Traveler's Café: Panama

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.