The Nomads

Left San Isidro del General, Costa Rica
Temp: 28 degrees C
Sunny

We were joined by Melvin on his Shadow for the ride out of town towards the Panama border. He was the first rider we had join us on the ride for over fourteen thousand kilometres! It was a fun hour until Melvin had to turn back and we were on our own again. He wants us to stop in on the way back and hook up with him. He’s planning to ride with us towards El Salvador for two or three days for the fun of it.

The ride out of Cost Rica was an olfactory treat! We rode for hours through coffee, agaves, and cucumber plantations and the air was fragrant with their respective scents. Wonderful!

Coffee plants

By about one thirty the rain hit (“hit” being the operative word).

cloud forest

It was too thick to see through so we pulled into the first gas station we came across and waited for about a half hour until we could see through it and started off again.

We drove beside the Rio Grande de Terraba all the way from Palmar Norte to Neily

We were prepared for “a four to six hour ordeal” at the Panama border according to the web and the lonely planet book, and if we didn’t go right then, the worst case scenario had us riding two hours in the dark looking for the nearest city, David, and the hotel we had planned on staying at.

Well, surprise!

We were through the Costa Rican exit procedure in about ten minutes and the customs and import and immigration for Panama in another twenty. That had to be a record time, and we were rolling in Panama laughing and astonished many hours before we had anticipated!!!

Joel and Jose - our border guides

We pulled into David around four and were settled into our hotel before supper time.

I saw my first peccary today. Unfortunately, it had just been killed in the road and the vultures were still waiting to be sure it was done before getting too close. What a strange looking creature…..not as big as I had expected though.

Tomorrow will see us on the road to Santiago, and if all things go well, on to the canal and Panama City.

Kilometers - Daytrip: 279 km total: 13,496
Gas: $ 25
Lodging: Hotel Alcala $ 35

# posted by Richard and Susie @ 7:33 PM