{"id":9039,"date":"2019-11-13T19:55:23","date_gmt":"2019-11-13T19:55:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/troyhenkels.com\/?page_id=9039"},"modified":"2020-05-03T03:27:02","modified_gmt":"2020-05-03T03:27:02","slug":"central-america","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/troyhenkels.com\/index.php\/central-america\/","title":{"rendered":"Central America"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\t

Belize has turned out to be a very pleasant surprise.\u00a0 Our first stop were the Mayan ruins of Altun Ha.\u00a0 With ruins all about in this area, this one came on high recommendation.\u00a0 It was a very interesting site with easy access and no crowds.\u00a0 Hard to imagine the amount of stone work that went on and how they actually accomplished it so many years ago.<\/p>\n

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Tracy\u2019s new best friend.\u00a0 A former marine and self proclaimed viper tamer.\u00a0 He\u2019s been bit several times handling deadly snakes and has survived to tell the tale.\u00a0 And certainly has the personality to match.<\/p>\n

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Several days exploring around San Ignacio on the western Belize border.\u00a0 Like most of Belize, brilliant colors are everywhere.\u00a0 And the people all across Belize are unbelievably friendly.<\/p>\n

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Our last night in Belize gave us a beautiful full moon over San Ignacio.<\/p>\n

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On the road to the border from Belize to Guatemala.\u00a0 Overloading any vehicle with people is fairly typical.\u00a0 This could be serving as a school bus or work vehicle.<\/p>\n

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Our first stop in Guatemala is the famed Mayan ruin site of Tikal.\u00a0 To say this place is impressive is an understatement. As previous ruin sites we\u2019ve visited, it\u2019s hard to imagine how they built these structures out of stone.<\/p>\n

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Several are so tall that they rise out of the jungle and are visible from miles away.<\/p>\n

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And being deep in the jungle offers endless creative photo opportunities.<\/p>\n

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The ancient city of Tikal reached it\u2019s peak between 200 and 900AD.\u00a0 And these structures are still standing and in relatively good shape.<\/p>\n

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After exploring Tikal we headed east and south across Guatemala to the small island village of Flores.\u00a0 Extremely narrow streets and bright colors are the norm.\u00a0 Everyone here is quite friendly and it\u2019s a popular place to spend a few days while exploring Tikal and the surrounding region.<\/p>\n

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Flores local getting in her exercise<\/p>\n

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Somewhat typical restaurant and hotel in Flores.\"\"\u00a0\"\"<\/p>\n

Water taxis shuttle people to a small village across the lake.<\/p>\n

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It was apparent that Flores had some rain prior to our arrival.\u00a0 Tracy made it through this water hole, but after watching him, I opted for the sidewalk.\"\"<\/p>\n

Typical transportation mode for Guatemalan women.<\/p>\n

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Yo love\u2026\u2026..!\u00a0 Back on the road and headed South to Honduras.<\/p>\n

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We ended up in some torrential rain showers that matched the horrendous truck traffic.\u00a0 Full on survival mode on the roads in Guatemala.\u00a0 Next to India, we think they are some of the most dangerous driving conditions in the world.\u00a0 Although road rules do exist, no one pays attention to them.\u00a0 Risky business for sure.<\/p>\n

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We decided on a side road to take a break from traffic and explore an area on Lake Izabel.\u00a0 By chance we came across a fabulous lodge right on the lake run by Maurice, who owns the surrounding rubber plantation.\u00a0 Very fun to listen to his stories of the area and his life.\u00a0 With local buffalo burgers and buffalo cheese on the menu, we could not resist.\u00a0 Being the only guests, we had the place to ourselves.<\/p>\n

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Lake Izabel, Guatemala.<\/p>\n

\"izabel\"\"\"After a perfect night at Lake Izabel, we headed to the border and into Honduras.\u00a0 It typically takes an hour to several hours to get out of one country and into the next.\u00a0 It usually takes some time to get all the paper work completed for the motorcycles.\u00a0 It\u2019s typically chaos to put it lightly with few signs and no real clear process.\u00a0 Today we made four trips to the shop to get photocopies of various things in various stages of the process.\u00a0 It seems having a copier in the office that needs all the copies, would make sense.\u00a0 But that\u2019s not how it works in Central America.<\/p>\n

