Viva Panama

We read about the place in which we stayed outside Colon, Panama in the Lonely Planet. The infamous Building 400 of the School of the Americas. The School of the Americas was used by the US Government to train locals on how resist Communist insurgencies in Central and South America. Among those trained in Building 400 were some of the worst Dictators ever to come to power, including Leopoldi Galtiere who "disappeared" thousands during Argentina's "Dirty Wars", Robert D'Auboisson who led death squads in El Salvador.

Building 400 is certainly delightful now. It is a huge building with an expansive interior. It has been made over into a hotel complex by the Spanish Melia chain. The rooms have ceilings that look to be about 14 feet high and the grounds have two gigantic pools and the whole thing sits on the shores of Lake Gatun, created from the Chagres River when the Panama Canal was built.

Despite it's past, Buildng 400 served as the perfect spot from which to visit Fuerte San Lorenzo (last sacked in 1740 by British Admiral Vernon....after whom George Washington's Mt Vernon is named) as well as the massive Gatun Locks which raise and lower boats to the Caribbean.

Panama has been run over, occupied and abused ever since the Spanish explorer Rodrigo de Bastidas landed here in 1501 . It seems to be flourishing now and that is exactly why it seems fitting to end our little Panamanian Adventure with a Panamanian Band playing "Viva Panama" in the now elegant lobby of the infamous Building 400.

Viva Panama indeed!

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Feb 1 Panama

The flight into Panama City was pretty spectacular.  There is a great skyline and there is always a line of ships waiting to get through the canal.

After a nite in PNC, we rented a car and went over to Portobello.  It's a  Unesco World heritage site.  I find it amazing how much I don't know about the places here.  Portobello, San Lorenzo, both on the Caribbean side, and Panama City on the Pacific side formed the triangle of forts that Spain used to shuttle gold across the Isthmus.  No lack of fighting here.  All the forts were sacked multiple times by the English starting in  1670 with the pirate Henry Morgan. 

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Jan 31 Panama

Today was a lazy day of nothing.  Now in the airport waiting for the 1 hour flight to Panama City on a puddle jumper.

I stopped by the local bike store since we forgot the hex wrench I needed to get Chantal's pedals off.   They had the wrench and, it turns out, they had a bunch of empty bike boxes too.  I bought a couple for $10 and packed our bikes.  I think the airline would have taken the bikes without boxes, but they told us they should be boxed. 

If you need bikes or something related to bikes in Bocas, this is your place:

It's been raining pretty much all afternoon so perhaps a good thing that we are making our way.

We will go back to Panama City and then probably over to Colon and Portobello before heading back home.

We have heard that we've misssed some snow and cold weather.  :-)

We have enjoyed Bocas del Toro.  This will give you a sense of the kind of place it is....some of the rental bikes are equipped to allow you to take your rental toys to the beach:

....and here is the toy it is designed to carry:

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Jan 30 Panama

Today is beach day.  We signed up for snorkeling and a visit to the Island of Bastimentos which is a National Park.  The snorkeling was fine if a little cloudy.  The beach was nice also.  It wasn't big.  Only a kilometer long and we managed to walk around it twice in the couple hours we were there.

The only real downer were the 4 or 5 Panamanians in our group, who had a few too many beers and started to leave a trail of beer cans in their wake.  The beers didn't bother me much, but the trail of beer cans did.   It's awfully short sighted.   Leaving trash all over will quickly turn the paradise into a dump.  It's not just Panama, it's an unfortunate part of the culture in a lot of places.

Isle of Bastiimentos:

We walked around it twice.   Some locals were on the far side with a couple dogs and a campfire...RIGHT in front of the sign that said no  pets and no fires.....

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Jan 29 Panama

We rode our bikes all over the Isle of Colon today.  It's not the easiest thing to do as, even though our map shows the 2 roads on the island as paved, one turns into a beach road....sand; and the other road turns into gravel.  Still we rode on them both.  As it turned out there was a nice restaurant at the end of the longer road which takes you to the opposite side of the island. 

On the way back we explored the grotto ($1 entry fee).  We were dazzled by the 75 foot line of "leaf cutter" ants along the trail to the grotto more than we were with the grotto.  The grotto you had to wade through waist deep water in the pitch black.  Plus there are underwater rocks to trip on.  It didn't do much for me .  Chantal either.  I did manage to get a little movie of the ants though.  I will see if I can get the vid up on you tube.   There is no lack of wildlife or vegetation here in Pamana.

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Jan 28 Panama

We made our way all the way to Bocas del Toro from Boquete. 

We took the back roads as much as possible.   However, I missed a turn and did an extra 20k or so (Chantal saw it and waited for me to double back).   It didn't really make much difference as there was no way we were riding all the way to Bocas anyway.  It's much too hard and much too far.  We planned on just getting a bus in the town of Chiriquicito.   However, we soon learned that there really wasn't anything in the town of Chiriquicito so we went right on past.

The road was fine but parts were steep and the only way up was to push the loaded bikes.  There were no services along the road.  We shared a few power bars.  There weren't many cars either.  We did finally flag down "Jonny" and his friend who were pulling a small trailer.

They agreed to give us a lift.  We soon learned that they were going to Chirique Grande.  That is right on the way to Bocas.  They thought the police might stop us (they did, but they only asked questions and wanted to see our passports).

They were very nice:

this is the view from the trailer I was riding in with the bikes:

The view from the trailer was spectacular.  No shocks on the darn thing.  It would hit a hole and KABOOM!

