The day started out innocently enough. We got up. Researched places to stay in Panama City. Ate breakfast at the McDonalds next to our hotel and loaded up the bikes. We set off a bit later than we’d planned - didn’t get on the road until 10:20AM. But we weren’t that far from Panama City, so we knew we could make the city today and we thought we might be able to get to Girag to confirm what we needed to do to ship the bikes and find out what day they’d go out.

Did some digging around regarding border crossings last night and found Rio Sereno, which was just a handful of kilometers away from San Vito where we stayed last night. Everyone who’s used it says that Rio Sereno is teeny but very fast and has none of the hassle of the Pan American crossing at Paso Canoas - in part, because the road leading to it isn’t paved. And also, there’s no customs on the Costa Rica side, although the Panama side has both immigration and customs. This…

Norval, at the BMW dealership, suggested San Vito as a possible destination to us. Take route 2 (the Pan American) south and hang a left on 237 to San Vito. “Should take you about 5 hours with a break for lunch, and it’s really beautiful.” he suggested. Plus, it’s only an hour from the border and has some decent hotels.