While at the border we met a couple other travelers, Paul and Rachel from the UK.\u00a0 They are on the same BMW that Tracy is riding with the added fun of a sidecar for Rachel.\u00a0 There was a busload of curious folks from France that had a lot of questions for them at the border. They shipped their bike from the UK to New York and then rode to Alaska and are headed south to Ushuaia.\u00a0 So we may cross paths with them again.\u00a0 They have an excellent website worth checking out at\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 www.sidecartravels.co.uk<\/p>\n

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Into Honduras and the town of Copan for a few days.\u00a0 This place is famous for it\u2019s Mayan ruins just outside of town.\u00a0 The town itself is a feast for the camera and one of my favorites.\u00a0 I was here ten years ago and it remains relatively unchanged.<\/p>\n

\"copan2\"\"\"This young guy did not look happy to be sitting in the hot seat at the barber shop.<\/p>\n

\"\"Copan Ruins is one of the oldest Mayan sites.\u00a0 At one time there were 25,000 people living in this area.\u00a0 It is well known for it\u2019s intricate stone work.\u00a0 And it is impressive to say the least.<\/p>\n

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There are a lot of Macaws in the area and they are extremely colorful and animated.<\/p>\n

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And it is jungle so there are the usual scary suspects lurking about as well.\u00a0 This guy was quite large.\"\"<\/p>\n

The streets of Copan are filled with vendors selling their wares.\u00a0 This guy had a wheel barrow full of oranges.\u00a0 He\u2019d peel it for you on the spot.\u00a0 I could not resist.\"\"<\/p>\n

More often than not all the commerce was family based, no matter if you were buying or selling.\"\"<\/p>\n

Grandmother and Granddaughter waiting for business to arrive.<\/p>\n

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And it does.<\/p>\n

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There seems to be an abundance of fruits and vegetables in this area.<\/p>\n

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Tomorrow we\u2019ll be back on the bikes and heading down the road to discover more of Honduras.<\/p>\n

Just before we pulled out of Copan, we came across a truckload of Lychee\u2019s.\u00a0 Something I\u2019d never heard of.\u00a0 We gave them a try and it\u2019s not too bad, but after several, I\u2019d had my fill.\u00a0 I\u2019m not sure how long it would take them to get rid of a truckload.\u00a0 Oddly enough, we passed a lot of people selling these along the side of the road, all day long.<\/p>\n

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On the ride north to La Ceibe we stopped for a break in the middle of a pineapple grove and got passed by a guy hauling a load of firewood\u2026\u2026with a flat tire no less.<\/p>\n

We spent the night in La Ceibe, by far the most dangerous place we\u2019ve been.\u00a0 It is right on the Caribbean coast and we were told that it\u2019s the tourist capital of Honduras.\u00a0 There was nothing nice about this town, not even the beaches.\u00a0 It\u2019s the only place that I\u2019ve been that has heavily armed guards in the hotel lobby\u2019s and at the front door of restaurants.\u00a0 Most of the houses have a fence around that is topped by concertina wire.\u00a0 This one had an additional layer of electric fencing on top of that.\u00a0 We were frisked going into one restaurant and approached by several shady characters on the street.\u00a0 Interesting place for sure.<\/p>\n

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This guy was quite interested in Tracy\u2019s bike at one gas stop.\u00a0 Armed security are more the norm in Honduras than not.\u00a0 But everyone has been extremely friendly.<\/p>\n

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We spent the morning riding in the rain, headed South.\u00a0 At one gas stop I pulled out the map to ask which road would be the best for us to travel South. I don\u2019t think anyone in this group had seen a map of Honduras before and certainly couldn\u2019t provide any insight.\u00a0 There was an extensive amount of discussion in broken Spanglish, with not much for results, but certainly a few good laughs.<\/p>\n

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One thing we have noticed is that there are self appointed road crews here.\u00a0 They pretty much stand in the middle of the road and spread dirt or rocks all over, attempting to fill in potholes.\u00a0 Vehicles have to slow down and they hope for a payment as people pass by.\u00a0 We haven\u2019t seen anyone hand out any money yet, but this young guy was doing his best for a future job with the DOT.<\/p>\n

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We decided on our route headed South and it turned out to be a 60 mile dirt and gravel road.\u00a0 Some of it quite challenging riding with the recent rain.\u00a0 The first 30 miles were quite rough, after that it was the best off pavement riding we\u2019ve had, passing through the Honduras high country and a National Park.\u00a0 I don\u2019t think I\u2019ve ever seen so many shades of green<\/p>\n

