Trans Americas 2009 - The Blog

With a 10 o'clock departure for the airport, there was time this morning to have a lie in, although for some reason I couldn't sleep, the air-conditioning giving me a sore throat and I woke all bunged up. Breakfast in the hotel was followed by loading some stuff back in the bike, taking Kevin's lead and putting my rather smelly boots in the panniers to fly out with the bike and cut down on my personal luggage. Then it was time to depart for the airport, in the intense heat of the day, riding through heavy traffic in the city and out along the coast road. Andrew's bike suffered a problem with his brakes binding, so Kevin dropped off the group whilst the rest of us rode up to the airport's cargo area and parked up near the buses to wait for them to arrive. Here we met up with Brian and Sandra, who are riding an old BMW R1100 GS from Alaska to Argentina and who's bike will be shipped to Columbia in the plane we've chartered to get our there... you can read all about their journey here.

When Kevin and Andrew arrived we rode into the airport complex, and eventually found the local freight agent's depot, where we crammed the bikes into a space amongst the pallets and tried to avoid getting run over by the fork-lift trucks that were buzzing about the place, spewing toxic diesel fumes everywhere. Roddy, Kevin and Julia then disappeared into the office to sort out the airway bills (one per bike), including the declarations of dangerous goods (apparently our motorcycles are not just dangerous on the roads, but dangerous to transport via the air, something to do with them having petrol in them). So the rest of us hung around outside, trying to stay in the shade, drinking plenty of water and dripping with sweat (not a pleasant sight). Kevin collected in our passports and import permits and headed off to see the customs man to see if he could get our passports stamped to say the bikes were leaving the country without us having to go see him individually, and then the waiting began...





And so we waited, and waited, and waited... until eventually Roddy appeared with some forms for us to sign, to say we know our motorcycles are dangerous, then to sign them over to the freight agents. Then we were given a sticker to attach to our bikes to identify them as part of the consignment and we were all done. Roddy had arranged for a couple of people-carriers to take us back to the hotel, so we jumped aboard and enjoyed the air-conditioning on the journey back, before being let loose once more.

That evening was a group meal, so we met up in the hotel bar for a couple of pre-dinner drinks, then walked round to the restaurant, a traditional panamanian place that puts on a show whilst you eat. I had some excellent calamari (mostly small squid, rather than the normal rings) followed by a delicious fish (a Corvina) served with clams and ginger. The show was in Spanish, but basically involved some girls and guys dancing to a small band, all in traditional costumes. It was actually quite good...








When the show was over, they invited the audience up on stage to have their photos taken with the dancers, so naturally Kevin dragged the prat-hat wearer (Nick) on stage before the rest of us went up for a group photo...








All done and it was back to the hotel for the traditional night-cap before turning in. Tomorrow is a proper rest day, with nothing much for us to do. Kevin and Roddy are flying out to Bogotá a day ahead of us, in order to start clearing the bikes, so all we have to do is sort out our plane tickets (which Julia is busy arranging anyway). We've also found out that it's another public holiday here in Panama, something to do with the ex-President, Guillermo Endara, dying. He was the guy responsible for leading the country to democracy after the US invasion in 1989, so all the shops and businesses will be closed (the flight agent is opening especially to sort out our flights). But a day of doing very little wouldn't go completely amiss right now...