Last border crossing in Central America (yay!) into Panama was easy as pie, but still took 4 hours, due to the usual slow bureaucracy. Glad to have made it this far through Central America we were also looking forward to reaching a new continent. Our group sped along the straight and rater boring roads through Panama to reach our residence for the next few days – a house on the beach! Together with Josh and Johanna, George joined our meet-up to complete our 250ties biker-gang. A friendly guy stopped by our house and gave us coconuts for free – so the first night was spent overindulging in coconuts – and rum :-). On one of the following days we took our bikes to the beach for a spin. Was great fun! Washing all the sand of the bikes led to the house running out of water, leading to no water for showers – or the toilet! Good that we left the next day.
It was time to head on to the sailing to Colombia. The road to the Carti Airport, where the boat was to leave from, lead through the autonomous territory of the indigenous Kuna people. They stopped us at a checkpoint and charged 20 dollars. Form there on we raced along a twisty, winding road through the mountains ending up at a small harbor, where the Stalratte was anchored. We unloaded the bikes and handed in our Passports (which we shall not see again until after the customs procedure in the middle of Cartagena..).
A speedboat took us to the small island Porvenir for the night, so they could load the bikes onto the boat without having worried owners in their backs. Our Passports meanwhile had their own journey to customs where they got stamped out of Panama. Rain set in and there was not much else to do on the island than drink beer.
The next day the Stahlratte sailed for 15 miles to the San Blas Islands. The anchor was dropped and the day was spent snorkeling and exploring the islands. After dinner the sailing to Cartagena, Colombia began and soon violent waves set in – making many people severely seasick, including Kate. The boat was swaying back and forth so strong, that we could only lie in our beds and get up for meals in-between. On the first day we were really fascinated by sailing and contemplating a sailing trip around the world – the dream died shortly after, or definitely for the time being. Off to new adventures in South America!
