Day 107 ? The Road That Kills ? 98.06 km
In the morning I woke up bright and early, anxious to check out this park and then get moving. Getting to the park entrance proved to be an adventure in itself! There is a lagoon near by and thus the path to the entrance is blocked by a large pond if you will. In the dry season it ranges from ankle to thigh deep, but in the rainy season it is neck deep or so. To solve this problem there are locals with boats waiting to take you across; supposedly a free service, but a tip is requested. As much as I would have loved to avoid paying and waded across, I decided this problem wasn't the best idea in the world when carrying a camera.
The park opened at 7 AM, and I say quite proudly that I was the first one through the gates! While waiting to pay at the entrance a huge grasshopper hopped onto my pants. As much as I tried to shape him off, he would not budge! Eventually someone else flicked him off me. No more than five seconds later a lizard came from out of the bushes and snatched him right up! I guess that's what he gets for being too friendly with my pants! Entry to the park was not cheap; for residents it costs $2, whereas for non-residents it costs $7. Inside the park the trails and various walkways are fortunately well marked and I didn't get lost. I must admit that the park is amazingly beautiful. The beaches are simply picturesque, containing white sands and cliffs backed by jungles. It made me feel like I was in an episode of Lost, minus the crashed plane and all the strange happenings and such of course! Reluctantly I left as I knew I had to move on.
The downside of taking this coastal route was that there was a 44 kilometer section of gravel road that had to be taken. Supposedly the road was all flat, so how bad could it be? As I soon found out, very bad. The gravel roads I road in Canada were nice and flat as there are actually special machines which go across them to flatten them. These unfortunately do not exist here. It took me nearly three hours to cover a mere 30 kilometers. True, the terrain around me may have been flat, but the road was anything but. I felt as if I had ridden over a minefield of speed bumps for two hours. To make matters even worse it was really muddy at times and I would get stuck at times! I couldn't feel my behind, and I was really hurting. As much as I wanted to go faster, I simply couldn't without killing myself or destroying my rims. It is by far the worst road I have ever encountered. Such a road was not meant for a feeble road bicycle such as mine, but rather a full suspension mountain bike.
While I was suffering and on the brink of death on the road side a man in a pickup truck from Panama pulled up ahead of me and stopped. He got out and asked me if I wanted a ride across this bad section, because it was simply terrible. As much as my mind wanted to say no, my body replied yes. Into the back of the pickup I went! For the next fourteen kilometers the road was just as bad if not even worse than what I had already ridden over. It would have taken me absolutely forever to cover this ground. When across the rough section my rescuers insisted that I join them for lunch, as they know a very good place around here. Seemingly in the middle of nowhere perched on a cliff stood a very fancy restaurant. It offered magnificent views to both the left and right and overall a very pleasant atmosphere. I found out that my driver, who's name is Kirt, is actually an American who lives down in Panama and is likewise a fellow cyclist! This particular restaurant is owned by his friend and supposedly has the best food on this side of Costa Rica. I must say that it's very possible, as the food was incredible. Although I insisted on paying for my portion of the food, my hosts would not permit such a blasphemy and thus treated me to a fine lunch!
I was offered a ride all the way to their house in Panama, but I knew that I would be burned at the stake and poked with pitchforks such I undertake such a trip. I do however have an invitation to visit these very kind people at their ranch in Panama. In order to make up for my motor vehicle aided portions of this trip, all 38 kilometers worth of them, I have decided to bicycle completely out of my way for 40 kilometers in each direction, well into the mountains of Panama. Since that is more than double the distance I've gotten rides for and in mountainous terrain, I think it balances out!
