Trans Americas 2009 - The Blog

I hardly slept at all last night, waking at least once every hour, my mind over-active. The fact that Jim didn't come back to the room also played on my mind, as I was concerned for his safety, as I was unsure where he had gone, especially without his camera or bike gear which were still lying on his bed. Over breakfast I asked Mac (who had arrived with Jim the day before) whether he knew where he had gone, but all he knew was that he'd last seen him around 3pm, and that he'd said he'd be back. I told Kevin and Julia about is disappearance, and after breakfast we went to ask if reception had perhaps organised a taxi for him, which they hadn't. So we asked them to call the police to see if they knew about any American's that might have been picked up or found in distress. Whilst we were waiting for the police to call back, Jim strolled through the gates into reception as though nothing had happened, explaining that he'd caught a bus to San Jose and stayed the night there... and hadn't told anyone in the group... I think Kevin was a little put-out, but nowhere near as much as me, I'd been worrying about him all night...

With Jim's whereabouts resolved, I was able to spend a little while wandering around this remarkable lodge, taking photos of the room, the turtles and the poisonous frogs...











Whilst I was wandering we heard howler monkeys calling from the trees, and caught fleeting glimpses of them scampering high in the branches... But all this nature-watching wasn't the main thing for today, as I had booked to go white-water rafting (I had also booked a canopy tour for the afternoon, but cancelled that as I was tired and wanted some time to sit and relax). So I changed into my swimming shorts and t-shirt and met up with the rest of the rafters – in my boat was Chris, Nick and Al, whilst the 2nd boat had Richard, Karen, Jim and Andrew on-board. We had a guide each, and another guy in a canoe in case it all went bad, and off we set. A short drive up-river, then after a short safety briefing we were off down the river, the flow faster and with more white water than the Colorado back on my birthday (and that really does seem a long time ago!). At one stage we hit some deep-ish rapids and tipped our boat up, Nick and Al both falling in the water and me off the side, still with my foot under the rope. I was hauled back in the boat before we rescued the others, both soaked but laughing once safely back on-board. Naturally there was much rivalry between the boats, and a fair amount of splashing each other – all good fun...





After the fun was over, we squelched our way down the road the 300m from the rafter's office back to the lodge, and our rooms to get showered and changed, and then headed over to the restaurant for a buffet lunch. With the others heading out to do the canopy tour, I went back to my room and sewed up my airhawk (I broke the strap yesterday), then checked emails and rang Tracy in hospital (she still sounded woozy from the cocktail of drugs she's on), before going back and falling asleep in the hammock strung outside my room... after a good snooze, I then got my laundry and re-arranged my bags before just sitting in the hammock chillin'...

At 5pm we had a meeting, to discuss the next few days as we head into Panama, but first was the Prat Hat ceremony, and the last official occasion for me to wear the hat (unless I get awarded it again, of course...). Nominations this week were fairly scarce, but we did manage to get a short-list of 3 to go into the vote... they were: Julia – for taking the key from the Hotel Alhambra in Granada with her, which caused Jeff to get held hostage for a while until he talked his way out of it (a self-confessed crime); Edwin for failing to stop for a policeman, who then pulled over Al and Andrew and was furious, wanting to fine them $30 per bike (including Ed's) before being talked down to $10 as a “donation”; and Nick, for his gay-act to ward off the working girls in Granada (Gay Dad being his new nickname) and for slowing to a crawl to smile at a pretty girl driving a car (who we'd seen in the Burger King we stopped at for lunch), just as Ozzy Andy was following him into the overtake, and nearly running in to the back of him...

And the winner of this week's Prat Hat is (drum roll, please)...





Nick... and the real beauty of this is that he gets to wear it at the border with Panama, the group meal in Panama City, and on the flight to Bogotá!

We then got on to the serious business of the next few days, which will see the group split into 2, as Kevin takes a small group of us across the border tomorrow, to suss out the banana bridge and spend a night in a small town just inside Panama, before then helping the main group across the following day. This first group consists of Nick, Al, Aaron, Nigel and me, and will be heading off early tomorrow morning, aiming to get to the border by mid-day. Once we're all over the border on Sunday we spend a night in David before heading as a group into Panama City ready to start the process of flying the bikes to Columbia... should be a good week!