Border mania and the finale of this adventure

After the great trip with Stahlratte it was time to take on Central America. First of: Panama and Panama City. The road from where we unloaded the bikes to the airport was fun with a lot of twists and turns. We also had company with the eight other bikes on the boat which added to the fun!

After a brief detour to the wrong place at the airport to do the temporary import of the bikes we found the right place. Sadly it was closed but we were reassured that we could do the procedure the next day. Here we split up from the rest of the group and drove into the city to find our pre-booked hotel. Turned out to be a very nice place; Ramada Panama Centro. Here we spent a few days “recuperating” from the sailing. It’s very important not to get stressed when adventure riding!

After a bit of wildlife spotting in the middle of the city (Parque Recreativo Omar Torrijos) we decided to head on towards Costa Rica. We had at this point about a month to get to Mexico. A lot of countries to cover, but the distances are very short compared to South America.

We soon discovered that driving in Central America is…frankly quite boring :( After the spectacular views of Chile, Bolivia and Peru the scenery in CA is quite underwhelming. The landscape is flat so there is a lack of big scenery. Everything is very green and looks the same. But all the beautiful animals made up for the lack of excitement while driving. Oh, and everything (including you) is constantly damp. The heat is sometimes unbelievable, but after a while you just learn to ignore it since you can’t do much about it.

Now followed a part of the trip that gave us many new experiences, such as:

  • To stand in line for hours in riding gear (often not knowing if it was the right line to begin with)
  • To witness how painfully inefficient you can make paperwork, even with computers.
  • How to take really deep breaths to calm down while at the same time remember to smile warmly and politely ask where exactly is the correct line?

After a great time in Costa Rica we decided to press on and rode through Nicaragua, Honduras, El Salvador, Guatemala and Belize to get to Playa del Carmen in Mexico where we would meet up with Christians mom and do a bit of regular vacationing.

Besides the border crossings the ride was nice with a lot of good food and nice places to stay. During this time we started thinking about the rest of the trip. The plan was originally to continue to USA but we decided to leave it for another trip and end this trip in Cancun, Mexico. One reason for this is that it’s getting a bit late in the year so we couldn’t go as far north as we would like. Another reason is that our bikes are not ideal for riding long distances, something that USA has a lot of :) And lastly…apparently it cost a lot of money to travel by bike? I know, I’m as shocked as you.

The last weeks where wonderful. We went to Playa del Carmen and from there to Tulum and then Cancun. We swam with whale sharks. Laid back on beautiful beaches. Snorkeled in the ocean and in great cenotes. Visited a lot of mayan ruins. We topped it off with an all inclusive stay at GR Solaris in Cancun, the first time I’ve experienced all inclusive and I must say its quite addictive. A week spent training two times a day and eating great food. Can’t get much better than that.

The shipping of the bikes were done with Armerijet. They did most of the work for us. Packed the bikes and did all the paperwork. We just had to show up at the customs and pay a lot of money :)

On our way home we stopped in New York for a few days and then…the adventure was over for this time which always gives me mixed feelings. The change can be a bit surreal and hard to handle at times. Mostly it feels great though, really nice seeing all my family and friends back at home.

Thanks to all that have followed us on this adventure! Just lets us know if you have any questions. More pictures and videos will keep coming on our Facebook-page and on Instagram the following months.

Cheers!