Aboard the Stahlratte..

From Barraquilla I left for Cartegena. Cartegena is a pretty city but I was there to organise transport to Panama.

Now, for those not in the know, although there is a fairly continual land mass from the tip of South America to the top of Alaska in North America there is a section that is impossible to navigate on a bike (or car) due to the fact there is no road and the wet, muddy jungle is crammed full of baddies and desperate people. This area between Colombia and Panama is called the Darien Gap. Sooo you need to fly or take a boat.

Well I arrived in Cartegena (in the rain again) and it just so happened that I stop in a hostel frequented by motorcycle travellers and it just so happened that one of the most recommended bosts was leaving the very next next day and it just so happened that there was another couple on a bike (Brad and Jola) who I bumped into in Bolivia were also taking this boat and it just so happened that there was still enough room... Well this was too many `it just so happened` and so I jumped at the opportunity.

To get the bike to the boat it was lowered into a (rubber) dinghy from the water`s edge and then hoisted aboard. Not the normal thing a sane person does with his bike but after a few times you almost get used to it...

The Stahlratte (Steel Rat in English) is an old German sailboat for the early 1900`s which, at the moment is stationed in the Caribbean Sea. The trip to Panama takes about 2 days with 2 extra days of lazing around some picture perfect islands in the warm Caribbean sun.

The trip was fairly calm and with the help of a few motionsickness pills I managed to stay pretty alright, though spent most of the time sleeping...

The San Blas Islands lived up to their reputation as an idyllic spot for swimming, snorkelling, BBQs, hermit crab racing and general lazing around in the sun. 2 days in Paradise...

(a local Kuna village)

And then the fun began again. Since Central America is in the wet season the road from San Blas was unpassable for a mbike and so after all the backpackers got off (and the captain who was going to Panama City) we continued on with the rest of the Crew to Porvineer from where we hoped to catch a cargo boat to Miramar. Well all went well til they managed to run the boat abound on a sandbar where they were stuck till evening. Thankfully it was very close to the `dock` we needed to get to so after a couple of hours it was decided that it would be better if our bikes were offloaded.


Since the rubber dinghy from the sailboat decided not to work we made use of a local craft. The flimsy fibreglass bottom was viewed suspicously by Brad and I as we envisiaged our mbikes sinking to the bottom of the sea. I graciously let Brad go first....

After haggling a price (we were in bind and they knew it) we started our 4 hour trip to Miramar which went relatively smoothly. At the other end the last obstacle was getting our bikes off the boat. There is another boat tied to dock so what do you do? Well you tie alongside and simply manhandle the bike from one boat to the next and then onto the dock. Simple..

(a few more photos when blogger works again...)

When you enter a new country on your bike not only do need to get your passport stamped (or obtain a visa) you also need to make a temporary import of your motorcycle. Since this wasn`t possible at SanBlas we had to wait till we got to Panama City. The customs office wasn`t open over the weekend so we had to wait until today. We were a bit worried since you are supposed to do it straight away and we thought they might make a problem out of it. However after finding the right place it ended up being a smooth process. If only the rest of the borders here in Central America are going to be like this...