Five days on the ocean and the sun and sea’s stripping away effect has become quite clear.  Everyone has approached a slight stir-craziness punctuated with periods of quiet resignation and boredom.  The ocean bleaches the colour from one’s hair, strips away at the skin leaving it smooth and tight, dries and cracks the wood on the ship, cuts at the metal anchor chain links until rusty pieces flake away, bores constantly against the rocks turning them to sand.  I climbed the ladder to the roof of the boat and watched the sun set well over the coastline hills, indicating some much larger as yet unseen mountains behind the hills.  The sun is much more powerful here and when it was setting everything seems to fall quiet and then as if a drain-plug had been pulled somewhere all the light in the world was sucked down the drain somewhere beyond those mountains leaving only the thin clouds softly lit.

Motorcycles No Toll, near Turbo, Columbia

Torban at Peaje, Columbia

Torban, Tom, Banana Boat to Turbo, Columbia

Tip of Columbia, Fritz-The-Cat boat

We began the day with a motor malfunction for the second time resulting in the now familiar exclamations from Fritz – “Scheisse!”, “Fuck!”.   After this was corrected we headed into the open sea without the benefit of any reefs or islands to dampen the waves.  Ben turned white then green and finally succumbed by vomiting from the back of the boat.  Ann-Marie and Ernesto mostly kept to themselves as usual on the side of the boat until a large wave soaked them out of their perch.

We arrived in Sapzurro, Columbia this afternoon and went into an adjacent bay to clear Columbian customs.  It has become apparent that there is only one boat available leaving tomorrow at noon that costs $160 USD per person and bike as opposed to Fritz’s email to be before leaving that it would cost $50 for the same service.   Ann-Marie and Ernesto left with their backpacks on a little boat to presumably escape to a hotel for the night to get away from the rest of us and catch their own boat tomorrow.  The captain of the much-maligned MetaComet boat (it’s a converted fishing trawler with an unusable mast) had phoned ahead to arrange transport for the five bikers on board – Fritz hadn’t bothered to do the same.

Details on how to cross the Darien Gap with (or without) a motorcycle by sailboat

Bike, Fritz-The-Cat boat	Fritz repairing motor again, Panama	Mark, Simon, Tom, Tuly, Fritz-The-Cat boat	Ben, Torban, Fritz-The-Cat boat
Torban, Fritz-The-Cat boat	Ernesto, Ann-Marie, Fritz-The-Cat boat	Luis, Fritz-The-Cat boat	Tip of Columbia, Fritz-The-Cat boat
Tip of Columbia, Fritz-The-Cat boat	Sapzurro Landfall, Fritz-The-Cat boat

Carti, Panama to Turbo, Columbia

The hypothesis is from Paul Vasey (a lecturer at University of Lethbridge, Alberta, Canada) studying third-gender people on the Samoan Islands, the hypothesis is “…that same-sex attraction confers an evolutionary advantage to humans by increasing a family’s reproductive rates, as well as ensuring the well-being of future generations.” – Article Revealing Same-Sex Attraction’s Evolutionary Role, on NYU’s Scienceline.org

Here is someone else writing about cross-dressing in the Peruvian highlands.

Details on how to cross the Darien Gap with (or without) a motorcycle by sailboat

Tom Lobster, Darien, Panama	Lobster, Darien, Panama	Lobster, Darien, Panama	Landing Party, Darien, Panama
Landing Party, Darien, Panama

Carti, Panama to Turbo, Columbia

Drunken Kuna Island Fiesta, San Blas Islands, Panama

We stopped at two Kuna islands – the autonomous indigenous, mainly island-dwelling people of the south-west of Panama. They were having a fiesta of sorts on the first island. All of them totally drunk inside the dark palapa hut – maybe 100 people. The woman traditionally dressed swilling rum out of large bottles and crying or laughing in groups as they wobbled arm in arm down the narrow palapa lanes. Unfortunately one of the men made me delete my photos…but bikers have agreed to pool photos in Turbo, Columbia upon arrival.

I woke up in the sweaty birth that had had dripping rain water falling on me all night from the hatch I had opened in a sad attempt to get some air into the sauna-like cabin.   Luis the Colombian first mate and cook was preparing breakfast until Fritz accused him of running down the power all night as the engine wouldn’t turn over.   A generator was produced blowing noise and air pollution over the breakfast table until Fritz with a hammer and WD-40 announced the starter had been ‘stuck’ .

Dolphins surfaced and swam alongside the boat jumping up as we sailed through a series of reefs and uninhabited palm-fringed islands until reaching a stretch of completely open ocean on one side about 4km offshore from the Darien Gap.   Quickly a re-arrangement of bodies took place with everyone out of the cabin and seeking out places with air and a view of the skyline. I stayed in the cabin too long and started to feel queasy and fell asleep, Mark skipped lunch, and everyone stopped talking except Fritz who continue to har-har-har laugh and exclaim ‘super!’ occasionally.   It transpired that Mark and Ben had been vomiting during the crossing (required for accurate transcription of events!).

