Volcan Picaya Eruption a year later...

Article about how the volcano we climbed blew a year after we climbed it.

Back in the US, enjoying New Orleans

We finally made it out of Panama, after 2 weeks of hoop jumping and waiting for our titles to get mailed.  But it turned out to be really nice spending some time in Panama City, we ran in to a lot of other travelers heading south that we had met along the trip...Panama City is one big funnel for the Americas so everyone seems to pass through.

We got the bikes crated and shipped and flew to Miami where we waited for 4 days for them to arrive, then had a great drive through Florida and along the gulf coast to New Orleans.  Riding in the US is way more scary than Central America!

So now we are in New Orleans staying with our family which has been really nice.  Paul is leaving for Utah today and I am leaving for Portland in another 5 or 6 days, right after my high school reunion!  So the trip is almost to a close, it has been a really wonderful experience.  Thanks to all our friends and family who were wonderfully supportive on this.

All the (digital) photos from the trip have been uploaded to the link below, hope you enjoy them!

OUR PHOTOS ON FLICKR 

Stuck in Panama

We have been in Panama City for a week now getting a good education in just how ridiculous the bureaucracy and red tape are down here.  After arranging to have our bikes shipped home and arranging a sailboat to Colombia and going to the customs office and finding out we need to go to the office in Colon and going to the police station 3 times to have our bikes inspected it turns out we need the original titles.  Even though we didn´t need them to get in to the country.  Argh.  So, we aren´t going to Colombia after all.   Its amazing how one grumpy official can throw a huge wrench in your plans down here.

But, there is always a bright side and we have been enjoying bits and pieces of Panama City while we are waiting.  We went to the horse track a few nights ago which was lovely.  Lots of old men there who would all huddle around the tv screens when the race started, and would snap in unison to bring their horses in first while shouting the horses names.  I bet on a horse called Aaron Armin (Paul and my middle names) and it won!  Snap, snap, snap!

And last night we returned from a drive around town and while we were pulling in to the courtyard of our hostel the neighbors invited us to have a beer.  Lola, a Kuna Yala from the San Blas island, showed us his printing press and how he custom makes offical stamps and type settings, and then he proceeded to amaze us with his incredible knowledge of American music, rattling off hits by Cindy Lauper, Fleetwood Mac, Whitney Houston, singing and playing air guitar the whole time.  They spoke almost no English and it was great to realize we could hold our own for hours in Spanish (and lots of sign language).  After way too many beers I said I needed some food and we started to say goodbyes but they opened their car doors and insisted that we go to the bar for some food together.  6 of us squeezed in to a little car and spent the next 3 or 4 hours eating chicken and fries, drinking way too many Balboas and playing songs on the jukebox for each other.  One of the older guys, who had amazingly thick glasses on,  kept passing out with his face towards the ceiling and waking up at a moment´s notice to sing a few lines of Journey or Vincente.  Late in the evening I noticed he had a pistol sticking out of his pocket.... Overall it was a great night out. 

Today we are going to head out to the Gamboa resort where our bicyclists friends are being put up to celebrate the finish of their trip.  We went there a year ago to sneak in to the pool and enjoy the amazing views, so I think we´ll try a repeat of that today.

Back home in a few weeks, one way or another!

Panama!

Hi!  We made it to Panama City and are now running around trying to arrange shipping of the bikes to Miami and getting on a sailboat to Colombia in a few days. The past few weeks have been really good.  After Costa Rica we spent a week on the islands of Bocas Del Toro in Panama surfing, swimming, hiking, and meeting some new friends.  Its a lovely place, and despite having pretty negative impressions at first in Bocas town, we both really loved it by the end.  Bastimentos Island is a gem that is scheduled to have a big luxury resort soon...blech.  

After that we headed down to Santa Catalina for a few last days of surfing.  We had visited Santa Catalina a year ago with our friends Bucky and Cara, and really liked it this time as well.  Its amazing how different your perspective on a place changes after having driven there vs. flying.  Everything made sense this time, there was context to everything we encountered...the people, animals, and place fit nicely in to the continuum we've seen driving south.  

At the hostel we are staying at here we met up with a Aussie who had driven his motorbike from Argentina to Colombia, built a boat powered by his motorbike hooked to an old car transmission, and sailed to Panama.  Amazing.  We had heard about him in Guatemala from his former roommate Brett who we traveled with a bit so it was cool to meet up in person.  Check out his site:  fourstrokesofluck.com

They turn on the AC here in 1 hour, and I've never been one to seek out AC, but right now its all I can think about.  Its soooo hot and humid.   Here are some pics, enjoy!

Paul on the way up to Altamira and Amistad National Park in Costa Rica.  There were a couple of sections on this road that were the trickiest we encountered, but neither of us fell! 

 

Amistad National Park in Costa Rica

 

Miguel and his lovely farm, which we camped on for a night.  He fed us one of the best meals of the trip, bacon steaks!! 

