How I'm crossing the Darien Gap…[Vlog 82]

Okay, today is a big day. I'm in Panama City, so you might be able to imagine what I'm doing. You're about to find out. And there's something very particular about my situation that makes this process very different. And there's a lot of moving parts, and there's a lot up in the air, but it's all very exciting. So, I'm about to take off. I'm going to a place called Overland Embassy. If you know it, if you don't know it, you're about to find out. And if you're a traveler, hopefully this can be informative. So, here we go. You're coming. Yes. Welcome. They don't pause it. No, at the airport, they normally cancel it. They just can't. Questions. I think I'm just going to mule over if I'm missing any options for the potential. Wow. And so, do you do all the the inner interior? Exterior, suspension from bumpers, accessories, everything. That's so cool. Oh, fun work. What amazing work. What were you doing before this? Wasting my time. My destroyed panniers. They've got a lot of love. Yeah, in South Africa, they call it So, when something has... It's a weird word. Okay. But it's when something has been used, and it tells a story. Oh, such a good word. You can proudly say, you know, my panniers. And then I'll text you. Perfect. Thank you. Talk to you later. And I didn't do... I didn't film so much, but I have some updating to do. Blue? Look at this. I didn't even know there's a parrot in there. In, like, the garden of the hotel. So, hold on, I got some updates. Okay, so I was just at Overland Embassy, a company that does shipping and logistics over the Darien Gap, and you would think that I would be preparing to ship my bike to Colombia. However, that is not the case. I have something else going on. So, want to hear my dirty little secret? I am thinking about selling my bike. But don't you fret, because I'm also thinking about buying a different bike. Okay, sorry for the interruption. The parrot said hi to me. Okay. Well, maybe we should just make him a part of the combo. Okay, would you like to hear my dirty little secret? Wait, where did I... where did I leave off this combo? Yes, potentially buying a new bike. A smaller bike, for all the obvious reasons. I adore my bike. It just, in my honest, humble opinion, I'm clearly not a huge person, but even for anyone, I really just... you don't need that much bike. And the weight makes such a huge difference. It's not... it really does. It's like night and day. A light bike and a heavy bike. And my bike, with the luggage, it's been 300 kilos. It's a lot. That's a lot for these countries. So, here's the plan. I'm going to store my bike in Panama, because I've got some other things up my sleeve. And I will give it some time, a little bit of time, to see if it sells. Essentially, I will need to sell it to a foreigner, because that's the easiest. Otherwise, you pay import tax, and it just doesn't make sense. So, if that opportunity arises, that somebody will want to buy it. It's so perfect, and all the maintenance has just been refreshed. New brakes, new tires, new chain and sprocket. So, it's a great bike. It's just, you know, it's big. And yeah, if it doesn't sell, then I'll continue on. So, in decisions, I'm just leaving it up, tossing it up, and we'll see what comes through. So, that's the deal. That's the update. I'm potentially selling my bike. So, this will be really fun. First of all, we'll see if it sells. If it does, we go through the process of finding a new bike in Colombia, the buying process, all of that, the re-outfitting process. And if it doesn't sell, the plan is to make changes on the setup of the bike. That has also been far less than ideal. The weight is just not distributed well on my bike, and I can really make some improvements. So, if I don't sell the bike, I keep the bike, and two things are going to happen. I'm going to re-outfit the bike to a lighter, better setup for me. And you know what it also means? Some training. I really need to get a better handle on the weight. And I know there's a lot that I can learn that will help me. So, that's going to happen as well. There it is. That's the update. Look, my friend is still here. Hey, buddy. Blue. His name is Blue. Yeah, he's got blue feathers. Hi, buddy. There he is. He's been like looking at me. Hola. Hola. ¿Qué paso? ¿Qué pasito, mi amor? ¿Hablas inglés? ¿Sí? ¿En serio? I could talk to a parrot all day, but I talk to the camera all day. It's like, I talk to dogs all the time. It's like, anyway, it's getting weird. Cool. I need to pack. Okay, this is going to be a very impromptu, casual video, but I am here in Panama City in a hostel. Thankfully, I have the room to myself, and I am doing some re-packing. So, I thought it would be a nice time to share some information on packing. This definitely won't be extensive. It's not the point in time for me to do one of those videos, but I'm just gonna thought I'd share a few things as I go through my things. What do I bring for food, like backup food, emergency food? This is a whole topic. It is probably the most personal topic, especially for me. I don't share a lot about it, but I am very particular about what I put in my body. And for me, what my emergency backup food and just food on the road, I don't keep a lot, but what I do keep, datil dates. In addition to dried apricot, I've got some dried figs, and this is dehydrated bananas. So, this stuff is actually not that easy to find on the road. I don't come across it so often. It's not in your average Latin American store, but every once in a while, I come across sort of like a gourmet health store, and that's where I found these things. So yeah, that's one share. All right, next topic, motorcycle specific stuff. Again, not comprehensive, but just to give you a little idea. Here's coolant, oil, chain cleaner, chain lube, a brush for the chain, WD-40 because WD-40, and a towel. Oh, this. This is one of my favorite items to have. How weird is that? They're paper towels, but they're cloth paper towels. They're really good for when you clean your chain. So, I just use them and then throw them out. Plus, just it's so nice to have towels like when eating on the road and whatever. A simple thing like cloth paper towels can bring you a lot of joy. It brings me joy. How I feel about the hard cases. This is always a big debate in the motorcycle community, and I'll just share some of my experiences. I really do like the hard cases. I love the fact that you can get in and out of them so easy. I mean, I really live off my motorcycle, so just being able to go in and take something I need and then put it back really simply. The second thing I would say that I really like about hard cases is it truly protects the bike. I can't tell you how many times I have dropped the bike and fallen. If you have watched my vlogs, you know that I go down sometimes for the silliest reasons. I just, I just do. You can, you know, lag a skill, short, whatever. I go down, and I'm so thankful for these cases because not, I've never gotten hurt. Never. Okay, this is maybe the most boring video. Well, there you have it. Now you know my dirty little secret. I've put my bike on the market for sale, and if it sells, I'll be buying a new bike in Colombia. And if it doesn't sell, me and my girl Coco will continue on to South America. Either way, I'll be okay with the outcome. So what do you guys think? What are your guesses on what will happen? Is this the end of the road for me and Coco, or will we continue on? I'd love to hear your thoughts in the comments. And in the meantime, I'll be taking a little break and something very different is coming next week. So stay tuned. Okay, here I am. I have decided, we have decided that I will store the bike here at the office with them, and then either they will ship it for me, if I end up going, me and Coco go together to Colombia, or if I end up selling the bike, then I will return here and we will just take the bike from the garage and sell it. I gotta tell you, I am so grateful to Alejandro from Overland Embassy with so many like options and moving parts. There's so many details to like the whole process and I get overwhelmed. I appreciate the ability to have focus that a man has to have focus and be able to really parse out when there are just so many options and ways it can go and potential scenarios and all of this stuff. Anyway, I'm very grateful. We've made a decision. Now I just need to clean the bike and because it needs to be clean, if it's going to be shipped, and they've got all the cleaning stuff here, so I'm getting my hands dirty again, or yeah, getting her clean. And she needs it because she was dumped in some mud because her driver, her owner, is a little bit of a doof and sometimes just she falls a lot. So here I am doing the bare minimum of labor and feeling so damn good about myself.