Details on how to cross the Darien Gap with (or without) a motorcycle by sailboat

Fritz with Darien Gap BehindSan Blas Island, Kuna Territory, Panama			San Blas Island, Kuna Territory, Panama
San Blas Island, Kuna Territory, Panama	San Blas Island, Kuna Territory, Panama	San Blas Island, Kuna Territory, Panama	San Blas Island, Kuna Territory, Panama
Bike on Fritz the Cat, Kuna Territory, Panama	Dolphins, Kuna Territory, Panama	Kuna Island Party, San Blas, Panama	Kuna Island Party, San Blas, Panama
Kuna Island Party, San Blas, Panama	Kuna Island Party, San Blas, Panama	Kuna Island Party, San Blas, Panama	Kuna Island Party, San Blas, Panama
Kuna Island Party, San Blas, Panama	Kuna Island Party, San Blas, Panama	Kuna Island Party, San Blas, Panama

Carti, Panama to Turbo, Columbia

Kuna Territory Near Carti, Panama

We drove into Panama at night quite exhausted from ~500kms of driving from Uvita, Costa Rica and checked into a $55 hotel in a newer fancier neighbourhood. I was told by the skipper of the boat (Fritz of the boat Fritz-the-Cat) to go to a hostel to follow an 4×4 truck down the Pan-American highway and then 1.5 hours north through the jungle to the semi-autonomous Kuna territory on the coast. I called the Marmallena hostel owner twice and he was rude and seemed to be telling me to come to the hostel at 5am. Since that would mean getting up at 4am I left on my own driving through Panama City at 5:15am 6:15am (my alarm clock was still on Costa Rican time) and watched the sun rise as I drove out of town on the Corredor Sur toll road towards the airport.

Contemplating River Crossing

The drive was pleasant with winding hilly rough pavement until the unmarked turn-off into the jungle on a dirt road. I was expecting a really tough slog through muddy jungle roads. I drove fast on the hard-packed mud and slid across the gravel as the road rose steeply and then banked and dropped into deep red-mud hollows. As I rounded one bend I was going to fast and hit gravel while on the wrong side of the road. When a 4×4 appeared on my side of the road the bike fishtailed as I tried to cross the road, slow down, and turn the curve at the same time – earning a honk from the other driver.

Eventually the road came to a fairly wide river of indeterminate depth. I watched three 4×4′s drive through it to judge the depth and best

Kuna's Preparing To Load Bike

route. It was exciting but didn’t stall so I was proud of myself by the time I slithered up the other bank. A $6 Kuna park entry fee was paid, then I arrived at a gate by the ocean where I was told my very heavy bike required $30 for transit to the catamaran. I negotiated to $25 and my bike was lifted with the help of 4 others into a small fishing boat. We arrived at Fritz’s catamaran where it was winched on board.

Kuna Boy, San Blas

There are 4 other motorcyclists on the boat – Ben (BMW 1100A), Tom (KLR650), and Mark (Yamaha 250) from the US and Torban (KLR650) from the Netherlands. Three backpackers; Simon (Swiss German), Ernesto (Australia), and Ana-Marie (Finland) were brought an hour after I arrived. Fritz told me I made the best time he had seen and since most of the other bikers fell several times on the road – my ego was boosted.

Kuna Canoe, San Blas Island, Kuna Territory, Panama

Details on how to cross the Darien Gap with (or without) a motorcycle by sailboat

Kuna Territory Near Carti, Panama	Kuna Territory Near Carti, Panama	Contemplating River Crossing in Kuna Territory Near Carti, Panama	Kuna's Preparing To Load Bike, Carti, Panama
Kuna's Preparing To Load Bike, Carti, Panama	Kuna Island, Panama	Bike on Fritz-The-Cat, Kuna Territory, Panama	San Blas Island, Kuna Territory, Panama
San Blas Island, Kuna Territory, Panama	San Blas Island, Kuna Territory, Panama	Torban, Simon, Ann Marie, San Blas Island, Kuna Territory, Panama	San Blas Island, Kuna Territory, Panama
San Blas Island, Kuna Territory, Panama	Panama Exit Immigration Island, Kuna Territory, Panama	Kuna Fisherman, Kuna Territory, Panama	San Blas Island, Kuna Territory, Panama
Kuna boy and Tom, San Blas Island, Kuna Territory, Panama	Simon,San Blas Island, Kuna Territory, Panama	Ann Marie Being Sold Bracelets,San Blas Island, Kuna Territory, Panama	Ship,San Blas Island, Kuna Territory, Panama
ToiletSan Blas Island, Kuna Territory, Panama	Kuna Boy,San Blas Island, Kuna Territory, Panama	Kuna Boy,San Blas Island, Kuna Territory, Panama	MarkSan Blas Island, Kuna Territory, Panama
Kuna BoySan Blas Island, Kuna Territory, Panama	Kuna Girl Cleaning FishSan Blas Island, Kuna Territory, Panama	Kuna canoesSan Blas Island, Kuna Territory, Panama	San Blas Island, Kuna Territory, Panama
San Blas Island, Kuna Territory, Panama	Kuna CanoeSan Blas Island, Kuna Territory, Panama

