Catching up

Well, the last entry had us suspended in space in Puertoarenas, Costa Rica. We left there on a splendid ride down the pacific coast on a very nice hiway. We encountered only one shower on the way and had a really good ride only clouded by the infernal bureaucratic spewings of the border crossing between Costa Rica and Panama. After the border crossing, we rode in a "whopper of a rainstorm" to David, Panama.

Wandering around in the city, we finally found a hotel just before the
mother of the "whopper of a rainstorm" rolled into town. We were really glad to be settled into the hotel even though water was running down the walls in our room. This was a nice hotel but the water was just too much for the roof to bear. When we were in the dining room for supper (ground floor of eight floors), water was dripping from one of the light fixtures -- just another indication of the amount of water that fell.
We left David on Saturday, the fifteenth day of the trip, for Panama City. We had no problems except for two rainstorms that causing extreme pooling of water on the roadway as well as obscuring our vision -- so we stopped for about thirty minutes for each rain event. I did have an ephiphony here. I had my normal riding gear on and elected to add rain gear over the riding gear. I didn't get wet from the rain but the result was the same as my clothes were wet with perspiration. So, if it's warm, I will not use the rain gear over the riding gear -- the rain gear will only come out when it's cold.
When we reached Panama City, Gary had made arrangements to call an old friend, Eric, from our previous visit and he was supposed to meet us and herd us to his house to spend the night. We stopped at a gas station and Gary started up a conversation with Mack.
Seems he lives only a few blocks from Eric and offered to guide us to Eric's house. He took a taxi and we followed. There are jewels everywhere!

This morning we left Eric's house for the airport to check on flying the bikes to Bogota, Colombia. The flight for tomorrow is full and the next available flight is Wednesday. We are simultaneously working on a reservation on a boat that leaves on Tuesday and would take us to Cartegena, Columbia. In limbo are we!
Just a note for those who might be interested, the previous blog entry was published without pictures -- they have now been added.