Back on the road I pushed on. I actually didn't save any time since lunch turned out to last quite a while! I passed by a beach town called Uvita, which I was thinking of stopping in, but it was simply too close. I opted to push on, which wasn't the greatest idea. I figured since this is an area right near the coast that finding a place to stay won't be a problem even in the middle of nowhere. This proved to be both right ad wrong. Sure, there are many places to stay, but even the crappiest of them them an arm and a leg. When I stopped at a roadside restaurant to ask for a cheap place to stay, they told me that some nearby place has cabins for only $50. Are you guys out of your minds? With darkness approaching I had to find something, and I eventually found a bar which had some rooms located in a separate building behind it. The price was unfortunately very steep at $19, but I had no choice. The next larger town was another 12 kilometers away, and I simply couldn't make it before dark. The last thing I want to do is be bicycling out here at dark. I will admit that the place is nice, but it really isn't anything special; definitely not worth the price. No T.V., hard beds, and cold water. On a positive note I do at least have a bathroom and access to a nice pool.
Day 108 ? Panama! - 138.15 km
In the morning I pushed onwards toward the frontier. There were several smaller towns along the way, but nothing of interest. I still had some post cards that I had to send, so I had to find a post office. Find a post office I did, but since today was Saturday it closed at noon. The thing that I really don't like about Costa Rica is that they don't have mail boxes into which you can drop a letter, not on the street or even at the post office! I already had stamps on my post cards and just had to drop them off, but I was told I had to wait until Monday to do so! I simply slid the post cards under the door and I sure hope that they make it home.
Being as I hadn't done an update to my journal in several days I opted to visit an internet cafe. What I was hoping would be a quick visit turned out to take longer than I expected. This place had the absolute slowest internet connection ever, even dial up would be considered fast compared with it! I think it may have been due to the fact that they had a not so quick connection already and were splitting it amongst 20 computers. Needless to say, updating things takes quite a bit longer when it takes a few minutes for a page to load.
With the world aware that I am still alive I pushed onwards into Panama. The border is an absolutely crazy area filled with countless duty free shops, bars, restaurants, hotels, and gringos. I decided this wasn't for me and that I would push on. Crossing the border took me quite a bit longer than expected. It turns out that I had somehow missed the Costa Rican immigration and accidentally smuggled myself into Panama, so I had to go back to get an exit stamp. Back in Panama I went to the immigration window where they gave me a small ticket with which I had to go to another window in order to purchase a tourist card for $5. With my tourist card I had to go to some other window to get a sticker put on it for $1. With all this in hand I had to go back to the first window to get everything stamped.
It turns out that in order to enter Panama you have to present an exit ticket of some sort, either a bus ticket back to Costa Rica or a flight out of Panama. Fortunately I had my parents book a flight a few days ago, but I did not have time to print off the ticket yet. So I did the next best thing, I busted open my laptop at the immigration desk and showed the officer my e-ticket on my screen. I won't tell you guys when my flight is in order to keep up some suspense! Another requirement for entry is that you show them $500 in cash or travelers checks. Luckily they did not ask me for this, otherwise I would have had to find an ATM somewhere.
I must say that crossing that border made me feel all warm and fuzzy inside. On the outside I was freezing cold as it was pouring like crazy. I had finally made it to Panama after 12,044 kilometers of cycling, 38 kilometers of shameful motor vehicle aided transport, 12 flat tires, 3 broken rims, 3 accidents, a lot of money, and an immense amount of suffering. Even though Panama City is quite a bit further than the anticipated 12,000 kilometer distance of my route, I still intend to make up for my motor vehicle portions of this trip doubly with a strenuous side trip into the mountains which is completely out of my way. For all of you out there who thought that I wouldn't make it here, ha! In your face! Na na na na na! OK, I'm done now.
The official currency here in Panama is called the 'Balboa'. The Balboa is worth exactly the same amount as the US dollar. In fact, it even looks, feels, smells, and tastes like the US dollar... not that I would know what a US dollar tastes like. Basically, Panama's currency is the US dollar with a different name. The only difference is not in the bills but in the coins. Although they are the same size as US coins, they have their own unique design and say 'The Republic of Panama' on one side of them. These are of course used interchangeably with coins from the United States. It really goes to show you how much of an influence the United States has had in these countries!