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It\u2019s best to keep your eyes out for obstacles in the road.<\/p>\n

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We rolled into Talanga and there were people everywhere.\u00a0 We rolled through town and figured out there was a parade and fair going on.\u00a0 We ended up right at the tail end of the parade before we figured out what all the activity was about.<\/p>\n

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By nightfall we had to check out the local fair and it was not too much different than back in the States but with a Honduras flavor.\u00a0 It certainly made for an interesting evening.<\/p>\n

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The kids were checking out the rides while the adults were busy gambling with several different games with a unique Honduras flair.<\/p>\n

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The fair food wasn\u2019t all that great, but the characters selling it sure were fun.\u00a0 We\u2019ve come across very few people the past few days that speak any English.\u00a0\u00a0\"\"<\/p>\n

These are certainly not apples from Bluebell, the orchard I grew up on.<\/p>\n

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Today we left Honduras and headed into Nicaragua.\u00a0 Always when we are crossing a border we get an early start and try to get through the border in under a few hours.\u00a0 We have to check us AND our bikes out of one country and then check into the next country.\u00a0 It\u2019s usually a drawn out process that is never quite clear and few buildings are marked.\u00a0 Today, leading up to the border, there were several miles of semi trucks parked along the road waiting to cross the border.\u00a0 As it turns out, it\u2019s Sunday and no trucks were trying to cross.<\/p>\n

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Going into Nicaragua required no less than six stops to get checked through and have all the proper paper work in order.\u00a0 First the bikes had to be sprayed and disinfected, all vehicles do.\u00a0 Then onto this shack to fill out the paperwork for the bikes.\u00a0 Then down the road to Customs and Immigration(two separate places) to check us and the bikes into the country.\u00a0 Then to the health department to get our temperature taken, to make sure we don\u2019t have Zika.\u00a0 Then down the road to get insurance.\u00a0 It\u2019s typically chaotic and not very straight forward.\u00a0 We usually choose the smaller border crossings as they tend to be less of a hassle.\u00a0 Today went fairly smoothly.\"\"<\/p>\n

While we are at Customs, two other bikes rolled up with Brazil plates.\u00a0 Four riders total, two on each bike(two up) and they were headed to Alaska.\u00a0 They explained they had 10 days to get to Florida, where they would store the bikes and continue onto Alaska in the spring.\u00a0 Nice folks and always fun to connect with other travelers.\"\"<\/p>\n

We have seen a lot of guns.\u00a0 Typically at gas stations there is a heavily armed guard.\u00a0 Today is the first day we\u2019ve actually seen one of the attendants carrying a gun.\u00a0 It was unclear if he got paid more for carrying the gun or if he\u2019d had any special training.<\/p>\n

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One really nice thing about being on a motorbike in this part of the world\u2026.when cars and trucks are backed up for any reason\u2026..you can pass on the right or the left.\u00a0 Today it was easier to get to the front of the line by passing on the right.<\/p>\n

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Turns out when we got to the front of the line there was some sort of rodeo fiesta going on\u2026..with everyone participating lined up right on the main highway.\u00a0 Unreal.\u00a0\u00a0 Yep, horses and all! Of course traffic was backed up for miles.<\/p>\n

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It went on for a bit before we cleared the party and resumed normal highway speeds.<\/p>\n

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Nicaragua is the first country we\u2019ve seen baseball.\u00a0 It was Sunday afternoon and there were several games that we passed.\u00a0 This was one of the nicer \u201cdiamonds\u201d we saw today.\u00a0\"\"<\/p>\n

Both of us have been impressed with Nicaragua so far.\u00a0 The roads are in excellent condition with no pot holes and speed bumps.\u00a0 Something we can\u2019t say about the rest of Central America.\u00a0 It\u2019s clean and the houses are generally very nice.\u00a0 So far we really like it here.<\/p>\n

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We decided to avoid the big city of Managua and ride down the east side of Lake Nicaragua.\u00a0 We\u2019re glad we did.\u00a0 This was the most traffic we saw all day.\u00a0 We rode through quite a few herds traveling right down the middle of the roadway.<\/p>\n

