..Panama by bus..

yes, you read right.. how is this possible¡?¿

well.. of course it was already too late yesterday to evade the rain :P if I used the words "soaked" and "wet" before, then I´m sorry, because it set a new limit on the scale yesterday :P
I just kept going, felt if I sit out the rain, I might never arrive (and it kept raining the whole afternoon indeed). So I faced all the rain, shouted out loudly and finally gave up, because it was too strong.. actually, I was riding up this mountain on a dirt road that almost turned into a river, when it started to rain really, really hard and how could it be different, the overheating lamp went on :( I stopped the bike, slided 10m backwards because it was too steep to stop and finally it tipped over into the mud.. I had to release my frustration with a loud scream and then I unfolded the tarp and waited 15 min under the tarp, covering me and the bike.. didn´t stop raining of course, but went a bit back. I continued and had to stop another time, pouring water over my engine and finally riding down on the other side, I´ve seen a sign of the place I wanted to visit.
Finca Bella Vista.. treehouse community (actually, I don´t know how many tree houses they have, but I´ve visited one of them and it was really cool! :D
so getting there I couldn´t do anything else than paying the 40 USD for the cabin they offered me. Was also a nice one.. cozy bed, on the river, everything really nicely set up! they have a pretty big piece of land, kinda rainforest with a lot of trails and a river flowing through. I was happy to get into some dry things and luckily one of the owners was there, so I could actually check in (would have sucked to get there and nobody is around :P
hmm... then on the other hand, there were no tourists anyway. I feel it doesn´t matter what I do, I end up by myself because it´s off-season and these places you best visit with your mate or friends. So I hiked a bit on their land (many jungle trails) and got to this super wicked tree house. Two levels with sight on the river with a waterfall. Downstairs there´s a small kitchen corner and a couch forming a living room and upstairs is a veranda and a king size bed (have to go back for honeymoon! :) and a sit on toilet and a shower.. really super, super cool! :D must cost a bit though to stay there and it´s really remote (carrying all your food to this place and some bottles of wine ;) but I enjoyed the view from the top floor and spent a little while there, before I walked back. There would been other cabins (other tree houses?) and I think if it´s high season, you might meet cool people hanging out there! :)
in the evening I had dinner with the owners (young couple) and a guy who just moved down to this place (why not.. if you live somewhere out in nowhere, then it´s a good call! :) was a nice evening.. having a few shots and talking a bit before going to bed (being tired again ;)
got up as normal lately at 5.30am and made my bike ready.. made it to the boarder crossing and it just costed time (and 16 USD for another insurance) but no other costs and I was pretty relaxed. I get more used to it, I guess ;) had to wait in line on both sides but at least it was a small place, so I could watch over my bike and was talking to a guy from Bolivia :)

then driving into Panama I got really bad overheating problems.. had to drive at least 100km/h to cool the bike down and I figured out quickly that I won´t make 600km with that condition. hmm... so I stayed calm and looked for a solution (after I made up my mind to drive straigt and fast to Panama city to get my bike fixed). There were not too many options but in no time I got a place where I could send my bike to Panama.. it´s 50 dollars (cheap if you ask me) and 60 dollars to get it delivered to the BMW shop. I could finally make the deposit of 200USD, so they would order my spare part. it happens with DHL now and they pay the additional cost (thank you so much, after I try to get this done for four weeks). So my bike should be at the shop tomorrow, the fan in 7-10 days and soon I should have a price what it will cost all in all. I will show up in Panama city in about 7-10 days, shipping some stuff home that I don´t want to carry any more, figuring out how and where to ship my bike down to Colombia (or Venezuela?) and getting my bike, hopefully 100% fixed up and ready for the rest of my trip.
after sending all my stuff in the afternoon, I got a bus to Boquete and will spend a few days here, eventually hiking another volcano ;) (I love volcanos! :D
the weather is changing.. raining at the moment in the later afternoon, but hopefully I will have some more sunny days (at least I don´t have to drive in the rain ;)
after here I will go to Bocas de Toro, where I heard is a lot of party and I think, I can easily stay a few days there before going to Panama.
so in the end, the plan came up very spontaneously and it´s very OK like that (maybe I should live cheap to cover my repair costs ;) but it´s good to see Boquete and Bocas del Toro, they have been quite recommended to me after all (and I wouldn´t have done it with driving my crippled bike to the shop).

Panama is really nice (first impression). Nice people and way more affordable than Costa Rica.. let´s see what experiences are waiting for me here :)
gonna keep you posted! :D cu all and have a great time!!