Cow-catching festivals, mountain crossings where we were almost blown off our bikes, beaches, and finally Panama City.
Goneriden
17
22 Feb 2002 – 28 Feb 2002
Costa Rica - Panama
San Jose - David (Panama) - Bocas del Toro - Santiago - Panama City
Trip distance16,909 kmWeek 17 of 32
The modern week-by-week edition
San Jose
to Panama City.
This week’s route
San Jose - David (Panama) - Bocas del Toro - Santiago - Panama City
- 1San José
- 2David
- 3Bocas del Toro
- 4Santiago
- 5Panama City
Week 17 routeCosta Rica - PanamaRegional context
Road sections use current OpenStreetMap roads · ferry and flight legs are direct guides
Week 17 in the full journey
See this week in the complete 32-week route.
The preserved 2002 maps provide full-trip context while the modern interactive journey map is developed.
Memorable moment
Memorable moment.
The stifling heat of David greeted us as we prepped the bikes and donned our black jackets, boots, gloves and helmets for the ride north to Bocas del Toro.
Feeling like ice-creams in the summer heat and enduring the locals’ humorous glares, we rode out of town knowing from past experience the protective gear was a necessary evil.
Riding north, we stumbled upon a town hosting a calf lassoing competition; the crowd attendance was typical of a local football game at home, acknowledging their heroes with triumphant applause as their lassos found their target.
Ascending further into the mountains revealed views comprising 50+ miles of astonishing country reaching right to the edge of the Pacific Ocean.
Within minutes of admiring such landscape, we were hit head on by torrential fog, rain and wind that neither of us had ever experienced.
The outcome was a painstakingly slow and careful ride of some 60 miles in order to overcome the sudden, violent climatic changes and reach our destination safely.
Original Week 17 accountPictures of the week
Three moments from the road
Quote of the week"I used to love the smell of pig sty's" - Boxy's childhood revelation, and you can probably guess the smell of his boots.
"On your way boys" - Costa Rican traffic police officer
CompetitionMaking the border
A rain downpour and miscalculation of distance had us racing for the Panama border in order to cross before it closed at 6pm. We arrived at 5:15 and managed to exit Costa Rica and enter Panama in only 35 minutes, only to find out the border was a 24-hour operation.
HighlightThe fantastic beaches and lack of hawkers on the island of Bastimentos, a two-dollar taxi ride from Bocas del Toro.
Risk activityA mountain crossing proved to be a little more treacherous than expected, as the storm whipped up winds so strong that they had the Gone Riden crew back to 1st gear and, at one point, almost blew them off the side of the mountain.Risk factor8/10
LowlightNot being able to communicate in more than a basic fashion with the two locals in David who kept buying us beers. (Even if we did know Spanish, they still probably wouldn’t have made sense.)
Road tallyOpening the throttle of the KTM's and rounding a mountain corner at 90 km/h, we were suddenly waved down by the police, radar gun in hand. A 50 km/h road sign glared at us as we were asked to produce our licences, then.....move on.
Week 17 photo diary
The week, in event order
The mosaic follows the numbered sequence in date-and-time order. Select any image for its full-screen view and comment.