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At one stop, Tracy\u2019s bike wouldn\u2019t start.\u00a0 We eventually got it going and once we made it into St. Carlos he tore into to troubleshoot the problem. It\u2019s always a bit disconcerting when you have issues on an overland trip.<\/p>\n

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We pulled the battery out and after a bit of effort found a motorcycle shop that could charge it for us.\u00a0 We weren\u2019t so trusting as the charger and wiring was pretty sketchy, so we found another shop that had a bit of\u00a0 a better charger.\u00a0 This is a picture of the first shop.\u00a0 Tracy figured out his generator\/alternator is going bad, so we decided to head into San Jose, Costa Rica as they have a very good BMW shop there.<\/p>\n

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We spent the night in San Carlos, a quiet little fishing village.\u00a0 At 7am the boats are already in with the morning catch.\"\"<\/p>\n

By 10 am we were at the border leaving Nicaragua and heading into Costa Rica.\u00a0 It\u2019s by far the smallest and quietest border crossing we\u2019ve experienced.\u00a0 We thought it would go quite quickly but it still took two hours.\u00a0 I counted 17 different people we had to interface with to get out of one country and into the next.\u00a0 Three stations of checking all documents on each side with multiple people at each office filling out the exact same paperwork that was already filled out at the previous station.\u00a0 Everyone was pleasant, friendly, and helpful.\u00a0 They were just doing their jobs.\u00a0 This was the station to disinfect the bikes.<\/p>\n

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This was the first stop for Immigration and the transportation guy that checks out our bikes.\u00a0 We went through two more stations similar to this.\u00a0 All gathering the same information.\u00a0 Friendly guys, but pretty repetitive.<\/p>\n

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We made it through the border without incident and Tracy\u2019s bike was still running.\u00a0 So we headed straight to San Jose and the BMW shop\u00a0 The ride in was spectacular.\u00a0 It was on curvy enough roads I didn\u2019t even have a chance to get any pictures.<\/p>\n

So back to Tracy\u2019s bike issue.\u00a0 He figured out it wasn\u2019t a battery issue, so it had to be the generator(alternator on a car)\u00a0 The guys at the shop were AMAZING to say the least.\u00a0 They put their other work aside and went to work on Tracy\u2019s bike straight away.\u00a0 We thought we\u2019d be stuck here for 5 to 7 days, but they happened to have a reworked regulator and put it right in.\u00a0 When all was said and done we were in and out in under four hours!\u00a0 Amazing.<\/p>\n

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He\u2019s happy because he has coffee and thrilled that his motorcycle got moved to the front of the line.\"\"<\/p>\n

And since I had to just hang out in the shop for the afternoon\u2026.I did laps around the showroom on the littlest 1100GS that I\u2019ve ever seen.<\/p>\n

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Mission accomplished at BMW San Jose, Costa Rica.\u00a0 By far the best BMW shop Tracy and I have ever been too. The 800GS is back on the road.\u00a0 A big thanks to Cris for taking very good care of us.<\/p>\n

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With hurricane Otto bearing down on the coast of Costa Rica, we\u2019ll slowly work our way South with a keen eye on the weather.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s what our next few days looks like.\u00a0 Otto to make landfall on Wednesday night or Thursday morning.\u00a0 We are a bit South of the current track, but undoubtedly we\u2019ll still be in the thick of it.\u00a0 We decided to get out of the big city and are holed up in a small placed called Turrialba part way to the Caribbean coast.\u00a0 We\u2019ll wait here for a few days for the storm to pass and then head down the coast.<\/p>\n

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Our view of Turrialba, Costa Rica as we wait for hurricane Otto.\u00a0 It\u2019s not the worst spot to be.<\/p>\n

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The satellite image for Hurricane Otto looks impressive and made it look like it was going to be a heck of a time for us.\u00a0 We stayed hunkered down in Turrialba for the day.\u00a0 It rained hard throughout the\u00a0 night, but by 9am it quit and the clouds lifted.\u00a0 The rest of the day turned out to be quite nice, despite a hurricane happening 100 miles north of our location.\u00a0 We had no spin off residual weather as of yet from the storm\u2026.much to our surprise.\u00a0 So we\u2019ll get back on the road tomorrow.\u00a0 Not sure in which direction as of yet, but stay tuned.<\/p>\n

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The rainbow eucalyptus trees in Costa Rica are amazing.<\/p>\n

