Panama - Towards the Capital

Next stop was the ferry town for Bocas del Torro, Almirante. It was an old port town with a couple of motels, shipping containers, trucks and some heavy machinery. I arrived in the afternoon not having had lunch and only a small breakfast. There was a motel across the road so I took a room for $25, sheltering in the heavy overnight rain. I had already decided not to go to Bocas del Torro because of the brakes.

 In the morning it was raining. I packed up in the rain with a bit of shelter from the roof of the hotel, just in time for the rain to stop and a street parade to start. 

It was ok because as I looked towards the mountains I was riding through this day, they were shrouded in cloud. This was going to be a tough day. The night watchman was still there, a dark Caribbean guy I’d been talking to. He was watching the parade.

‘Is it much drier on the other side of the mountains?’

‘Oh yes. Much drier. They bring their cows over here because as you can see we have a real lot of green grass. In fact over the other side they have to give the cows glasses so they can find the green grass.’

His broad toothy grin made me laugh so hard that I temporarily forgot about the ride ahead of me. Six hundred kilometres through the mountains via the town of David, to get to Panama City. I took a deep breath, started Ziggy, waited for a break in the parade and rode off towards the mountains. As I did the clouds started moving aside and for the first time that morning I had a clear view of where I was going. In true style I returned to the town and started heading the wrong direction…I do that quite a lot. One u-turn later and I was on my way.

The rain eased, the cloud cleared and the first part of the ride was through beautiful lush tropical greenery winding south alongside the mountains on my right. 

Eventually I climbed in elevation and started to really enjoy the ride. There were patches of sun, patches of cloud, steep inclines and declines and as I rode higher there were beautiful views accentuated by the cloud. Eventually the cloud became fog and I slowed to a crawl for several kilometres. Slowly it lifted and as I let some other traffic pass me I started my slow winding descent towards the pacific side of the country.

It was a day of parades. I was held up along with a line of other traffic, while the only road through a town was blocked for two hours for the parade. 

It was one of the several Independence days. Independence from Spain, or the united states or Colombia? I wasn’t sure. But there was plenty of Panamanian pride. Eventually free, I moved ahead of the traffic and enjoyed a couple of long straits of dry road to open up Ziggy a little and I think open up my concern for the lack of stopping power. Winding through the mountains I was enjoying a beautiful ride through the misty mountains.

I was on the final descent and wound around a corner to find a quaint little coffee shop. The rain had started a little again so it was a good time to stop. Eureka! This was the best coffee I had tasted in ages! I savoured every drop and ordered a second. It was a locally grown bean and it was strong, smooth and delicious.

Eventually I reached the junction with the road from David to Panama and although I had only covered one-third of the distance, the rest will be relatively straight and no doubt with more traffic. I headed east for a couple of hours and as the light faded I found a little town with a local room for accommodation and bedded down for the night.

My view in the morning as I left.