PANAMA CITY....at last

After what will most likely be the longest, most enjoyable, frustrating, exhausting, yet exilerating road trips of my life, we are here. The last two days of driving we experienced a few minor set backs as I assume this was the Manburbans idea of protesting our inevitable separation. We had our first road kill as we drove through the mountain pass in Panama which divides the north from the south. Steaming up hill we approached a number of heavy vultures dining away but they did not seem to be entirely phased by the magnitude of the Manburban. That was a sad mistake for one of them. The phrase, ¨You are what you eat.¨, almost had a very grim reality on this occasion. The vulture escaped after meeting our front bumper and rolling out onto the side of the road. The rest of the the mountain road was spent driving through the clouds and banking off tight turns which were drenched from more waterfalls bursting right out of the mountainside. As we made our descent in towards the city of David, where we would jump on the Interamericana Highway, the sound of metal meeting metal started to interrupt our scenic drive. Like I said, the protest got worse. The Manburban had already, since last being repaired in Leon, burned through its front right brake pads. We were forced to stop in Santiago and spend the night in order to fix the problem before arriving in Panama City. It seems as if we were making this mad dash for Panama City, which unfortunately we were. Time just wasn´t on our side and we had to pass many good surf breaks. The next day we had a brand new brake pad and jumped back on the road to continue our race for the city. We arrived in Panama City just before sunset. As we crossed the bridge over where the Panama Canal meets the ocean and the city is standing tall on the horizon we knew we had made it. Though the trip is not quite over yet, we still have to sell the car.

-AeroMexico 12/22 out of Panama City