in South America

The border between Panama and Colombia (which is also the border between North and South America), called Darien Gap, is one of the most difficult and inhospitable border crossing. It is not only that that there is no road; the whole area is covered with thick jungle, steep hills and vast wetlands; if this wasn’t enough it is home to unfriendly natives and a hideout for drugs dealers and Colombian guerrilla. Pretty much not a place where you would like to go to (however some adventure seekers take the challenge).

There are few options to cross the Gap, but the one that worked best for us was to take a 5-day cruise on a sail boat, with 2-day stopover in San Blas. Something we’ve heard of fairly recently; and however not cheap, it turned to be a great experience. First of all, we’ve never sailed before, so that was a great opportunity to try it; secondly, San Blas Islands are just 

BEAUTIFUL! It is one of those places that it is hard to believe they are real, even though you are there. Our only concern (mine much more than Raul’s) was the seasickness. But the motion sickness tablets did their job more than perfect – they knock us down for two hours after taking each tablet. But on the open ocean, let’s be honest, views are monotonous, so a good nap is not bad.

Our cycling adventures in the new continent haven’t started yet. The bikes are having well deserved rest, which is actually good, because they are needy; mine tire must be changed (after cycling the whole continent), Raul’s rear wheel goes flat all the time (with three different inner tubes and the tire and rim being examined back and forth hundreds times). So while our vehicles are waiting for their well-deserved spa treatment, we became backpackers again.

We have long-awaited visitors! My sister and her friend are here! And they brought lots of goodies and present for us. Thanks to all of you who participated in it! Special thanks for the lanterns; it was a beautiful surprise! (thank you Sis for organizing it!) They all flew up to the stars, so surely all the wishes will come true soon! We happy you’ve started to do the dinners again! Hope you will keep it up and invite us once we are back J

So we are spending some time with Ania and Kamila, at this moment hanging out on the Caribbean coast. Us, definitely NOT enjoying the heat and humidity. Unlike the girls, who spent the whole summer in Scotland. J

It´s been a while since we´ve updated here something. It is mostly because, for the first time during this trip, we have a deadline. One that we are looking forward a lot, though. My sister is coming to visit us in Columbia on 11th September an so we need to get there by then. And since we were very slow in Mexico and slow in Guatemala, we had to speed up through the rest of the countries.
The other reason why things won´t be updated soon is that our computer refused working in a very crucial moment (when I was copying the only copy of some pictures from it to a external hard drive) and now some of the writtings we´ve done for blog as well as all the pictures from Nicaragua, Costa Rica and most from Panama are trapped in the broken hard disc. However, there is hope - the guy who checked our computer promised that all the pictures can be saved, but it´ll take like a week. so we just need a week off somewhere and a good IT.

And now the most important - we are in Portobelo, a small port in Panama. From here we take a boat to go to Cartgena, Columbia. That means that the North America is finished!!! 16770 km 470 days and one continent completed!
m.

Hi guys!

If someone was trying to contact us at info@theamericasbycycle.org and we didn't answer, it's because this e-mail seems not to work, so please contact us at our 'regular' e-mails:
Marta marta.tajsiak@gmail.com
raul paraisoscondido@yahoo.es

Greetings from Granada!

Hi folk!

that's the lady you should look for!

If you find your self in Nahuala (its not a great place to visit but sometime we need to spent a night because is late to keep cycling) and you need to spent a night over don't go to any of the Motel or Hotel that you find in town it is a bit of a cheat!. We found this lovely women Manuela Cotiy who took us to her place for an expensive price and even fed us, we had a great eve chatting with Manuela and her family over the table while having dinner.
Her mobile number is (47867439)

Something we won't miss from Mexico...

Topes!
Topes are cyclist nightmare! Speed bumps, 'sleeping policeman', anything to force the drivers to obey 'stop' signs or speed limit. And since Mexican drivers are not too keen on obeying any sort of traffic rules, the creativity of officials as well as villagers (it's a common practice for a villagers to make their own topes) is endless in order to make a car to slow down.
That's a small collection we made on the way:

so-called 'vibradores', the worst ones for us

to pass this ones you have to get of the bike most of the time

a bit worn off

tire one

rope

small 'vibradores' spread over 50 m

a nice one

One year on the road
This 18th of May was a year on the road since we left Alaska, we could not celebrated it as We wanted because both of us got a gentle stomach bug which stopped us from having fun We had a everything planed dinner, cake... but  instead we were lying on the sofa alternating non stop visit to the toilet with movies :) It has been today when we felt totally bounced back, ready to face a big dinner, cake and anything we want to spoil ourselves with

20000 visits!
We've just hit 20000 visits on our blog a few days ago.
Thanks to all of you for checking from time to time how are we getting on and congratulations to our 20000th visitor! :)