Policemen in Panama

It rained again on and off during the afternoon, several heavy, tropical downpours, so I got saturated yet again. You'd think I'd learn, wouldn't you? 

The Costa Rica/Panama border on CA1 was rather chaotic, especially in the rain, with trucks queued up everywhere, buses disgorging myriads of travellers at the Migracion centre, ''helpers" running everywhere to each arriving vehicle, offering their services. Despite the confusion I managed to get things done eventually, sometimes with directions being given by a quite young boy, then found that my permit had the engine number included twice, instead of the engine and VIN numbers.  So back I had to go, and through a couple of the steps again, to get it corrected. It certainly pays to carefully check all documents before leaving the border crossing, to avoid any problems in the future.  I was finished at last, and left, relieved that I wouldn't have to go through this again for a few days at least, until I got to South America.

Santiago (Panama, not Chile!!) was the overnight stop, and I again dripped water all over the reception area, much to the amusement, this time, of the receptionist, who spoke a little English.  Why, oh why, does the smell of KFC suck me in occasionally?  I always regret eating it, as I did this night, but it was right beside the hotel, and I didn't want to walk too far in the rain.

Off I went early the next morning, with about 230km to Panama City.  Didn't get far, before I was pulled over for a "Police" check. This I knew was going to be another shonky deal, right from the first very agressive words out of the guy's mouth.  He was trying to intimate that he had "been told by radio" that I had been speeding.  Rubbish, I'd actually been very lawful for a change, as I wasn't in all that much of a hurry.  He was definitely trying it on, very abusive and agressive.  so I just acted dumb.  Then he called his superior over and asked for the "ticket" book.  I caught the sly looks and sneaky grins that passed between them.  No way was I gonna pay this one!!  Just kept acting dumb, "no entiendo y no habla español". 

So then I tapped the ticket book and said I'd pay in Panama City, having a fair idea of what would happen next. Well, that got his attention, sure enough!  Looks were passing back and forth between the two guys.  Especially when I kept tapping and saying "Panama City, Panama City".  So now he knew his little bribe wasn't going to happen, after all.  He became all very nice and amiable, gave back my passport and documents, chucked Woody Bear (my little mascot) under the chin with a smile, shook my hand, and told me to go. It was so totally different from the previous day's episode, but no way would I have paid him, just because of his aggresssive attitude.  Intimidation of a turista didn't work, this time. Better luck next time, fella!

On to Panama City, where I passed over the Canal, high up on the bridge, which gave a good view to left and right.  There were a couple dozen ships hove to off shore on the Pacific side, waiting to go through the lock systems. On the way back, I'll go and do a tour of the Canal, which can even include going on a boat of some sort, and passing through the locks.

After somehow getting rather confused and ending up in the wrong area on the outskirts of the city near the docks, I was thankful a very nice lady went out of her way to lead me all the way back to where I wanted to go - the BMW dealership.  Just my luck, they had already closed a short while before,as it was Saturday!!  So I doodled around town until I found the cuota that would take me to the airport cargo section, and went out to the Termina Carga.  They don't work (or at least don't take bikes!) at weekends, and told me to come back on Monday. Back into the City, where I went to a couple of hotels (both booked out, and the Sheraton was a little out of my budget range!) before finding another gem, the Hotel Via España, very handy to lots of things, undercover and secure bike parking, wifi (here in the restaurant, and also in the lobby) and reasonably cheap, with airconditioning, which is very necessary here, as it is sooooo humid all the time.

On Monday morning, I survived the peak hour traffic, visited BMW and bought some oil filters and their ONLY air filter, and went back out to the Carga section.  Nope, no space on the planes till Thursday!!!!  Ye Gods, what a waste of my rapidly dwindling precious time!  I went to the opposition airline, but they couldn't take it until Thursday, either, so back to Girag, (where at least some staff spoke a little English!) and booked it on for Thursday, as I had no other options.  The full plane problem was compounded by Wednesday being Panama's National Day, so Girag didn't work that day, and I was informed this morning [Thursday] that Tuesday was also a holiday of some sort, which would explain the loading delay.

Ahhhhhh, I now had a free day and decided to utilise it, so I returned  to BMW on the way back to the hotel, and booked the bike in for it's 40000km service the next day, although it wasn't quite due. On Tuesday, the mechanic, Luis, was very nice, not speaking very much English at all, but we managed to discuss a few things.  Whoosh!  a clean black bike went past, as I sat in the corporate coffee shop typing up reports for the website.  It was Brutus!  Luis had washed him. Unfortunately, the air filter didn't get changed, nor the spark plugs, as they had none in stock.  And they didn't have the tools to check the valve clearances, as there was a "tick" that was concerning him.  So in reality, it wasn't much of a "service", more a check over, and change of the fluids and the oil filter. But at least it should get me down to Ushuaia without the need to change the oil again.

Luis was very interested in, and impressed with, some of the things on the bike, in particular the GPS, the Loobman chain oiler, the HID lights and, his favourites, the PivotPegz footpegs, as he stood up on them and rocked back and forward, testing them.  They don't see all that many "big" bikes down here, and had only one F650GS and one R1200GS on the showroom floor.

So it was back to the airport this morning where I completed the paperwork relatively quickly and Brutus was left there, due to fly to Bogota sometime overnight - it's only 1.5 hours flying time - and I fly in to Bogota tomorrow morning to collect him and continue on south.

Girag's policy is that there is no "loose" luggage on the bikes.  Hard panniers and top cases are okay.  Everything else must come off, and be carried as personal luggage.  Nope, not for this little black duck, thank you!!  I managed to convince the staff that my camping bag was "safe", as it is encased in a Pacsafe mesh net, and locked on with Pacsafe cables threaded through the mesh and padlocked to the frame. But I still had the problem of the tank bag and tank panniers!  Wednesday evening saw me repacking the whole bike, and I somehow managed to get the 2 tank panniers to fit into the topbox and the tankbag squashed into one of the panniers.

But this presented a strange little problem on this morning's transit - the bike's balance was all out of whack!!  It was horrible, so unbalanced, the handling was awful, all the weight behind me, now.  So I had to compensate by keeping my weight as far forward as I could, to counteract the backend weight. Not nice! At least it proves that my "normal" packing arrangements are pretty good and well balanced, which is nice to know.

So Central America can now be marked off the list (at least until I come back north next year) and a new continent, South America, stretches out before me.  There is still a long way to go, down to Ushuaia, and not all that much time in which to cover the kilometres, but the cooler weather further south and through the Andes will be a HUGE help, enabling me to ride further each day, with less pain.  I can almost hear the penguins calling me!