The Darien
Trip Start
Nov 2006
1
9
13
Trip End
Feb 2007
Panama City,
Panama
Monday, December 4, 2006
The Drive down through southern Costa Rica is wonderful. Way less developed and over-run by tourists, it was the most enjoyable part of Costa Rica we had been to. The border crossing was easy, Troy had us out in just over an hour, and we were on our way. The main road in Panama is in great shape almost all the way down, so we were able to put on some miles.We made it to a little beach just outside Panama City Called Santa Clara, camped for 2 bucks each and slept in the tent under a palapa. It was pretty sweet!
Our plan for the next morning was to head into Panama City, possibly get some new tires for my bike, and check out what the locals thought about the drive down to the Darien. It was pouring rain, and traffic was nutty, but we found the BMW dealership and were able to at least get in out of the rain. They didn´t have any tires, and nobody there had been down into the Darien in about 6 years, so we got several conflicting stories about the conditions of the roads, and how safe travel there was. We cruised out to the Miraflores locks on the Panama Canal, checked that out, then followed a crazy taxi driver to a hotel in the city he said was safe. Turned out to be good, right downtown, easy walking distance to the city center, which is hopping with holidy shoppers, although that still didn´t make it feel like Christmas to me. Beer was only 27 cents though.
Next morning we got up early and heading for the Darien and the end of the road. We followed the map out past the airport, and through a pretty run down area outside of there, and then we were on this beautiful road, surrounded by the jungle, and in some spots a really cool lake on both sides of the road.
After a bit we came across our first of 4 miliary check points. The guys seemed friendly, and I was able to get them to sit on our bikes which was pretty cool. We left that spot thinking ¨cool, that was easy¨ but we ran into more military check points that got less and less friendly the farther down the road we went. It was beautifully paved in some sections, then it finally turned to dirt and the military guys were hassleing us a bit. We were still about 50 km from the very end, hanging out at the military checkpoint, having them go over our passports for about the 4th time, asking us what the hell we were doing down there, and this guy drove up that spoke good english, told us that we were pretty much as far as could get anyway as the road turned to muddy hell just down the road. We were on rough dirt at this point, so decided to call it good there. The place we turned around looked sketchy, so we bailed and headed back to Panama City, only to get stuck in some of the craziest traffic yet, lost in yet another downtown market or something, then found the road that put us back on the Bridge of the Americas outta town! yeah! holy shit! that place was nuts!
Made it back to the beach, had a two beers and fell asleep! Heading back north tomorrow!
cheers!
Doug