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We stayed put for a few days thinking that hurricane Otto was going to give us some trouble.\u00a0 But in the end, we had one night of heavy rain and then it was quiet.\u00a0 No wind, no drama.\u00a0 Further north there was considerable damage where the hurricane made windfall.\u00a0 But we experienced no residual weather as a result.\u00a0 With rain still in the forecast we decided to fly to Cuba for the weekend.\u00a0 So we headed back to San Jose to catch our flight.\u00a0 En route we did see several small mudslides that were a result of Otto. But the crews were out and most of them were just about cleared.<\/p>\n

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Just before we arrived at the hotel Tracy got a flat on his rear tire.\u00a0 He managed to get the bike to the parking area and found a 4\u2033 piece of metal logged deep into his tire.\u00a0 It wasn\u2019t even really clear how it would have popped his tire.<\/p>\n

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None the less, off with the tire.\u00a0 I made a dash to our favorite BMW shop and dropped off the wheel.\u00a0 They\u2019ll put on a new tire and it will be waiting for us when we get back from Cuba so we can continue South.<\/p>\n

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We arrived in Cuba at ten o\u2019clock at night.\u00a0 Despite being tired I couldn\u2019t stop myself from going exploring and came across one of the finer buildings in Havana, the National Theater.<\/p>\n

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With 47 years of being a one party Socialist State, Cuba has seen little prosperity and change in\u00a0that time.\u00a0 As result, the cars are old and amazing.<\/p>\n

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Some are in mint condition with all original parts and some are pretty beat up.<\/p>\n

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Many of the old cars serve as cabs and the drivers, of varying characters offer tours of the city in the car of your choice.<\/p>\n

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If you are going to drive an old car, you\u2019d better dress the part.<\/p>\n

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It was just by chance that we arrived in Cuba the day after Fidel Castro died.\u00a0 He was in power for nearly 50 years.\u00a0 The entire country was required to have nine days of mourning.\u00a0 In Cuba, it\u2019s illegal to say anything bad about Fidel, so people on the street are pretty tight lipped.\u00a0 Though we did find a few people who said it was a terrible regiment to live under.\u00a0 They were glad he was gone.\"\"<\/p>\n

Memorials to Fidel were everywhere and I mean everywhere!<\/p>\n

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We were able to experience the first day of the public memorial for Fidel at the Plaza of the Revolution.\u00a0 There were thousands of people lined up on a very hot day to file past a picture of Castro and a bouquet of flowers.\u00a0 We spent a few hours taking it all in.\u00a0 Interestingly enough, there were 6 TV channels and all six were broadcasting the same thing the entire time we were there.\u00a0 24\/7 programming of Fidel Castro.\u00a0 Oddly enough, Cuba has been the only place that we\u2019ve watched TV on the entire trip.<\/p>\n

\"\"The smart Cubans brought umbrellas to stay out of the sun.<\/p>\n

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It was apparent that there are many, many supporters of the Castro regime.<\/p>\n

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Another night of exploring offered up many interesting sights.<\/p>\n

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We did stumble across the 100mm caliber tank that Castro shot the US ship, the Houston, during the Bay of Pigs incident in 1961.\u00a0 It sits in front of the Museum of the Revolution.\u00a0\u00a0 Oddly enough, while in Cuba we saw very few police and no guns whatsoever.\u00a0 Of all the countries we have visited Cuba remains the one place were we saw no military presence, guns, or an overabundant police force.<\/p>\n

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With nine days of mourning, there was no celebration and most noticeably, no music.\u00a0 This was a bit strange as Cuba is known for their music and no one was even playing music in their houses or in their cars.\u00a0 One evening when I was walking home late I heard soft music coming from an art gallery.\u00a0 With the door partially ajar I caught a glimpse of a couple sharing a moment dancing the Tango.\u00a0 It was the only song or dance I experienced while in Cuba<\/p>\n

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It was rare to see but I did come across several women in Old Havana in traditional dress. Very lively and colorful.<\/p>\n

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Of course the real highlight of most of our travels is seeing how people live and enjoying the culture.\u00a0 With a bit of street construction going on, it did not slow down life going on, on the same street.<\/p>\n

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Old Havana was our favorite place and we spent the majority of our time exploring this part of the city.\"\"\u00a0\"\"<\/p>\n

