A little hungover I made my way out of the jungle to collect my bike... the cloud was low and the rain inevitable so I suited up. The road wound higher into the mountains and the rain set in.
As I neared the mountain pass a series of signs warned of a dangerous corner and I could see the rain turning horizontal... I leant the bike over to take the corner and felt the wind smash into my side and push me back upright and halfway across the road! For the first time the board felt like a bad idea. I battled against the wind to get round the first bend with the rain whipping into my helmet and then the next bend and the next until eventually I got out of the pass and a few hundred meters down the other side... very sketchy! Got rid of my hang over though!
After the wobbly start the weather improved and as I weaved my way down the mountain I was treated to some fantastic views out over misty cloud forest. Small villages and scattered timber framed shacks with palm weaved thatched roofs raised off the ground on stilts lined the road... it was like a nature doco!
In one of the valleys there was a small school so unlike anything at home I had to stop and take some photos.
At one point there was a little dude stood outside his family home on the edge of the forest trying to flag down passing traffic to sell them a bundle of weeds! I gave him a dollar!
After an hour or so the sun came out and the roads dried up. I got my head down and made the port of Almirante in time for lunch.
I had hoped to take the car ferry over to the main Island of Bocas Del Toro but I had misunderstood the guide which said the ferry runs from 8am - 4pm... in actual fact the ferry leaves Almirante at 8am and returns at 4pm so my plan sucked! I had already made a reservation for the evening on the main island and the town was not a nice looking place and I wanted to surf bad and I hoped to do the border crossing straight from Bocas at the end of the week and getting into Almirante at 4pm would mean I would not get to the border in time... I chatted to a couple of locals who said I could park my bike in secure parking (someone's garden with a fence around it) and get a water water taxi out to the island for $6 so that is what I did!
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