation was not dense but I liked the break of open spaces. The fog and rain reduced the visibility to zero and I had to continue riding in first gear for several kms. When we exited the clouds and entered the centre of the country, the topography became flatter and more agricultural. Our intent was to push to Panama City but we had already completed 500 km and 11 hours so we ended up about 150 km away from Panama City.
When we reached the hotel we were both tired and a good beer or wine would have soothed our souls. But the sale of alcohol was forbidden because it was the “day of the dead”. Betty’s comment, “Damn right its the day of the dead - I will kill for a beer.”
We ended in a local BBQ place where we played stupid and we ordered the beer anyway....we got them! but soon the waitress realized the mistake of serving the beer and took “the empties” away from the table! I guess we drunk those fast !!!
