cartagena, columbia

i love this door inside door!

the hot seat; need 1 for the klr

pimp buses!!

after 6 nights on the sea finally in cartagena. here we are finally unloading the bike onto a skif

sailboat number 2, the windsurfer

a stowaway; this bird joined us on the last leg of the trip, apparently exhausted from flying hundreds of miles over the sea between Panama and Columbia

I wont comment on the ridiculous photo Marie took of me.

old boat in the background

the bike safely on the new boat

island visit

coral embedded in the walls of the buildings

island hopping, chichemi, san blas

loading the bike onto andromeda

6 nights on the sea

After traveling 5,000 miles we reached the end of the Central American road! There are no roads past Panama City thru the dense jungle and into Columbia. To get into Cartagena you must travel by boat or fly. We chose to take a sailboat and travel with the motorcycle. Getting the motorcycle onto the boat was quite an experience... (at the moment i am unable to upload the photos..grrh..)

The first sailboat encountered engine problems 24 hours after departure. Luckily we were still in the SanBlas Archipelago and able to swim, snorkel and visit the many isolated islands owned by the KunaYala people while waiting for the new sailboat.

Snorkeling was fun, the water is full of small fish, starfish and white coral. The beach was the smoothest white grain sand I had ever been in. We snorkeled over a 6 foot shark at one point..I flailed around the water in a brief panic until we discovered the shark was dead! Scary...

I bought my first souvenirs here, two brightly colored handembroidered molas. The molas are similar to a quilt patch, decorated with birds, plants, mythical animals and many more designs. Intricately sewn and always colorful (almost a bizarre combination of colors) the molas are traditionally attached to a woman's blouse wrapping around her stomach.

Once the second sailboat arrived it was smooth sailing to Columbia. Montgomery admired the new sailboat, a Beneteau...he knows a lot about boats and can talk for hours about their unique features...

It was a long trip on a sailboat, many hours staring into the sea but we finally made it into South America...the trip continues...

pictures to accompany this post as soon as i find a modern computer...ha

Casco Viejo neighborhood Panama City

Local kid uses fountain as bathtub

The view from our hostel of the most modern we've seen in weeks. The Dubai of Central America.

Skate Scene Panama City

Near the Presidential Palace a run-down mansion has been turned into an unofficial skate park. In its day the building must have been of importance. The view of the city and its location are choice.

The photo doesn't do the scene justice. The symetrically planted huge palms nearly shut out the sun... eerie. Like an old growth forest. I loved it. acres of life. Marie was spooked, nearly peed her pants spooked. She confessed later that she had nightmares of being lost in the jungle.

I thought the forest was rad but I did awake from a dream that night where I was lost in the jungle. Scary!

beautiful costa rica!

We drove through Costa Rica in about 6 hours, driving uphill in the rain was not fun but the view was the prettiest so far. I hated the capital city, San Jose, it was dirty, run-down, felt dangerous, no street signs and full of traffic...the rest of the country was beautiful though!

cloud forest, costa rica

Wow! The drive past San Jose towards Panama was wild, such a high altitude that we were driving through the clouds!

honduras

We drove through Honduras in one day. The country is in a period of civil unrest and seemed to be abandoned. After 6pm every store was closed and every person was inside. The roads were quiet but in terrible condition, often down to only one driveable lane for both directions of travel. The 12 hour drive was beautiful though, nestled high in the mountains were little farms and villages.

copan, honduras

The ancient Mayan city of Copan!
This was an exciting excursion for me after all my art history classes. The relief sculptures were amazingly detailed, every possible space was covered with designs. I could have spent days here...