Today I am staying in the city of La Conception, which is really an uninteresting place. The town has banks, restaurants, and even a small casino, but nothing that is of interest to tourists. I have managed to find a place to stay here for $12, which is a decent price. I wasn't really at liberty to haggle since there wasn't any other places to stay around here!
Day 109 ? There and Back Again - 91 km
I was expecting today to be a difficult day, but every time I expect anything I always end up getting so much more. Today I underwent a sort of self-punishment for 34 kilometers of motor vehicle aided transport on this trip. I decided to bicycle well into the mountains of Panama, completely off my intended route, to stay with the very kind people who rescued me on that gravel road in Costa Rica.
The road to the city of David was a piece of cake as it was flat as a pancake. Being as David is Panama's second largest city I opted to deviate and check out the center. I was unfortunately quite disappointed, as there was absolutely nothing of interest there. On the way out of the city I somehow managed to come across a bicycle race. I chatted up with a few of the people there and even ended up getting some free Gatorade. Bonus!
In the city of David is where I deviated off my path an ventured out into the mountains. Wow, what a brutal road! Although the road is in fairly good condition, it has no shoulder and seems to go endlessly up. A fellow cyclist coming from the other direction spotted me and caught up with me. We ended up chatting for awhile, in Spanish of course. I'm quite surprised as many people have been telling me that my Spanish is quite good. He was shocked to learn that I had four months off from school, as he only gets 15 days! They have two semesters of six months each with 15 days between them, ouch!
After an eternity of uphill I made it to a turnoff for the town of Caldera. I had read that there were some great hot springs there, and I could not pass this up. Unfortunately, the small town of Caldera is 12 kilometers completely out of my way, even though I'm already going completely out of my way. That means that it is doubly out of my way! The road down was fantastic as it was all downhill and the views were absolutely phenomenal. Things got quite ugly when I finally made it to a turn off for the hot springs. It turns out that the hot springs are 2.5 kilometers off the main road along a dirt and gravel road. How bad could it be? Every single time I say that, things end up being much, much worse.
As much as I wanted to turn back, there was no way I was going to bicycle 12 kilometers in each direction for nothing. Very reluctantly I pushed onward. This is by far the worst road that I have encountered on my entire trip, and in fact in my entire life. The road is not nice gravel, but rather composed of huge stones. There are climbs and drops which would have been ridiculous even on pavement, but are simply insane on this terrain. Even with a mountain bike this road would be very difficult to cross. As if things couldn't get any worse I had a bad bicycle breakdown. The two screws holding my rear rack for my bags in the back had both snapped and my rack had basically fallen on my tire. Fortunately I had one spare screw, but as it was too short I could only screw it in from the left side where there were no gears.
Much easier said than done. The screw on the left hand side was totally stripped and screwed in there really good. Being as I was literally in the middle of nowhere, I had no choice. I had to get this screw out. I tried to solve this problem with my pliers, but it was no hope. I did the next best thing. I pulled out my multi tool and busted open the knife/saw combination tool. For the next half hour I hacked away at that screw, trying viciously to get it out, but it just wouldn't budge. A man in a pickup truck drove past me on the way to the hot springs, but it's not like he could really do anything to help me. After much struggle and cursing I finally managed to get that screw out. Since I did not have a screw for the other side, that side is currently being held together by four zip ties arranged in a genius fashion. This bring the total number of zip ties holding my rear rack together to fourteen.
Although I had wasted nearly an hour fixing this problem I was not dismayed. I pushed on to the hot springs. If I thought this section of the road was bad, I was wrong once again. At one point the road was blocked off by a chain and there was a sign that motor vehicles were not allowed beyond this point. Here I had to avoid getting killed on a ridiculously steep road composed of large rocks and mud. This led down to a flatter area where I had to cross through two streams and a multitude of thigh high mud. I made it to those hot springs looking as if I had been through a war zone.
