Page 44: - No Return Ticket - Just a Ride Report /w Pics - From the beginning
A Big Change in Plans...
Three nights in Santa Fe was nice but again we are ready to get back on the road. We’re heading for Peninsula de Azuero. Our guide book says there is no better place to see the real Panama and how people live. We shoot for Chitre, the largest city in the area. Chitre is known for its festivals and Carnival. The economy here is based on agriculture and there is very little English spoken here, just the way we like it. Our guide book lists two hotels with a pool. The first is right on the main road coming into town. The parking is in front of the hotel facing the street. I go in to check it out anyway. I ask if I could park the bike in the grass courtyard near a room. I was told I could but that the rooms around the courtyard are all full. The next place is really nice but at $90 a night we move on. We didn’t see any other hotels in town with parking so we ride on to Las Tablas, another city in the area known for its festivals and culture. Again we find no hotels with parking. Next we ride to a beach community on the Pacific. This is low season and all the resorts are closed. We are getting frustrated and decided to ride back to the first hotel in Chitre and stay in any room they have available. Heidi walks in alone to see if they have something. She comes back out and says all they have is a little room with two small beds. Heidi waits by the bike while I go in to pay. I start out by saying that we checked out all the other hotels in the area and none are as nice as this. I get the deluxe room on the top floor with a king size bed. Heidi can’t figure out why they didn’t offer her that room. I had my theory why they wouldn’t give a girl alone a room with one king size bed. We have a good laugh. We enjoy a couple nights in Chitre; exploring the town on foot, swimming and jamming tunes pool side on our MP3 boom-box. I could feel the wheels turning inside my head and I could sense something going on in Heidi’s head also. We are constantly engaged in discussions about what the months ahead should look like for us. This is late fall in South America. We talk about our itinerary for riding into Bolivia, southern Chile and Argentina. The plan has been to spend a month or more in Panama City then hold-up in Ecuador and Peru for three or four months while we wait for spring to arrive in South America. The reasoning for this is obvious. Attempting to cross the high altitude Andes Mountains on a motorcycle in the dead of winter would not be smart. It’s a cold ride even in the summer. We need to at least wait for spring before attempting this. Do ya see where this is going? Lately we have been becoming increasingly unsettled about the thought of spending any long period of time in any one place. Thinking about doing three months in Ecuador without making any forward progress on our adventure is sounding less desirable every day. Our 5 week Puerto Viejo stay brought this thought to the forefront of my mind. I finally had to voice my feelings to Heidi. So many times in the past we have done things thinking that’s what the other person wants only to find out later neither one of us wanted it. I say to Heidi “What do you think about this scenario? Instead of getting on an airplane in Panama City then spending months waiting for the weather to change, we could turn around in Panama City, ride back through Central America while we wait for Spring to arrive in South America” I say “Logistically there’s no difference between getting on an airplane in Panama City to getting on an airplane in Cancun or Houston or even Milwaukee. This way we can continue traveling and riding and finish up our Central America leg of the journey, no ‘down time’ anywhere” We’re looking intensely at each other now. I can almost see confetti shooting out of our heads. It’s as if we have just been reborn, rejuvenated with a new zest to continue the ride. I’m literally yelling out “Yeah whoo” and making a circling motion with my arm raised over my head as if I’m twirling a lasso. We continue our discussions pool side. I say “I think it’s time for a beer” I go to the front desk and extend our stay one extra night so we can properly absorb our new adventure direction. ------------------------------------------------------------------- Back on the road and shooting for Panama City. All we have to do now is find two new tires for the bike, three quarts of good synthetic oil and hopefully an oil filter. That’s it. Then we can relax and properly enjoy Panama City. Panama City:
As we got closer to the city I expected to see more traffic than there was. Without warning we come to an exit ramp that says ‘Panama Centro’ I take it. Now the traffic is heavy with a capital ‘H’. We have over 150 miles on this tank of gas so I pull off to fill up. Our guide book mentions no hotels with parking and we don’t know where we are going to find tires for the bike. I continue planning to just ride around the city and hopefully run into a hotel where the parking looks good and if we are really lucky we might see a motorcycle shop in the process. The temperatures are hot. The highway is three or four lanes now and the traffic is even worse. The road splits a couple times, I just keep following signs that say ‘Centro’ Well I asked for it, we are in the center of Panama City with no idea of where we want to go. Heidi is trying to tell me something. I say “I’m pulling over!” We wheel into some car dealership and try to find some shade. The traffic is nuts, we’re a little frazzled and the heat is unreal. When I studied the guide book a few days ago I remember it mentioning several hotels around the center of town six or more blocks away from the malecon (sea side road).
I look at the map and say to Heidi “We need to get to avenue Balboa”
She says “We just passed the turnoff to Balboa!”
The road has a median in the middle and there are ramps everywhere. We can’t double back very easily.
I tell Heidi “We’ll just continue riding straight then hang a right somewhere. When we see the ocean we should be on Balboa”
The city center is full of roads slanting and intersecting. There are cars and trucks and us bumper to bumper.
Heidi yells out “Balboa!” Now I’m not making any of this up. We tool down the malecon for about a kilometer when Heidi yells out “Harley Davidson!” I pull in and park in front of a Harley Davidson store. Heidi says “This might be just a clothing store” I say “I see motorcycles inside” I walk in and say that I need two tires for a Harley Davidson Sportster. The mechanic walks back out with two of the sweetest tires I have ever seen. The owner of the shop tells me they can’t put them on until tomorrow. I ask her if she knows of a hotel we can stay at that has parking for the bike. She tells a mechanic to show me. We walk outside and he points right next door. He says we can keep the bike at the shop overnight if we want. I try poking myself to make sure I’m not just dreaming this. I think it’s time for a new T-shirt. Panama. The hotel is pricy but riding a motorcycle all the way to Panama has been a goal of mine since I was sixteen years old plus Panama City is one of the coolest cities in the world. This hotel is at the center of town, is right on the water and we’re on the 16th floor facing the bay. Time to ‘bite the bullet’ and live it up a little. Heidi is never going to want to leave. Panama City……. The Hard Rock is right across the street from the hotel. I still want to pinch myself. The next day we prepare for a walking tour of the city. Here we go, enjoy…… We walk along the malecon toward Casco Viejo, an old historic section of town set on a small peninsula which forms the bay. There are fishermen everywhere. People have stands setup on the side of the road selling new and used stuff. Good thing we like heat and humidity. I’m soaked by the time we reach Casco Viejo. We stop for breakfast in Casco Viejo. Next we walk back toward town along Avenue Central. I remember reading this street is where all the shopping is. Heidi is fired up. I love the paint jobs on the buses here. They’re called ‘Diablos Rojos’ (Red Devils) Back to the hotel. Six hour walking tour of Panama City central. What a great time. We stop by the bike shop to see if the bike is ready. Ten minutes later the bike rolls out. The ‘Rat Bike’ hasn’t been this clean since we left Hayward Wisconsin. This was a totally pleasant experience except when I had to pay the bill. The prices of the tires were astronomical. But at least they are the best quality tires and the cost of installation was cheap. We are now ready for the road ahead and in more ways then one. The Ride Continues… Continued: ---> Page 45 <----
