July 18, 2013
Got up early and headed for the Panama border near Rio Sereno. Not sure what happened but I rode right past all the immigration offices and was riding in Panama, more than 30 minutes in Panama. In my defense, the road was awesome! I had actually stopped in front of one of the offices and asked a couple people where the immigration offices were. No one I spoke with knew anything about immigration or border crossings so I figured I hadn't reached the border yet. I started noticing lots of Panama license plates and figured I'd done made a mistake somewhere and had better head back to CR. Not a good idea to leave one country, taking yourself and moto into another country, all illegally. I went back to the last known CR village, again riding right by the border stations, and happen to meet a guy from Canada that lives down here and followed him back to the border. He showed me where to go and what needed to be done. I have never seen such an open border crossing. There is no control at all. People and vehicles are driving to and from without a care. No check point, no signs and no information. Checking out of CR was painless and the two people I dealt with were very friendly and helpful. Panama, not so much. First it was lunch time, closed for one hour. Then the border agents, 3 of them, were actually enjoying being jerks to me. The two younger ones seemed to be kissing up to the supervisor by showing how unprofessional they could be toward me, strange. Cost to get into Panama, $15 for one months Moto insurance and $1 for pesticide spraying. The sprayer was broke so I was waived through. And then it started to rain! Stopped in, Hato del Volcan for the night.
All in all, it's a great day!

I took these photo's before I realized I was in Panama illegally:
From Panama 2013

From Panama 2013

These guys were clearing land to plant coffee I think. Saw some seedlings that looked like coffee plants:
From Panama 2013

Not sure of the elevation, but it's high. Beautiful mountains:
From Panama 2013

Took this photo from a bridge, this is when I noticed my first Panama plate:
From Panama 2013