First off, when we were getting off the boat it required the use of another launch to get the bikes to the beach. That was as expected, but it turned out that we had to pay extra for it and the locals who did the short ferry run wanted to try to extort quite a bit of money from us for the small amount of effort. We resisted of course, but in the end we paid more than we wanted but less than they wanted and it took quite a lot of effort to get it done... They eventually accepted the deal only because another "business opportunity" came by and the "pickings" were better there! :)
Next little hiccup was that we got "hit up" for more money to be allowed to drive through the land of the "indigenous" ... Which was of course, the only way out of the "township" where we had landed... But, OK, fair enough we paid up and rode away :)
And then we made it into Panama City with no more problems for that day.
I even managed to find a small home entertainment store later that afternoon that had a replacement camera that I liked. So I bought it and took it back to the hostel to charge the battery... Cant wait to be able to take my own pictures again ... Its been over a month I think!
Next morning, Greg and I were intending to go get our bikes "signed in" to Panama (since there is no customs office at the tiny little town where we landed) and then hit the road and head "North".
So, first we got some directions from the hostel we were staying at and then we started riding to our destination... It didnt take too long to get there but as expected there were several wrong turns and "question/answer" sessions with random street-corner pedestrians before we got to where we wanted.
But, then we hit the first "snag"of the day...
We parked the bikes and went inside the customs building and were then shown around a few stops before we seemed to get to the person we needed. And it was "the boss"!... You could tell by the big office and desk and the pressed shirt and tie :)
And, actually, I dont think he thought too well of us... A couple of very grubby slobs who were led into his office and proceeded to dump their helmets and jackets (equally grubby) all over his office furniture!
I sensed his "coldness" and did my best to sit politely and quietly and answer any questions in my most polite and correct Spanish (with lashings of apologies for the low quality of my Spanish etc.)... And he checked all my papers... Which involved a bit of fast talking on my part to assure him that the piece of paper I gave him was indeed a valid and current certificate of international insurance for the bike... (although, just between you and me, it was just my BC insurance papers that are only valid in Canada and the USA). And he was satisfied with that and wrote a note that told his "underlings" to proceed with admitting my bike to Panama. :))
Next, it was Gregs turn, but when it came time for his insurance papers, the only papers he had were expired!... Unfortunately, "the boss" was paying close enough scrutiny to the papers (written all in English so it was a challenge for him) to spot that they were expired!...
Then ensued a polite but dynamic discussion in poor to terrible (My and Greg's) Spanish about what to do about this.
The answer was very clear... You anit getting that bike on Panama roads without insurance!!!
OK, so my bike papers get processed and while we sit and wait for that to happen, we are busy scheming away in whispered English what we should do about Gregs "problem". Now, it would have been easy to "doctor" the dates on the expired papers while we were in Colombia if we'd thought about it... But, you know how it is when your trapped in one of lifes "doldrums": You can barely muster the energy required to wash your self let alone plan ahead for obscure paperwork details for a future that seems unlikely to ever eventuate! :)))
But past is past and we were now dealing with the "reality" as opposed to a seemingly remote future possibility.
We considered "doctoring" the old paper, but felt that that would only work for other countries further down the line. Our reasoning was that Greg was going to have to come back (hopefully today) to the same guy with some proof of insurance, and it'd be pretty obvious if we showed him the exact same piece of paper with a different expiry date!...
So, then we considered copying my papers and doctoring my details out and overwriting Gregs details (photoshop or whatever)... But we came to the same conclusion about that... tooooo obvious.
Sooo, It seemed that the forthright approach of buying local insurance was the best option for the moment (wed see what the cost was and Greg would just have to swallow it!)
But this was all taking quite a lot of time, so we figured that we were going to have to stay in the city for another night and head off the next day instead... Greg was very apologetic about this but I assured him that "stuff happens" and that I didnt really have a schedule to follow anyway, so it was no big deal for me.
So, directions for an insurance agency were obtained and off we rode... By the way, Panama city is a veritable "pot-pori" of winding one way streets and highways through a forest of tall buildings and its not at all easy for visitors to navigate. But, we enlisted the help (actually he volunteered and insisted on leading the way) of a local, and after a couple of failed attempts, and about half an hour of driving around and trying not to loose him, we were at a suitable agency :)))
Initial attempts by Greg to explain what he wanted resulted in a price of $120!! With more effort, it became $60, and then eventually, a more senior agency employee intervened and sorted it out for a price of just $15 :))) (Gotta hand it to Greg for being persistent cos Id probably have coughed the money up at the $60 price).
But, then it seemed to take forever to get the papers done, regardless of the low price.
Anyway, Id mostly been waiting outside watching the motorbikes, and at about this point I took out my new camera and wanted to take a picture of something... And now I hit the second significant obstacle for the day!
When I switched the camera on, it did all sorts of lens extension and retraction manoeuvres and then told me it had a "zoom error"! So, I switched it off and it did the manoeuvres again, but it left the lens extended!.... "Not Good", I thought.
I switched it on and off and removed and replaced the battery and the memory card etc, but to no avail, and of course, all with a rising sense of "Oh No!... Those bastards are trying to fobb off a broken camera on me!!!"... Im sure you can imagine the feeling :)
So, I wandered inside the insurance agency and found Greg sitting back watching TV and filling his face with free coffee and pastries while his paper work was being done :) I told him of my dilemma and he quickly volunteered to sort his bike customs issues out without me so that I could go and "lynch" the people at the camera shop!