The repair shop for the tuk tuks is right on the street.<\/p>\n

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Like most places we visit, the children are the most fun to interact with.<\/p>\n

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Our impressions of Cuba are very well summed up in this picture.\u00a0 A field of flag poles that once flew the flags of many nations, now flies only the flag of Cuba.\u00a0 They are an island standing alone.\u00a0 It seemed somehow very symbolic.<\/p>\n

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By the time we got back to Costa Rica, Cris at our favorite BMW shop had Tracy\u2019s tire ready to go. Another big thanks for taking care of us.<\/p>\n

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We packed up and hit the road and found ourselves in the midst of a deluge and traffic beyond our wildest dreams.\u00a0 Fortunately it is legal to pass on the right and lane split, otherwise we would still be there.<\/p>\n

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The next day, with plans to make it into Panama, we had more rain on the way to the border.\u00a0 When we went to check our bikes through Customs we were a bit alarmed that we did not have the proper piece of paper that they were looking for.\u00a0 We realized that when we came into Costa Rica we were not given that piece of paper by Customs.\u00a0 So, of course we didn\u2019t have it, despite me asking the Customs Agent.\u00a0 He assured us we had taken care of everything and were good to go.\u00a0 Each border crossing is different from country to country and even within the same country. There is no signage, location of offices, or standard procedure EVER.\u00a0 Each border crossing holds it\u2019s own surprises and often takes hours to navigate.\u00a0 This one proved to be no different.\u00a0 To keep this short I\u2019ll spare some of the details.\u00a0 Customs claimed the motorcycles were illegally in the country(because of their mistake and our lack of paperwork) and gave us an undercover Police escort 100 miles back to the town of Limon, where the head Customs office is.\u00a0 Once there, the bikes were impounded and we were required to hire an agent(Juan Carlos) to do the appropriate paperwork and jump through hoop after hoop after hoop, for us to get our bikes back.\u00a0 We were told a situation like this typically takes two weeks to get sorted out.\u00a0 We seriously considered abandoning the bikes and pulling the plug on the entire trip due to the apparent time, expense, and severe corruption that\u2019s involved in the process.\u00a0 We decided the most important thing was to get the bikes back and get on the road.\u00a0 So after two days of dealing with piles of paper and money we were able to file the paperwork, pay the import taxes, and were allowed to retrieve the bikes and continue on our trip.\u00a0 Needless to say we put Costa Rica in our rear view mirrors as quickly as we could and will never return to that country.\u00a0 It appears to be one of the most corrupt places we have been. All in all we spent countless hours in the sweltering office of Juan Carlos(below) and as you can see he may not be the most organized or efficient businessman around.\u00a0 These are days neither one of us will ever forget, but wish we could.\u00a0 When everything was said and done it cost us a total of $5000 to get through the Costa Rican Customs bureaucracy.\u00a0 As we move forward we\u2019ll put this experience behind us and try to get back to having fun again.<\/p>\n

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Finally getting the bikes out of storage.\u00a0 It only cost $360 to have the bikes parked in a warehouse for 26 hours!!!\"\"<\/p>\n

Thankfully, finally leaving Costa Rica and entering Panama.<\/p>\n

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It took nearly two hours to get ourselves and our motorcycles checked into Panama.\u00a0 This is a pretty good example of an office for Customs that do the temporary transit paperwork for the motorcycles.\u00a0 Not much cover on a hot day, even worse on a rainy day.\u00a0 There were three other offices we had to visit at this border crossing.\u00a0 None of them in any sort of logical location from this office.<\/p>\n

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A view of the old bridge that was once used to cross between Costa Rica and Panama.\u00a0 I rode across this ten years ago when I rode the same motorcycle from Arizona to Panama.\u00a0 This bridge was in about the same shape back then and proved for some challenging riding. You can read about that trip here:\u00a0 http:\/\/www.troyhenkels.com\/page_expedition_cycle.htm<\/p>\n

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Everyone in Panama has been extremely friendly and helpful.\u00a0 We were stopped twice in one day at routine Customs checks along the roadway.\u00a0 Both just standard checks of the paperwork we received at the border.\u00a0 This guy had a glock on his belt and turned out to be a very fun guy to talk to, despite his initial appearance.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