Paul with one of the biggest trees I've ever seen.  In Amistad NP, Costa Rica

Kayuka in Bocas Del Toro, Panama.  Amazing how far out in the ocean people would go with these homemade solid wood canoes.

Bocus Del Toro, on Bastimente Island

At home in the jungle and the ocean, Bastimente Island

Sloth!  With Baby!  If you whistle just right they stick their heads up like this.  3 toed.

We swam back in to this cave, with thousands of vampire bats, so cool!

Paul, intrepid jungle explorer, in casual business attire.

 

Waiting for traffic to clear on the walk to Chapo's house.

Family traveling through Bastimentos Island

Wee little croc.  Bastimentos Island.

How locals park their rides.  Bastimentos Island.

Chapo's house on Bocas.

Walk to Chapo's house.  

When Planes aren't taking off, people play soccer, run, and have bbq's on the runway.  Bocas del Toro.

Camping at Playa Estero, Santa Catalina.  That night there was a tsunami warning because of the earthquake in Chili (which we didn't hear about until 2 days later) luckily the water stayed where it was.

Paul alone on Playa Estero, Panama

Breakfast!

We passed Alex and Fin for the 6th or 7th time, had a quick chat and said goodbyes...hope to see them again someday!

 

 Crossing the canal!  We did it!

In Bocas Del Toro

I am not sure what to say about that video, but these experiences have been common on our trip. We are in the Carribean on an island chain called Bocas Del Toro (in English..mouth of the bull). We love it here. You can take water taxis to different islands, and surf different breaks on every one. We went to a bar in a boat the other night stepped off and got wanded by a security guard. We also did a jungle tour and got to see sloths, crocadillos, and red poison dart frogs. Tonight we are staying at our surf instructors house right off the landing strip on the island in Saigon Bay. We hope that everyone is doing well, and we miss you all.

El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua and Costa Rica

Buenos Dias

It has been a while since we posted anything, but a lot has happened. We surfed in El Salvador, had one of the worst border crossings into Honduras from El Salvador, spent too little time in Nicaragua, and now we have been in Costa Rica for a little over a week. We stayed with our friend Megan in Nicoya Penninsula and had a lovely time there with her, JB (or frenchy), her brother Mitch and his girlfriend Melissa. We also met up with Yona and Jevan there as well. It was really fun to be with old and new friends and have such gracious hosts in a lovely country (with a short walk to good waves!). We are now getting close to the national parque Amistad which is a gigantic national park in south eastern Costa Rica. Hoping to go deep into the jungle for the next few days....

Nicaragua was wonderful, people are so incrediblly beautiful its unexplainable. Granada was a highlight, and watching the Saints win on a beach was the best superbowl ever.

Next into Panama for more surfing, then trying to get on a boat to Colombia. Best wishes to everyone!

Todos Santos, Antigua, and El Salvador

We are now in El Salvador!  Gutaemala was a blast.  We spent a long day going up the wrong road to Todos Santos in the highlands.  We were told it would take an hour and a half at most, but an old man told us to take a back road.  "The road is good!" he said.  Hah.  6 hours later we made it to todos santos mostly in one piece.  I fell 4 times, lost a rear view mirror, broke both clutch and brake levers, and lost a quart of oil when the bike was upside down on the "road".  Paul came off a little better, but it was a very hard day of riding.  But it was worth it!  Todos Santos is an amazing place.  Most people there only speak Mam (a native Mayan dialect) and a little spanish.  Everyone wears the town uniform- red and white striped pants, blue jacket and straw hat for men, and beautifully woven shirts and skirts for women.  We were sad to miss the anual horse race, which involves the men in town dressing up in colorful costumes and racing around town on horse back, taking a drink of the local liquor at every corner, and flogging their horses with live chickens.  Last man to hit the ground wins.   

We stayed in Xela for a night which was a great town, and then drove to Lake Atitlan (breathtaking!) and I had some quick welding work done on my bike (5 minutes and 2 dollars!  See pic below...) before making our way to Antigua.  On the ride there we passed the crazy bicyclists Alex and Fin for the 5th or 6th time now, and we agreed to stay at the same place in Antigua.  So it was a fun 5 days in Antigua hanging with our new old friends, driving around town, lounging in the central park, and climbing Pacaya, an active volcano just outside of town.  This was one of the most amazing things I've ever seen... we reached the summit just after dark and the whole place was glowing with lava flows.  Really incredible.  An Aussie named Brett who we met in Antigua who is also on motorbike joined us for the Pacaya climb.  He bougt a 100cc bike in Mexico and bolted 2 suitcases to the side, and is making his way to South America!   There is a pic of his ride below.  We are hoping to meet up with him more down the road. 

We finally pulled ourselves back on to the bikes and made our way down to a little beach town in El Salvador that Paul has visitied before, and its been really nice here.  The surf is great, people are friendly, and we can see wales breaching from the window of our room!   Central America keeps getting more magical....

Next stop is probably Nicaragua.  Hope everyone is doing well!