Carti, Panama to Turbo, Columbia

The Darién Gap: an undeveloped stretch of mountainous, swampy, jungle with no road that connects southern Panama to north-western Columbia.   The area is sparsely inhabited by indigenous tribes, smugglers, and bandits.  The reasons for there being no road seem to be either that it’s not possible given the rough nature of the region or that Panama didn’t want to have a direct conduit to the cocaine flowing north mainly to the US from Bolivia, Peru, and Columbia.   Crossings have been attempted by people on foot, motorcycle, and pickup truck.   Only a few sailboat do the crossing during the rough winter months (Dec-March).  Many seem to get seasick on the trip. It’s not a pleasure cruise through the San Blas Islands as promoted by boat captains. Most backpackers weren’t particularly impressed with the trip – motorcyclists seemed to find it acceptable.

Steps:

1)    Contact a boat captain directly or book through a hostel.
2)    Find out how many people will be on the boat and how many motorbikes (6 would be the limit). Try to insist you get tarps or plastic to cover the bike.
3)    Try to insist the captain pre-arrange a fast or slow boat to take you from Sapzurro to Turbo – if not you may pay a lot or be stuck in Sapzurro for several days (not really recommended).
4)    Reserve and drive to Carti – see GPS track on Google Map in this post or download the file Garmin GPX file here: http://tripdown.regioncoding.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/Carti-Panama-to-Turbo-Columbia.gpx (or follow the 4×4 from the hostel at 5am).  The drive involves 1-1.5 hours on the road to Carti from the Pan American highway.  Drive past Chepo, cross three metal floored bridges, and take the first left dirt road heading uphill into the jungle – about 20kms past the Gas Station and commodore.
5)    Pay the park entrance fee of $6 about 30 minutes along the road.
6)    Cross the river about 10 minutes later
7)    Arrange small boat passage (for you and your bike $20 is supposed to suffice, they will say it’s very heavy and ask for $30 or $35)
8)    Load motorbike onto small boat from dock in a crazy manner.
9)    Load onto sailboat and make sure it’s tied down properly – pay $770 in my case for bike and self to skipper.
10)    Sail (motor) endlessly on an overcrowded boat for days upon interminable days.
11)    Load bikes onto dock or directly onto fast or slow boat.  We took the slow boat… (5 bikes, $110 each) very slow, overpriced, but bikes well secured and included two meals.

Motorcycle Insurance in Colombia

You can get transit insurance for $0.50/day.  They however wouldn’t sell it to us for less than two months at the office below in Cartagena.  You can’t clear aduana (customs) in Turbo so you will drive without papers to Medellin or Cartagena and do it there.  We were stopped about 6 times and after explaining we came through Turbo the police didn’t mind about not having papers. This information is from the HUBB -note they seem to know motorcyclists want less than 2 months and the clerk at the office explicitly started by saying 2 months was the minimum (cash payment only).

you can get your Seguro in Colombia through the Seguros del Estado S.A.
and pay for only the days you want to use it p costs about .50 USD a day
here’s the offices in Cartagena to go to Carrera 8 no 34-62, Edeficio Banco de Bogota Piso 8, tel 664 7555, OR in Bogota to Calle 17 n0 10-16, Piso 3 tel3414646 OR in Medellin calle 53 no 45-45 oficina 1006 tel 2310799 OR in Popayan calle 4 no 8-26 tel 824 2922

Clearing your motorcycle for transit in Colombia

We went to the port in Cartagena (near the old center) and were asked explicitly for a bill of lading. We fumbled and lied about how we got the bikes there (a small boat, no papers, don’t understand etc.).  We left the office and ‘picked up our bikes from the port’ which we had parked a few blocks away and drove them into the DIAN (aduana) office parking lot. Waited 1.5 hours for the paperwork, had the bikes inspected, and then were given the papers half and hour later.  Not sure if the best advice is to just say a small boat brought them to turbo and you came on a sailboat and that you weren’t given any paper work for the bikes.

Hostels in Panama City facilitating Darién Gap sailboat crossings (many boats don’t take motorcycles):

Best advice is to contact ship captains directly. Try to negotiate a better rate especially if you are travelling with more than one person).

▪    Hostel Wunderbar (* uses feedback from those who’ve done the passage to recommend the best boats/captains) http://www.hostelwunderbar.com/sailing_trips.html

▪    Hostel Mamallena (* not recommended, was rude, unhelpful, and hung up on me twice).  http://mamallena.com/sailboats.html

Links to others posting about the crossing or Darién Gap itself:

• http://www.drivetheamericas.com/wiki/Darien_Gap
• http://afewmoremiles.com/category/darien-gap/
• http://www.roadkill.com/~davet/worldtrip/misctext/darien.txt
• http://www.motivation-tools.com/adventures/darien_gap.htm – These two did cross it on two-wheel drive Rokon motorcycles

Carti, Panama to Turbo, Columbia