Days 15-16, Monday-Tuesday, January 15-16

The rain is beating down hard for a change. It feels like being on the bottom of the Panama Canal. No wonder we have to pull straws after breakfast to find out the two lucky bike drivers. Only 100km later the Pantastic Four leave the rain behind and ride in bright sunshine. On the border to Costa Rica we have a world premiere: Under a big sign for the worst beer in the world, W&W presents the new license plate side mount system.

The fun is over, when outside of Paso Canoas Gerardo gets shoved out of the way by a taxi, into the lane of an oncoming 16 wheeler. Gerardo first hits the brakes, then the ground, before the Pan stops the truck and slices open on of the truck's tires. Gerardo comes away with minor bruises, but the Pan is less lucky this time. The guys being nice guys first help to change the tire on the truck, then drag the Panhead from the wreckage.

For today the crossing into Puerto Rico is cancelled. Gerardo and Klaus drive off to locate a place for the night, while Wolfgang and Darius start to tear the Pan apart. A compassionate panamanian biker offers his garden, the fish restaurant next door its welding equipment, and the gas station helps out with the heavy stuff: hydraulic press, tube bending machine and heavy hammers, needed to straighten out the brake rotors.

By midnight the carb is back on with the help of some silicone, the fork's been straightened out, new footpegs have been fashioned from scraps of steel and the hog is idling happily again. Old Harleys never die they say. A bottle of rum brightens the evening, and all fall into a well earned slumber.

Day16

One large Alka Seltzer breakfast later the Pantastic Four get on their way to the Costa Rica border. Looking for a new rental car, they get diverted some 60 km off the Panamericana highway to a sleepy port by the name of Golfito. A former busy banana terminal, Golfito has sunk back to dreamy freakdom and has no rental cars, but a french restaurant named "Chez Gott". A frenchman who years ago found a home in this backwater town offers clean beds, decent wine and the best fish for miles around. The guests have a choice between small, medium and large animals. "Large!" hollers Klaus "El Paparazzo" Hagmeier. What gets served up a little while later has the dimensions of a Sportster™ tank, but is way more tender and delicious, posing no problem for the starved photographer. From here on its the same procedure as every night: bed, sleep.