Jan. 28 – Puerto Viejo, CR to Almirante, PA

2009 January 31
tags: ,
by joe

It was raining hard in the morning, and continued to rain hard until noon,  so we hung around Rockin-J’s till almost noon, before heading out.  Rode further down the road we were on, just to see what was there,  until the wet and mud had us turn around and head back towards the ‘highway’ and the border.  The road was terrible and got worse as we approached the border.  Huge gaping holes completely unmarked.

The exit from Costa Rica was the quickest yet.  No muss, no fuss!  But, then came the ‘bridge of death’!  The only way to cross the river which forms the border between Costa Rica and Panama at Boca del Toros, is to ride across an old rail-road bridge that has been converted to automobile use.  They converted it by spiking down some old, twisted wooden planks on either side of the old steel rails, so that a car can straddle the rails and drive straight down the center of the bridge.  One lane, obviously.

the bridge is not a problem for automobiles, as long as you can drive slow and straight;  but, a motorcycle has to choose, either the right or left sides of the tracks, and then, must stay on the slippery, muddy, rain-soaked planks, which had gaps, were warped, or completely missing in some places.  If you lost balance and fell over to the outside, there was a good chance you could fall off the bridge itself, and 100′ to the river below.  It was a nightmare ride, and I was terrified.  We both made it safely!

The paperwork to enter Panama was easy and cheap, but took a long time anyway.  Everyone was very relaxed and casual about it all.  Many of the officials spoke some English.

Once we cleared the border, we were into the third world, for sure.  Roads were marginal,  but completely un-marked, with no directional signage at all.  We were never sure if we were on the correct road, and needed lots of help finding our way.  At one point when we were lost in a small town, and everyone kept pointing behind us as we rode along, to tell us we were going the wrong way.  Folks were very helpful and friendly.

About 12 miles into the country, we came to bridge of death #2.  Here the highway bridge was being replaced with a new one, and to carry traffic temporarily, the railroad bridge had been converted to car use, just like the one at the border.  Except this bridge was higher, longer (approx one kilometer!), and had no side railings left intact at all;  nothing to catch you if you fell off to the outside, which was incredibly easy to do on a motorcycle.  One slip could mean ‘goodbye, so long, been good to know ya’.   We walked out onto the bridge before attempting to cross, and I admit, I was terrified.  We positioned ourselves as the last vehicles in our set to cross, and slowly made our way, dragging our feet and hoping to not slip.  Again, we made it across, and pulled over for some celebrating and deep breathing.  I was covered in sweat from crown to toe.

We made it to another port city of Almirante before dark, found a really crappy place to stay near the docks,  ate Chinese food for dinner and crashed early.  This old man had had too much excitement for one day!  Sheesh!

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