October 24, 2007

We had taken off from our bungalow early this morning, and road towards Panama with a stomach full of pancakes and black coffee...I was happy. We ended up being about 80 miles from the border, and a lovely border at that. After receiving so much hassle at the Nicaraguan border, we were not happy with the inconvenience of traveling through Central America. Luckily, the Panama border made up for it with a dramatic difference.
We were through the border in about an hour, and onto the Panamanian roads. The roads themselves in Panama are really nice...much smoother than most of the roads we have been on so far. The are covered...almost like going through a tunnel of palm and eucalyptus, full of tropical smells and humid moisture. Peaking through the palm trees, we saw a mountain stretching up into the sky on our left. Just in the middle of this large green rock was a 500 foot waterfall, poetically obeying gravity in it´s quest for the pacific.
The roads passed over many rivers, covered in white rocks, showing a sort of purity to the waters that passed underneath our motorcycles.
It was 120 miles into Santiago where we finally stopped for the day...at the Hotel Hacienda... a new hotel in the area with a very central American appeal. This is where I will rest my soar tail until getting back onto my horse and riding into Panama City tomorrow where we will load the mighty steeds onto a plain to Colombia.