Entry to the springs cost me a dollar, which was collect by some strange guy wielding a machete. He told me I would have to leave my bicycle at the entrance, but another dollar solved that problem. Fortunately the hot springs turned out to be really great, otherwise I would have been quite mad for undergoing all that suffering. The area in which these springs were found was beautiful, set amongst lush forest. There were three separate pools of water, all neatly surrounded by stones, with a path heading to and from each. Should the hot water become boring, you can always jump into the nearby river which proved to be quite refreshingly cool.
I met the man who had driven the pickup truck down here and chatted with him for awhile. I don't know how they did it, but they managed to fit two adults and seven children all inside a pickup with no one in the back. He told me that if I liked he could give me a ride back to the main road, the only downside is that they would be here for roughly an hour and a half. I would have gladly waited here all day and even paid a handsome amount of money just to not have to set foot on that road again. The way to the springs would only be half as bad as the way back as going back up would be all uphill. I would basically have to walk the whole way, and doing so while dragging a loaded bicycle over war zone like terrain is a nightmare.
Back on the main road I headed into another grueling climb back to the road on which I had turned off. Right before the main road I saw a sign citing that there were lots for sale here being sold by the 'Panamadera' company, which is Kirt's company, the man who rescued me in Costa Rica and with whom I would be staying today. I thought it was pretty neat that he had lots for sale out here in such a beautiful place. I headed up a yet again grueling climb to the town of Boquette. Fifteen kilometers later, and being only a few kilometers from Boquette, I stopped at a pay phone in order to call Kirt. I didn't know exactly where he lived as he had not told me when we met, but told me to call him when I got close to Boquette. It turned out that the sign I had seen fifteen kilometers beforehand was exactly where he lived. I had done fifteen kilometers of brutal climbing for nothing. The way back down was a breeze as my speed averaged at 45 km/h without me really having to do any pedaling.
I made it back here with no problems as I knew exactly where it was. In fact, this is the third time that I would be passing by here today. The home is really situated in a beautiful area overlooking a canyon and a range of mountains, yet being engulfed amongst forest. For the first time in over a month and a half I was able to take a hot shower here. All the places I had been staying at thus far had water that ranged from freezing cold to kind of warm. After getting all cleaned up I was treated to a great barbecue dinner, in which I of course aided in the preparation of. I would be staying at the guest house tonight, which really isn't that close to the main house. This is no surprised though as the property is over 150 acres! We threw my stuff in the back of the pickup once again and headed on a drive off to the guest house. This place is absolutely great! The guest house is located in the middle of the woods in an absolutely beautiful location. The house itself is equipped with a bedroom, bathroom, kitchen as well as living room. Unfortunately there is no power out here and the monstrously huge beast of a battery that was here was drained of power. As he was leaving, Kirt told me to check my bed and the area around me for scorpions as they had been seen here. Yikes!
Day 110 ? A Day in the Clouds ? 0.00 km
In the morning I woke up bright and early, even before the sun was up, as I intended to hike up Panama's highest peak, which is the volcano near the city here. Unfortunately the weather in the morning was terrible, and it looked like it was going to rain all day, which proved to be quite accurate. This would render going up the volcano useless, as the main attraction is the beautiful view from the top, at which you can see both the Pacific and the Caribbean simultaneously.
Not to be dismayed, I still intended to go hiking and exploring around this beautiful area of Panama. My host here, Kirt, who is an absolutely great guy, offered to give me a ride into town bright and early. Here I stocked up on several supplies and hired a taxi to take me to the trail head. The trail head is quite a ways from town and over ludicrous terrain, thus it was no surprise that a taxi here cost me $5. It's no surprise that the taxis here are 4x4 pickup trucks, otherwise they wouldn't stand a chance! At the trail head I paid a small entry fee and was on my way. When I asked for a map, they couldn't unfortunately provide me with one, but they showed me one that I could take a picture of. This map proved to be terribly inaccurate and quite useless, but it was a nice safety blanket none the less.
