The Darrien Gap - The phone call

"I'm standing here in the rain. Huge drops of water. It's nice and refreshing". That is how Henno starts the phone call. I hear that Cornie is enthusiastically participating on the background. I want to know what's story with the speedboat.

rain season started
Rain season has started

Henno reports:
"It wasn't easy to arrange everything, but in the end the bikes made the crossing with a 'shabby little boat', while we were in the big speedboat loaded with 25 people. The speedboat had twin 200 BHp engines (Yamaha). Captain Robinson made it skid through the water at a dazzling 40 Km/hr. We even had some airtime. These guys are completely whack!"

After a 3 hour trip on the sea, Henno and his fellow travelers land in Capurgana. Capurgana is a village on the edge of 'Parque National Los Katios'. This park is closed for visitors for several reasons. Environmental protection is one of them, but also the least likely. It is expected that guerillas have shelter here, but nobody can provide reliable information.

map with locations

The village itself is safe. It has 1200 inhabitants from which 200 militaries and 40 police officers to keep things safe. The village has a runway for airplanes. Except for the planes and boats there is no motorized traffic. Just outside the village, Henno & co. meet an Austrian. "Simon" has 150 acres ground and runs a farm. He says: "The civil war is just like lightning: if it's not too close, then you can live with it. But you can be struck at any time."

Further ahead they follow a trail that leads land inward. "Right now, we are at the edge of the jungle. After one kilometer the trail already gets difficult to walk. It will be a heavy physical task", Henno mentions.

Just as they started to get worried about the 'shabby' boat, their bikes finally arrived. "The landing stage was crowded instantly. The bikes draw much attention. It seems like everybody is helping out pulling the bikes over the course beam. Suddenly the beam falls into the water. Fortunately they did not let go of the bike. Many think we're crazy in positive sense; they laugh and shake their heads. We also saw an American who landed his private jet. Just to have some fun."

"We will try to reach the next village this afternoon. The idea is to head north, to Zapzurro. After that, we still have to go 10 km to the border of Panama. If we succeed, then we'll enter the jungle from Puerto Obaldia. By the way, the rain just stopped. Officially, the rain season started three days ago".

Position: Capurgana
N 08 38 17.8
W 077 20 48.1

To be continued...