DAY 23 - 24 BOGOTA

We left Panama Friday morning - a very modern airport - you couldn't tell it from many in the US once you were inside.  I wasn't able to get any great pictures from the air; the window was scratched and it was cloudy.  The airport in Bogota was a little more basic.  After we got to out Hotel "Casa Platypus" we had to run around town looking for a few motorcycle maintenance items so we had a chance to see more "Demo Derby" driving from the back seat of a cab.  Traffic is pretty crazy and only for the brave.  The picture of the Chinese food was what Joe and I had last night - a combo plate that I couldn't come close to finishing - both plates and we each had a Pepsi and it was less than $15.00

I have included a few pictures of the courtyard of our hotel - no heat and it was 48 degrees last night.  Joe and I walked to the Gold Museum today and I have included some shots from there as well as random city photos.  We went into a church that was packed and took a few pictures even though I am not sure we were supposed to. No lightning strikes so I guess it was OK.  One of the photos is where we hook up to the internet and they serve us breakfast; which is included. 

DAY 22

Feb 3rd – We took our bikes to “Girag” Cargo today. We got there around 10:00 AM and were finished by around 1:00 PM. We had to take the windshields and rear view mirrors off – usually they require that all gas be removed but it didn’t come up so we go a pass on that plus, usually the battery has to be disconnected but they let us slide on that also. To disconnect the battery on my bike is a pain so I was plenty happy to skip that process.




I forgot to mention that it took us 4 hours to cross the border from Costa Rica into Panama. We had to buy bike insurance ($15/bike) and the girl that sold it typed the paperwork showing us leaving Panama on the day we arrived - long story short that cost us an hour. She also couldn’t understand a license plate (mine is IBA – stands for Iron Butt Association) that didn’t have numbers and wouldn’t believe my registration so I took a digital photo and showed it to her – in addition to her really bad attitude, you can’t fix stupid.
We probably won’t be able to get the bikes until Monday morning so we will play tourist in Bogotá this weekend. This afternoon is a nap kinda afternoon. Hope you are enjoying my blog.

DAY 20 - 21

I am starting to lose track of days - probably not a good sign.  Mostly I am just going to post some pictures without a lot of commentory.  When we got to Santiago, Panama we discovered that one of the wheel bearings in Joes front wheel was less than perfect but we were able to make it to Panama City with it so I hope we can find some replacement bearings here.  There were two things I wanted to see in this area; one was the Bridge of the Americas and the other was the Mirraflores Locks.  Neither was to be - the road to the bridge was closed from both sides of the canal which means neither could be seen.  Instead you can see a picture of the 2 kinds of local beer that I had while doing my laundry - Wow!

We are taking our bikes to the Cargo company tommorrow morning and we already have our tickets to Bogota, Columbia for friday morning.  When you look at the SPOT maps you will see that we had a bit of a mess going thru downtown Panama City plus the temp guage on my bike said 122 degrees - mix that with a little (major understatement) humidity and you had a great climate.  OK - enough for this evening - Thanks for following.

DAY 19 COSTA RICA

We spent last night in Liberia, Costa Rica.  By far the nicest city in Central America we have stayed in.  We were able to take the road that stays close to the ocean, avoiding the inland rain and clouds.  Costa Rica is the cleanest country we have seen since leaving the US.

We rode into the little town of Palmar Norte and happened onto a guy from New York that has lived here for 12 years - he led us to a motel that was off the beaten (although the entire town is pretty much off the beated path) where we got a room for $30 US.

Those of you that have seen the Alaska part of this blog might think that I mistakenly posted a picture of Joe fixing his bike in Alaska - no, this is a fresh picture. Broken clutch cable - the good news is he had a replacement.

Tomorrow we cross the border into Panama - Yea!