It only took about 15 minutes this morning to reach the border of Panama. I knew I had made a good choice by driving up to Sabalito because the road leading to the border crossing was only about a lane and half wide and had absolutely no traffic. When I rolled into Rio Soreno there were only a handful of buildings on the Costa Rican side. I saw a tall man (obviously a foreigner) standing next to a large motorcycle. He signaled, using exaggerated arm movements, to turn left, go round the first building, get your passport stamped and then come back to where he was. Evidently he was an expert of hand gesture communication. I used a simple head nod acknowledgment. The Costa Rican side was a piece of cake. I was the only one there. The immigration agent stamped my passport and asked me a few questions about my travels. He gave me a promotional sticker to put on my bike and asked me to make post on social media about this crossing. "Tell other moto travelers to use this crossing". I think they might be lonely up here. It is kind of in the middle of nowhere. He passed me on to the customs agent who processed the cancelation of my import permit. Stamp, stamp. Done. 15 minutes and a new record! Now over to the Panama Side. A bit more complicated over here and the two agents I interacted with only spoke Spanish. They were however very patient and helpful, explaining the steps I needed to take multiple times. If you zoom in very close on my GPS track on the map you will see how much running around there is. I had to go make some photocopies at a shop down the street and then run into town to purchase a vehicle insurance policy. That complete the customs agent completed my import permit and sent me to immigration to get my passport stamped. I then pulled my bike up into a gated area where the original customs agent did a cursory inspection. She pointed to the large bag strapped to the seat of the bike. "Qué hay aquí?" (What is in here?). I replied "Mi ropa muy sucia!" (My very dirty clothes!). She laughed and didn't ask to have a look. She wished me good travels and handed me off an elderly man with an industrial chemical sprayer on his back. He smiled and said. "No te preocupes. Esto no dañará tu moto" (Don't worry, this won't hurt your bike). He was careful to only spray my tires with the weed-killer. He then lowered the chain that was across the road and yahoo!... another border down! Only one and a half hours and $33 ($25 for the insurance and $8 was for the Costa Rican tourist exit tax). Riding on to Volcán was again, a delightfully narrow mountain road with gorgeous, steep vistas. There was absolutely no traffic on this road and I only encountered one other vehicle. I did pass though a border checkpoint where the officer inspected my documents. He very kindly told me to drive carefully as the road is very narrow and there are sometimes trucks. I thanked him as I returned my documents to the pannier. It is my routine to stop in the first town after a border crossing to use an ATM so that I have some local currency. I stopped in Volcán and looked for a bank. I use an app to look up the current exchange rate and I was surprised that the Panamanian Balboa was matched to the US dollar 1-to-1. I thought, that's odd. I went in to withdraw $200USD in Balboas and was shocked when the ATM spit out $20 Greenbacks. I went back out to the bike and looked this up on Google and sure enough the Balboa has always been tied to the US dollar. All the way back to the construction of the Panama Canal in the early 20th century. Panama does not print any currency though they do mint Balboa coins. When I went to fill up with gasoline I received a combination of US bills and Panamanian coins in change. How fun is that! I went forward a timezone today so I decided to camp early. I found a really beautiful oasis owned by a Panamanian couple who are avid overlanders themselves. Their carport has a stable of shiny Harley's. They not only offer a place to camp but also have high-speed internet, laundry, shared kitchen and a fridge full of cold drinks. All for $10/night!