Dancing The PanAmerican Highway

Meet Nick and Gussie who crossed into Panama when we were in Boquete. They are traveling in a four wheel drive 1987 Toyota van with a bed and an outside kitchen and we fully expect to keep meeting them along the road to Ushuaia. 

On the practical side Nick lives in a sma space, a bed with storage underneath and a kitchen in back which he uses with the rear door raised to provide a sun shade or a rain cover while he cooks. A major consideration for us at the moment is of course how easily and relatively inexpensively his home will fit in a container! 

It was Gussie’s fourth birthday a low key celebration for us but for Nick his companion is as much good company as Rusty is for us of course.  And then his girlfriend in New York keeps the home fires burning and visits him along the way. There are so many ways to live work and learn on the road. “I can’t because…” doesn’t apply here. 

Even though, like his car the size of Nick’s companion is a factor in his life. Gussie flies easily in the cabin of an aircraft when Nick goes home to work.  And that’s because, unlike most travelers in their thirties who work, Nick does his job in person. He’s a ballet dancer and u can’t tell you how delighted I was to meet an artist, not an influencer, on the road for a change. He came to dance late first focusing on athletics and sport and transitioning to physical expression. His joy he says is teaching other dancers as he works. He explained with some skill and clarity how teaching dance requires trust as well as strength -trust that he won’t drop you! Far far from the world of making YouTube to live, Nick puts himself physically into the job. I found it fascinating. 

Nick’s father is a first generation Mexican, his mother is from Alaska so of course with my mixed background I loved hearing that, and like many of us first generation immigrants Nick’s father wanted his son to be new not old, so Nick is traveling and relearning his fathers language, becoming fluent in Latin American travel.  He is also working to be self sufficient in mechanics, looking after his van himself. 

I know we will meet again as we all travel in the same direction, Liz and Ramey from Alberta, Nick the dancer and teacher from Oregon (another unafraid American!Where are they all on the PanAmerican?) 

And there is the size difference. For us it matters but for you it may not. For Nick it’s perfect. Long may he roll. 

Rusty The Flying Dog

Riding the cab to the airport was a piece of cake and Rusty enjoyed that:

Our flight was at 9:30pm from Panama’s Tocumen airport and we arrived a couple of hours ahead of take off as required for an international flight. We had three seats reserved on COPA Airlines flight 202 to Cartagena in Colombia. 

Rusty had his own seat though he had to fly on the cabin floor. It turned out the 70 minute flight must have had a tail wind as we took just 45 minutes to reach South America. So much the better. 

The check in clerk got a panicked look in her eyes when she saw the dog coming in but we had reserved our seats and confirmed he had Emotional Support Papers from the vet in Panama. COPA allows dogs to fly in the cabin if you buy an extra seat for him which seemed reasonable to me. The clerk’s supervisor helped her do the check in paperwork and we chatted amiably and then they checked our two bags. 

No one asked to see onward tickets which has been an issue for some overlanders who when asked for tickets out of Colombia offer their vehicle shipping papers to show they are traveling by land, and that can cause confusion and delay. To avoid this we bought onward tickets for $16 apiece except they aren’t tickets but just look like real tickets. It’s amazing what you can get online. 

Could you tell it’s not real? In the event it turns out no one asked to see proof of onward travel so our slick precaution was unnecessary. And that basically was how Rusty Layne and I arrived in Colombia last night. 

He settled into his spot on the floor in row 26 as we waited to leave the gate. Take off freaked him out a bit but he settled down. After about half an hour he’d had enough and then the engine note changed as we started to descend to Cartagena. 

He was sitting up and panting as we came down to land and he did not like the bumpy landing one bit but I held on to him and reassured him as best I could. 

We were the last off the plane and wasn’t I delighted to see a patch of grass as we walked across the tarmac to the terminal building. Rusty took full advantage and had a long heartfelt pee. The watching employee smiled broadly. The grass is just outside the door in the hurried photo below. 

We got in the special line at immigration with the crew and some other passengers. The officials ignored Rusty as they processed our passports and gave us the standard 90 days renewable for another 90 if we want. As we walked toward luggage pick up and Customs a guy approached and said he was the agriculture agent. We collected our bags which were already on the carousel and I followed him to his office, past customs who waved us through without a second glance.  

We had all the papers necessary of course. He made copies, charged my Visa card 64,000 pesos ($16 roughly) and that was that. We were in Colombia. And Rusty had survived his first flight. What a dog. 

We changed some money (about 4,000 pesos to the dollar) and the agriculture guy came back in his car and said let me give you a lift as I’m going past your hotel. Amazing! Layne had met a cop as she was looking for an ATM while I had been getting  Rusty’s papers processed and she said he couldn’t have been nicer or more helpful. 

We were using the hotel as our address in Colombia for Rusty’s entry papers which was how the agriculture guy, Eduardo, knew where we were staying. It was an amazing act of kindness by a stranger and an official. Colombia promises well. I’m looking forward to this and in two weeks we should have GANNET2 back. 

 For now we’ll explore with a rental car. Welcome to Colombia the agriculture agent said as he handed me Rusty’s papers. Welcome indeed!