Things have been quite unproductive here in Panama City. I'm looking for a boat to Columbia, while also trying to gear up to prepare my bike for the long road ahead. I've been super annoyed since I'm out of road. Being an engineer and knowing that I can build you a road through anything with enough money; it really frustrates me that the road just ends. I know Panama has it's reasons, but come on this is 2010, this is supposed to be the future. If there's a high demand for a road, which there is, then pony up and build the fucker. But all bitching aside, looking for a sailboat across has been more than difficult. I was lucky enough to hear about a guy at Hostel Mamallena. He couldn't have been more helpful in emailing captains and giving us information about our sea fairing adventure. Now I've got to wait. There are a couple of potential boats lined up, and hopefully I'll get my original titles soon, so I can get to my dream like destination of South America. Where the beer is free, the women are naked, and the streets are paved with gold.
I'll give you a quick synopsis of what I did in Panama City: changed a rear tire, bought a new front tire, bought a bolt, looked for some rain gear, and happened to see this pissed off alligator in a flood channel. This took a team of two gringos two full days. They weren't difficult tasks, but in the city scape, driving around and talking to people takes forever. Though there are hundreds of hardware stores nobody sells metric bolts. Same thing with the tire shops, nobody can change a motorcycle tire. Alas, fifteen hours later, I still can't find cold weather gloves and BJ can't find Scotch Guard for his jacket. Such is the life here in a foreign country. Sometimes I would kill for a Super Target or Chaparral Motorsports.
Right now I'm feeling pretty grand. I'm staying with a wonderful couchsurfing host, David, in El Valle. It's a pretty kick ass little mountain town. I can definitely see why David chose to buy a house here and retire. The weather is perfect, since it's tropical having a little elevation really cools things down. The city is in a collapsed dormant volcano crater, so even though it's mountainous it's basically flat all around town. Perfect for scooting around town on a bike. I'm pretty impressed being here, since our host has been all over the world, maybe forty different countries, and he calls this place home. I went on a motorcycle ride around town, saw the big waterfall and did some off roading in the mountains. It was super fun hauling ass through some pretty large dips and valleys on the bike. It made me remember growing up and having little fear when riding a bike. It was definitely good to be back on the road, since earlier I had some mechanical difficulties with my bike.
Basically it died on me then wouldn't start up again. Luckily we were at Dave's, so we had the time and tools to fix it. Turns out it was an air hose that I had sliced when tightening a bolt down. The air hose creates a vacuum and brings gas into the engine. So I ran to the local store and picked up a new one and replaced it. Problem solved. Two hours later, my bike fired back up, and I was glad to be on top once again.
I definitely have a different life out here. I encounter different problems and solve them in different ways. Instead of my old problems like should I get my friends over to play beer pong on Friday or Saturday night? Or locating and drawing eighty year old sewer lines at work; my daily life is oh so much simpler. My only legitimate concern is potholes, not coordinating friends, meeting deadlines, or being on time. Sometimes the ease of life without such conveniences as the Internet and cell phones, is actually more fulfilling and seems far more genuine. But really, who am I kidding. After I post this I'm going to go check on my fantasy football team.
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