At the second Customs stop, this group were all smiles and full of questions.\u00a0 I happen to notice one of them had a fair bit of time on his hands as he was making really intricate scorpions from twisted wire.\u00a0 The guy in the middle is the creator and holding one of them.\u00a0 We both walked away with one as souvenirs and we left them with Alaska pins.\u00a0 A very neat and unexpected experience.\u00a0 It\u2019s good to be back on the road again.\u00a0 We have come to really cherish these interactions with the locals we meet along the way.\u00a0 This was a particularly special one.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

We drove the Pan American Highway all the way into Panama City.\u00a0 We have never seen so many cops out collecting money.\u00a0 Literally there was a policeman every 3 to 5 miles.\u00a0 We\u2019ve seen more cops in two days in Panama than we\u2019ve seen on the entire trip.\u00a0 It\u2019s fairly apparent it\u2019s quite a revenue generator for the Government.\u00a0 We had to stop to see the Panama Canal.\u00a0 I\u2019d been here once before, but Tracy has not seen it.\u00a0 Even today it is still an amazing piece of history and engineering.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

A small automobile hauling ship heading into the Canal.\u00a0 This particular ship has 6000 cars on board.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

There is a constant flow of ships through the Canal, 24 hours a day, all year long, which requires a huge workforce of a variety of skill sets.\u00a0 Since Panama took over operations of the Canal from the US, most of the employees are now Panamanians.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

The concept of the Canal, and locks work very similar to locks all up and down the Mississippi River.\u00a0 Gravity and water flow is the key.\u00a0\u00a0\"\"<\/p>\n

A soaring Magnificent Frigate bird has the best view in the house.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

It cost the Ruby Ace $300,000 to make the 10 hour traverse of the Canal.\u00a0 At that cost, it adds $50 to the price of each car.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

We did cross the Bridge of the Americas.\u00a0 Another amazing feat of engineering.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

We finally made it into Panama City.\u00a0 There are substantially more skyscrapers than when I was here ten years ago.\u00a0 From the look of things, the Panamanian economy has been doing very well.<\/p>\n\"\"
\nThe skyscrapers are exceptionally tall and skinny in Panama City.\u00a0 And even though temperatures have been around 90F with 120000000% humidity since we\u2019ve arrived, Christmas tree\u2019s are on their way home for the holidays.\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Some of the buildings even have building size ads on them.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

The architecture in Panama City is quite modern and unique.\u00a0 This particular building really caught my eye and I was amazed I got a picture while maneuvering in traffic, trying to navigate, and fumble with my camera.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

These buses rule the roads in Panama!<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

The skyline here is pretty amazing.\u00a0 We spent a day changing the oil in the bikes and figuring out our shipping options to get to Columbia.\u00a0 There is a 60 mile expanse through the Darien jungle that has no road between Panama and Colombia.\u00a0 It\u2019s famously called the Darien Gap.\u00a0 As a result we\u2019ll have to fly our bikes from Panama City to Bogota, Columbia.\u00a0 And also fly ourselves, on a separate plane.\u00a0 It\u2019s the only section where there is no road between Prudhoe Bay, Alaska and Ushuaia, Argentina.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Here is a my collection of paper work so far from all of our border crossing.\u00a0 This does not count the papers that Customs agents collect from us when we enter and leave each country.\u00a0 It should give some indication of what we are up against with getting the motorcycles across borders.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Today we spent getting the bikes checked out of Panama and to the shipping warehouse.\u00a0 This was possibly the easiest departure from a country that we\u2019ve had.\u00a0 Getting the bikes on the hour and a half flight to Colombia cost $1000 for each bike.\u00a0 It\u2019s been an expensive week.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

The bikes all packed up and ready to be loaded.\u00a0 We\u2019ll hopefully be back with the bikes in Bogota by\u00a0 noon tomorrow. And then onto exploring South America.\"\"<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Belize has turned out to be a very pleasant surprise.\u00a0 Our first stop were the Mayan ruins of Altun Ha.\u00a0 With ruins all about in this area, this one came on high recommendation.\u00a0 It was a very interesting site with easy access and no crowds.\u00a0…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-9039","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/troyhenkels.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/9039","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/troyhenkels.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/troyhenkels.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/troyhenkels.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/troyhenkels.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9039"}],"version-history":[{"count":15,"href":"https:\/\/troyhenkels.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/9039\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12416,"href":"https:\/\/troyhenkels.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/9039\/revisions\/12416"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/troyhenkels.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9039"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}