And so I set off on a mission, with all sorts of "possibilities" running through my mind!
It wasnt too far back to the hostel (fortunately the insurance place was quite close and I now knew this little bit of the city from recent riding (I didnt have a GPS anymore). Greg had a more complex problem to get back to the customs place, but he had a way-point marked for it in his GPS so he'd be fine.
I parked my bike, and then got all the bits of plastic and cardboard for the packaging of the camera (it always needs to be complete for this sort of warranty exercise dont you know). Then I headed briskly off by foot to the camera shop.
Now, to keep the story shortish, this is a synopsis of what happened...
I went in and politely greeted the same salesman Id bought it from. I then explained that I hadnt dropped it or even used it but that after charging the battery, it wasnt working.
They checked it and found that it did the same little lens dance Id seen and that indeed, it wasnt working. Then there were the expected repeat questions and then the same little game of on-off and battery in-out that Id done, and then the boss was called over to get involved and the same set of events was all repeated one more time just for good measure :))
Then, they had some chatting in Spanish (which was too fast for me to follow) and the salesman started to give me the "You'll have to contact the manufacturer..." talk...
But I wasnt having a bit of that and I got a bit huffy and in my poor Spanish I let them know that "This was their problem" and I wasnt going anywhere till I got a refund or a replacement camera!.... But that got the boss all official and he started to go into his "brush off" mode (which of course I didnt want), so I went into my "mollification" routine (again in bad Spanish) and apologised for my abruptness and said how it was because I was stressed and that I still wanted to buy from his shop and that he was a professional and of course there was a protocol to follow, but could he please assist me because I was a foreigner and my language and navigation skills in his fine city were not up to the task etc. etc.
And it seemed to work, because he had his employee make a call or two and then he spoke on the phone to someone, and then he came to tell me what the plan was...
In short, he was getting the camera quickly checked by the repair place for mechanical damage, and if it was "clean" then he'd give me a new camera later that day... Buy-passing the official five day wait for a "replacement authorisation" from the manufacturer.
I was sure there was no mechanical damage so I was fine with that, and so I went away for a few hours and when I came back, I had a new Camera.... Pheeew :)))
And in the mean time, Greg had returned from his own exploits and had also been successful in getting his bike permit... Yay :))
And so it turned out that Gregs paper work delay had in fact actually probably saved me a few hundred dollars or at least significantly more delay and hassle because Id only likely have found the camera problem after a day or so of riding....
Its funny how these sorts of "problems" often manage to turn themselves into "solutions" if you just give them a little time! :)))
Ah, but things continued the next day too.
As planned,we got up earlyish and headed off out of Panama city... Again, there were a few wrong turns and some startled pedestrians giving us directions. But we found our way onto "The Bridge of the Americas", crossed the Panama Canal, and headed toward Costa Rica.
Things went well for about three hours of riding and we even stopped for lunch at a famous fast food outlet of "ill repute" (though the red headed clown was nowhere to be seen) just to celebrate being on the North American Continent again and riding our bikes :))
But then!... As I was riding along, I noticed a sudden strange noise... and then a few seconds later it happened again... and again... I had a momentary worry that it might have been coming from deep inside the engine (That would be NOT GOOD) but quickly decided "No, its something more peripheral". I immediately pulled over and Greg stopped behind me. I rolled slowly forward but couldnt hear anything, so the engine was switched off and the bike was paddled down the hill for a bit with both of us listening and watching... "either chain or rear wheel bearings"... "Yep, Not chain...Probably bearing".
So, I drove the bike to the bottom of the hill we were on where, "as luck would have it", there was a very small village and a nice paved side road to pull off onto.
We both parked, and there then ensued a flurry of activity that involved a careful inspection of my rear wheel with the bike up on the centre stand (confirming the problem) and then the rappid deployment of tools and the removal of my rear wheel... Quick discussion and Greg is dispatched with my rear wheel back some 70Km to the big town we just went through. His mission... To locate an auto-parts store, purchase replacement bearings (they are a common metric bearing), then find a mechanic (equally common), borrow a hammer and punch, remove old bearings and then replace with the new ones before riding back to me.... My mission during this time was to "interact peacefully with the natives" :)))
Now, for most of the motorbike travellers I meet, this bearing problem would have been a MAJOR undertaking, and indeed, it would have been for me too, little more than a couple of years ago. But these days its "just one of those things" and is in fact actually quite fun... But I didnt get to fix it this time... Greg did, and hes even more competent at this sort of "little project" than I am :)... But, Id had the fun of "saving his life" back in Turbo when he got Dengue fever, so it was only fair that he should have the fun of "saving me" when the opportunity came by... Sort of evens the score, if you know what I mean :))
Anyway, in amazingly fast time (only just over an hour and a half) Greg had ridden over 100Km, located the special items, and done all the required work and was back with my wheel :)).... "Most effecatious indeed!"
I might even have been annoyed with him because I was just starting to "get to know" the locals, but the soccer game on the television had just ended anyway, and it seemed like a natural "break point". So, a further fifteen minutes was spent puting the wheel back on and then we were off again...
We barely "broke stride" over the whole affair!
... But lets hope thats the last little hiccup for a few days... I want to do some riding :)))
