Most people don’t realize that there are no roads connecting Central America and South America. Between Panama and Colombia there is a small strip of land called the Darien Gap.

The strip of land is only 99 miles long and roughly 50 miles wide. Apparently, it would be too expensive to build a road through this rugged jungle area.  The common local opinion you hear is the Gap acts as a natural barrier, preventing the free-flow of drugs, smuggled gold, and other illegal activity.

Anyway, this leaves travelers with two options; ship your vehicle by boat, which can take up to a week, or ship by plane, which is more expensive but much quicker. We chose to ship by plane. The process was very smooth, but as usual, patience is required.

A special thank you to Dario at Crane Worldwide Shipping for arranging the shipping of our bikes out of Colombia, and a very special thank you to Abdiel with Aeroservicios Logistics for arranging for the arrival of the bikes here in Panama. These guys know how to make things happen and we sincerely appreciate there expertise!

Also, thanks to Carlos for driving us around today. (Lunch at McDonald’s was a real treat.)