Reg from the UK on hi R1200GSA
Tim from the UK taking a break from sitting down
The guys in the shop at MPH where I got my tire.The last couple of days have been rather routine, get up, load up, ride to a point agreed upon earlier and stop for a hotel and dinner. Today we arrived in Panama City entering the city on the Bridge of the Americas, over the Panama Canal. Quite impressive. Last night we stayed at Hotel la Hacienda in Santiago, Panama. It was kind of like a Days Inn with a Mexican theme.
We came into Panama City on a toll road and needed to exit just before the toll booth. The toll attendant was kind enough to tell us just to roll back out of the toll booth and move over to the proper lane. After we forced a few cars out of the way, we found our way to the exit and down to the next toll booth. Since I was in front I pulled up to the booth and told them I would be paying for the five motorcycles. She responded in Spanish, saying something about police and motorcycle, and I thought she thought we were police. Just then, I glanced over my shoulder and there was a Panamanian motorcycle cop right in the middle of our “pack”. I quickly paid the toll for the group and pulled through the gate and over to the shoulder to wait for the others. The officer followed me to the shoulder, and I figured we were in for some kind of trouble for our little detour but he instantly started asking questions about where we were from and where we were headed and my opinions of Panama. Just as he started to pull away, I asked him how far it would be to next turn, he responded by asking where in town we were going. I told him the name of the hotel and out of the blue we ended up getting a police escort to a hotel we had found earlier. Unfortunately, the hotel had no vacancies, so we decided to head for the BMW dealer to see about a tire for my bike. They didn’t have my size but told me of a motorcycle accessory shop down the street that could fix me up. I went there with Tim while the others went to look for a hotel that was suggested by a customer at the BMW store. The moto shop had a tire, but didn’t offer mounting or balancing. I asked if I could change it at the rear of the store and they agreed. As we worked on the tire, Tim kind of took control, and after 20 minutes or so it was ready to go. We cleaned up and headed for the hotel in rush hour traffic. We are staying at the Hotel Montreal Panama near downtown Panama City. Tomorrow we will talk to a freight company about options on shipping to Colombia.
We came into Panama City on a toll road and needed to exit just before the toll booth. The toll attendant was kind enough to tell us just to roll back out of the toll booth and move over to the proper lane. After we forced a few cars out of the way, we found our way to the exit and down to the next toll booth. Since I was in front I pulled up to the booth and told them I would be paying for the five motorcycles. She responded in Spanish, saying something about police and motorcycle, and I thought she thought we were police. Just then, I glanced over my shoulder and there was a Panamanian motorcycle cop right in the middle of our “pack”. I quickly paid the toll for the group and pulled through the gate and over to the shoulder to wait for the others. The officer followed me to the shoulder, and I figured we were in for some kind of trouble for our little detour but he instantly started asking questions about where we were from and where we were headed and my opinions of Panama. Just as he started to pull away, I asked him how far it would be to next turn, he responded by asking where in town we were going. I told him the name of the hotel and out of the blue we ended up getting a police escort to a hotel we had found earlier. Unfortunately, the hotel had no vacancies, so we decided to head for the BMW dealer to see about a tire for my bike. They didn’t have my size but told me of a motorcycle accessory shop down the street that could fix me up. I went there with Tim while the others went to look for a hotel that was suggested by a customer at the BMW store. The moto shop had a tire, but didn’t offer mounting or balancing. I asked if I could change it at the rear of the store and they agreed. As we worked on the tire, Tim kind of took control, and after 20 minutes or so it was ready to go. We cleaned up and headed for the hotel in rush hour traffic. We are staying at the Hotel Montreal Panama near downtown Panama City. Tomorrow we will talk to a freight company about options on shipping to Colombia.
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