The particular trail I chose to take is called the 'Quetzal Trail' and is supposedly one of the most beautiful trails in all of Panama. As opposed to going to the summit of the volcano it goes around it, winding back and forth continually over a river until it reaches the other side. The trail was unfortunately very muddy and proved to be quite difficult, especially since I was hiking in my Crocs! I must admit that it is one of the best hikes that I have ever set out on. Viciously tiring, but truly rewarding. It was kind of nice not to see a single soul for over five hours. The views that I was rewarded with were absolutely magnificent and made the 12 kilometer hike well worth it, although sometimes I didn't see much except white clouds! I started off at an elevation of 1000 meters in Bouete and climbed up to nearly 3000 meters on the trail!
Right as I finished the trail and made it to the ranger station it began to rain. Let me rephrase that, it began to pour. I stopped for a quick lunch, during which the rain slightly died down, and then promptly moved on. The trail merged into a road where I managed to get a ride into town surprisingly easily. The first car I saw that I signaled at pulled over! I of course chatted with the driver in my now somewhat decent Spanish and told him about my trip. I'm actually quite proud of myself as many people have told me that my Spanish is quite good!
Since I had made it to the town of Cerro Punto quite early I decided to visit another nearby park called 'La Amistad'. To get here likewise required a 4x4 taxi. Finding a taxi in this town proved not to be so easy however! In order to get a taxi one must wait at a specific, designated yet unsigned corner in town at which taxis come to pick up passengers. When? Who knows. I ended up waiting about 10 minutes, which isn't terrible. The road to the park took me awhile for several reasons: my driver drove terribly slow, my driver stopped at a restaurant to grab some food, my driver stopped at some house to drop off a package, and the road to the park was absolutely horrid. $5 and 40 minutes later I was standing by the gate.
In this park I had intended to see 'La Cascada', which is an impressive 45 meter waterfall. The hike from the ranger station to the waterfall is about two kilometers in each direction, which should take roughly an hour and a half to hike. The problem arose in that the park was closing in forty-five minutes. I asked my taxi driver to wait, since it will take him half an hour to get back to town anyway. I ended up having to run all the way to the waterfall and back. Let's just say that it wasn't easy, especially in my Crocs. The way to the waterfall required climbing over a very large hill, and then coming back down it again to get to the waterfall. Luckily the waterfall was as good as it was made out to be. Truly an impressive sight which I just had to get a great picture of. So without thinking twice I jumped into knee deep ice cold water with camera in hand! The things I do to get good pictures surprise even me sometimes.
The way back to the ranger station proved to be a little bit more difficult as it had started to rain really, really hard. Running along a terrible path in Crocs is bad enough when dry, but horrendous when wet. I was slipping and sliding quite often, I thought I was going to kill myself! Several near death encounters later I made it back to the ranger station in one piece, and with a few minutes to spare! My taxi driver doubted my ability to make it back in time and thus bailed on me, bastard! Luckily for me the park employees were closing up for the day and heading back into town, so I managed to get a ride back in with them.
The town of Cerro Punto is perhaps twenty kilometers from Boquete as the crow flies, however to get from one town to the other takes three and a half hours by car! There is no road which goes directly between the two cities, and thus it is necessary to backtrack all the way back to the Pan American highway, drive on that for awhile to David, and then proceed back up to Boquete, a distance of 91 kilometers!
Fortunately the buses here in Panama are great. They can not only take you anywhere you want to go very cheaply, but they also run every 15 minutes or so. It was unfortunately dark when I made it back, but I was not dismayed. I got off at the right intersection, put on my headlamp which I was smart enough to bring, and headed off down to the ranch.
Back at my temporary base I was once again spoiled with a hot shower, clean clothes, as well as an excellent home cooked meal. It really makes me not want to leave this place, but alas the rest of Panama awaits! After receiving some advice from Kirt about what else to do here in Panama I headed out into the bush in total darkness, armed with only my headlamp. A dirt path which led to the guest house I was staying in, along which I had to climb through two barbed wire fences. I'm not sure if this was what I was supposed to do, but I just couldn't find a way around. Fortunately did not get lost and made it here in one piece. What a day!