Hi Paul good pics as usual i don't like the look of them ants.:digging:Looks like most of the vehicles are Toyota's.The rear disc on the tenere looks a bit worse for wear.:laughing7:Ride safe

ants were about half an inch long!!!

does anyone know if there is rotors from other bikes that fit the XT660Z as yes i will be needing some sooner rather than later

Left Cahuita in the rain all the way to the frontera, stood in line there in the rain and most of the way to David it rained off and on, had the camera in the tank bag and pulled it out to take this totally below average riding shots...of some small indigenous houses/ plots, a little cloud forest etc

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highlight of the day was getting pulled up for speeding and again (panamanian policeman's christmas fund is taking dollars if you want to contribute) all i say is "No Fumar Espanol!"...the reply i get is "senor, que?" and a smile, five minutes later, sent on my way for 57 in a 40, where the sign actually said 60, and he pointed it at a local car and then wanted me to agree it was my speed, i just laughed in his face :lol3



border crossing info coming soon...just need to edit the photos and instructions





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Costa Rica to Panama border crossing at Sixola

relatively simple quiet border in northeast Costa Rica - the infamous train bridge crossing is no more on your bike. :cry

enter the border are in Sixola, ride thru the fumigation area, you do nothing here

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once you go thru park your bike to the left on the gravel small parking lot, you will be looking at the bridge

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migracion and aduana are in the same building to your right

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go to migracion first, if there is a line go straight to the front and ask for a paper, just like the locals do...no exit fee, once this is done go thru the glass door to your right to export your bike

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you will be given a form to fill out, the agent will cut it in half keep your import, stamp your half and you are done to leave Costa Rica

on your bike ride over the bridge to the left, NOT the railroad bridge anymore :cry:cry:cry

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ride over and there is a gravel covered parking lot to your left, take all your stuff that could be stolen, you are going to be way out of site of your bike for an hour or two and there were lots of kids hanging around when i was there

walk across the road and towards the old bridge, there is a building on your left, do immigration first

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once you have a stamp now go to the end of the buildings and look left, the are some shops, head down the stairs and up the stairs into the shoe shop for insurance (it'll make sense once you see it)...yes i did say that right the shoe shop upstairs, and it cost $15 for a month, she will give you two copies

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now return to the buildings, go in the first door and get a stamp, like a postage stamp put in your passport and pay $3

then come out of there and go to the window right next to it and hand in your passport, copy of your title, license and insurance

once you get this back...make sure you check it thoroughly, i found two errors on mine, they tried to laugh it off and say it was OK, it is not, correct is correct and wrong is wrong when it comes to import papers

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once you have your papers then go back into the previous office to the right and you will get a stamp from an officer at the desk to the left

thats its you are done...time to go riding in Panama, watch out for speed traps in little towns heading to David, i counted 5 in about 140 km's, speed limits are 40 kph in the towns, period

so living in England for the early part of my life i know about rain...if its not raining just wait 15 minutes :lol3

but down in central america and parts of south america there are definite rainy seasons, i did a quick video riding on the Ruta Americana (pan american highway) the other day, it was so heavy i rode into a bus stop, nice of them to make them so big here in Panama. Generally its about 10-15 minutes of real heavy rain and then you continue and normally its around 10-11am and again around 2-4pm

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took off from David and the Bambu Hostal, my plan was to stay there a few days and chill out, but having one of the worst beds i have EVER slept in allocated to me made me head out sooner rather than later

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there were some other overlanders there, the four wheels type heading north from Argentina

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sleeping in the back of this as they went

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heading out of town down the Pan Am

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i was warned about cops in Panama this year, they have a new toy, the speed gun, i saw 14 of them riding south, i got stopped 3 times...and also 7 unmarked police cars chasing drivers down, watch the speed limits if you are heading down this way seriously, one overlander in a mitsubishi told me he got 3 tickets in one day, no options they have the ticket printed when he opened his window...i was luckier, zero tickets

as the inevitable rains come once or twice a day places to get under cover must be found

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so after a day in the rain off and on i just decided to keep on riding until i hit Panama City and Panama House hostal, real nice place and a great meeting spot for riders heading out to the stahlratte, about 80km's away

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rolled into Panama City and would like to say it was like this, but it wasn't this is from when i was here last year, blue skies not too much traffic...this year pissing down with rain road works everywhere and bumper to bumper

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went to the store to grab some supplies and this chica was in front of me, it looked like she had gone by the fruit and stuffed a couple of water melons down the back of her pants :lol3:lol3

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having been here quite a few times before i'm doing the tourist thing this time, but i have noticed panama has become expensive like costa rica, this wasn't the case a few years back.

its obviously christmas time but it still seems weird to see a tree in the tropics

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...but this beats a fat hairy guy with a beard in my opinion for a christmas wish :evil

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so the last few days have been spent just hanging out waiting for the rain that arrives twice a day on schedule

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doing a few odd minor things with the maintenance of the bike and watching bull fighting on TV:eek1 when was the last time you saw that????? i'm thinking if you never left the states, then, errr, never

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Hi Paul looks a vibe-rent city and good looking girls.:computer:Have a merry Christmas.:ytiller:

bikes are rolling into panama, the figure looks like 13 bikes heading south, but a few seem to be leaving it a little late for the boarding which starts at 9 am tomorrow morning

have heard from the girls, deb or alison and their blogs haven't been updated for about a week so hopefully they are in town at another hostal...the biggest distance with the shortest time to get here is Dwight aka inmate "kedgi" his RR , he emailed me last night and told me where he was, after a quick calculation he looks like he is 770KM from Panama City and also has to do the CR/ PAN border crossing too, he left at around 6am, he looses one hour at the border (time change) then add 90 KM

so doing a quick bit of math, he has 860 KM's to do minimum and a border crossing, with 26 hours to do it all in, if the border goes well at two hours then he has 24 hours which is a 35kph average, doable for sure but he will be one tired puppy when he gets here :deal

one rider has been here for a while and is getting all the overland riders he meets to sign his luggage instead of getting stickers

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so had a quick walk around to see if any other bikes were riding around looking lost as panama city traffic is like a zoo and the chicken buses here drive just like they do out in the small towns

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the skyline here is pretty unique from lots of different angle, but it is difficult not to get the same buildings in more than once

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found a little shop selling tiny moped with the perfet name for driving in this city

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when its not raining here it is just real hot and humid and even the guard dogs can't be bothered to lift their heads never mind bark at you

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so no new riders showed so it was time to go back and pack for the morning ride out and to head out to sea on the stahlratte, and see how many cops we can salute to :thefinger: on our way out of the city





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Left the hostel early to try and beat traffic, got out of the city without to many problems and we were due to be at the Carti dock at the requested time of 9am�right up to the point when we came across backed up traffic about 1km before the turn to Carti.

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There was a demonstration and the road was blocked due to flooding a few years ago and the government not paying to help the locals and some major damage to house, which all related back to a company who owns and runs the dams, the locals felt they need to pay

The irony was they press arrived and the TV cameras, the cameras went straight to the demonstration, the press came straight to us asking how we were involved, once they realized we had nothing to do with it they went to the demonstration.

even during demonstrations there is some tail wandering thru the crowds :huh

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About a 45 minute delay and then the road opened and we headed to Carti, there is a barrier across the road about half way to the dock, and there is a toll, $6 for locals and $9 for international visitors.
this is 3 of the riders, Ryan, Dylan and phil

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