The Darrien Gap - Turbo

We are now in Turbo, a really fun town, crowded and vivid, writes Henno. The people are different too; they have a darker skin tone. Fortunately there is an internet cafe. We haven't noticed anything of the drugs related stories from the media. But the streets are full with police, who patrol the streets on 225 CC Yamaha's. They always ride it as duos and always have their machine guns ready.

Columbian police checking out our XT's

We discussed our route with some of them. They told us that there were two trails through the Darrien, "but with the bikes?" they asked while shaking their heads. There are many mountains. It still remains to be seen what we will encounter. Stories tend to be told out of context and things depend on circumstances. Besides that, until now we only had good asphalted roads, and only a few unpaved pieces.

Yet, we understand that it will be a hard journey. The temperature is at least 35 degrees Celsius and suffocating. Fortunately it's a cloudy day. But then again, those clouds also produce rain. Crossing the mountains should be no problem, but the rivers we have seen so far, were big and wide and had strong currents. This is definitely something to take in account.

We bought an axe and machete. Tomorrow at 7:30 AM, we'll take a passenger ship to reach the other side.

Adios amigos!

To be continued...