Men, Mud and Motorcycles - Part 1

Short text version of project.

Chepo To Yaviza

Bridge across the Bayano River 1974.

Bayano River dam under construction.

Life on the Bayano River before it became a lake.

Going up river in the dry season to assist logging operations. The river is shallow at this time.

Getting to the Bayano River crossing, upstream from the bridge. - The first day we follow cattle trails of soup mud and sticky mud. This is a result of starting too soon in the dry season. It is not possible for a vehicle to travel  through the jungle in the rainy season, May to December. The dry season is January to April, but the mud does not dry up until February.

Bayano River, now Bayano Lake. We only had one chance to float our bikes and ourselves across the strong currents of the Bayano River. Last photo is when our bikes hit bottom on the other side of the river. Another 100 yards down river was white water.

In the dry season, flat tires, fallen trees and gullies was the major obstacles. We could go over trees, like the one below, without putting our feet on the ground. We made it look like work for the photos.

   Water was more of a problem than gas. Notice the gas pump on the tree.

As we neared Santa Fe, we discovered highway construction. The driver of the pickup truck saw I was driving on a flat tire, offered to take the bike to where it can be fixed. This was a section of road that started and ended nowhere at this time.

On the Chucunaque River we tried building another raft to float down river to Yaviza. It did not work. We hired an Indian with a dugout canoe. There were many people carried Bibles, including our boat crew. This seems to be a custom in some parts of Panama.