We rode our bikes into Chiriqui Grande looking either for a place to stay or the ferry that our map indicated went the additional 70k to Bocas.  The hotels were all dumps and the ferry had stopped operating so we road our bikes back out to the crossroads and hired a guy in a pick up truck to give us a lift.

At one point the driver turned off on a rough gravel road and went a couple miles into the bush.  He apparently had a delivery to make...a couple bags of fish for the local indians. 

Anyway we made it to Almerantes, where you can catch the water taxi for Bocas del Toro.   It was a long day of traveling.  I think it was the first time I have ever traveled by bike, cattle trailer, pick up truck and boat in one day. 

For anyone considering biking across the mountains to Bocas with a loaded bike....forget it.  There is zero along the road and you are highly likely not to make it...although there are buses and folks who will give you a llift.

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Panama Jan 27

Today we rode our bikes on a loop ride up above Boquete.  It was great really.  Very scenic.  No traffic and spectacular.  This place is a plant and animal paradise.  We stopped at some gardens, rode past a waterfall and stopped at a coffee plantation for lunch.

We got back to town mid afternoon and poked around, bought a bottle of wine and I got a badly needed haircut at the Barberia,  It was $3 and not bad.   The best haircuts and the best prices are definitely not in the US.

We also stopped by Casa Solution and talked to the very helpful Humberto about getting to our nest destination on bikes....Bocas del Toro.  There is no way we are riding the Inter American back.  Our plan is to get us and our bikes on a plane from Bocas to Panama City.

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Panama Jan 26

We weren't anxious to log more miles on the Inter American so we headed to the bus stop.  No dice for putting our bikes on the first onward couple of buses so we decided to ride the backroads that parallel the Inter American.  Plan B went bust when we couldn't find the backroad and the people we asked pointed us in opposite directions a couple times. 

Plan C was back to the bus station to try for yet another bus.  We did find a guy that would take us....that was the good news.  The bad news was he was full so we sat on little stools in the aisle.....for the 3 and half hour ride to the town of David.  It was too late to ride the bikes to our destination of Boquete so we grabbed yet another bus from there. 

I tried to sneak a photo of Chantal as we sat on our little stools:

Boquette is popular spot.  We are staying in a very nice place called the Pantomonte.  John Wayne, Ingrid Bergman and Richard Nixon have all stayed here.  It was built in 1915. 

The Pantamonte is pretty darn nice:

We are going to stay in Boquete a couple nights.

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Panama Jan 25

We had a nice ride down from El Valle.  The road was good and not much traffic.  If it were all like this it would be great.  In the end though, we were back on the Inter American.

We rode on to Penomone. 

We were looking for the Tamarindo Restaurant when a couple cops on bikes pulled us over.  I think they could tell that we were looking for something...and we were were...the Tamarindo Restaurant.   They did better than tell us where it was, they gave us an escort..on their bikes.  You have to love that.  Those two cops are the only other cyclists we have seen.

 
After the Tamarindo, we caught a 12k ride to La Pintada where there is a cigar factory.   They rolled a couple for me and I smoked one as we walked about town and then caught a bus back to Penomone. 

We went back to the Tamarindo for dinner (we know a good thing when we find it) and then back to the hotel for an early evening.

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Panama - Jan 24

We had a heck of a time riding our bikes out of Panama City.  It's a little like Washington DC or Boston.  Barely any roads go through and nothing is clear.  On top of that it's congested.  We are always game to give things a shot, but we met our match in PC.  I hailed down a taxi that was more a pick up truck than a taxi and we put our bikes in the back and told him to take us over the Bridge of the Americas.  We liked that so much that we told him to take us another 20k's up the road to escape the PNC traffic....and he did.

We rode the Inter American Highway to San Carlos and then headed inland to El Valle.  El Valle is at 2000 feet and it is about 10 degrees cooler than on the coast.  It is extremely comfortable at this moment. 

El Valle is very laid back.  It doesn't feel very foreign to us.  We stopped by the Yellow Frog B&B and found that a couple Americans were running it.  Then we stopped by the local sports bar and found a couple Canadians running that. 

There aren't that many tourists around.  We are the only ones at the place we are staying. 

I can't say that the Inter-American Highway is the best place to ride a bike.  It's 4 lanes with shoulder that is not very consistent....sometimes the shoulder is ok asphalt to ride on, but other times it is gravel.  I find myself darting on and off the shoulder depending on what is coming up from behind.  I think it is safe to say that we will look for EVERY opportunity to get off the Inter American and on to lesser roads.  There are some...they just don't necessarily take you anywhere.  Most extend off the Inter American like fishbones and end at the coast or in the mountains.  

I have noticed that they love their junk welding artwork.  You know the kind.  Prehistoric birds or whatever made out of car parts welded together.  I have a certain admiration for it, but I don't think it is anything you would want to put in your own yard.

Our general plan at the moment is to get to the turn off for the Azueros Peninsula and exit  the main road and explore.  The peninsula is considered the heartland of Panama.  We are here, so why not check out the real deal?

We did have one icky surprise today.  I got a flat and immediately stopped on the shoulder.  It was a construction zone, but it seemed fine.  After I got my tire off, Chantal rode up and we both noticed our feet were kind of sticky.  Then we noticed that under the dust, there was tar.  Thick, gooey, black tar.  We spent the next 15 minutes picking tar out of cleats and shoes.  It's bad enough having a flat, but a flat in a tar zone is particularly trying.

Oh yeah, I did find the Bears - Packers game.  The commentary was in Spanish, but given the way the game went, I think perhaps that was a good thing.

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