Panamá

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We left the seaside at Puerto Viejo in bright sunshine and the water looked wonderful. We were tempted by a swim but didn't want to be any more salty and sticky than we needed to be (sweating would do that for us perfectly well). We consoled ourselves that we would see the Caribbean again on our crossing to Colombia.

The road to the border was incredibly quiet. We have noticed that border roads either seem to be quiet backwaters or busy highways, with nothing in-between, depending on location and cross border trade. We rolled along on super smooth tarmac. The first part of the ride was through dense forest with huge trees towering up. It seems endless when you are in the middle of it and it is quite a reality check to remember that these countries are tiny in relation to the size of the Amazon.

After the forest area we ended up in a plantain growing region. (Panamá is in the top three plantain exporters). We saw large, open sided, warehouses where they were being processed prior to export. To get them to the warehouses were elaborate pulley systems. If you zoom into the photo below you will spot a man towing a 'train' of bunches along behind him from field to warehouse. (Rachel's Instagram post has a video of it in action)

The border crossing was low key (in line with the quiet approach road). This meant that there was very poor signage and some slightly random elements - we knew that we had to pay a tourist tax but we had to seek out the portacabin in which to pay it and there was no check to confirm we had paid it (we kept our receipt in case it is needed on exit!)

We crossed the border river and were in our tenth country of the trip. We are already finding Panamá fascinating as the only thing we really knew about it in advance is that it has a canal.

We stayed just over the border in this palapa on a small farm that we had found via Warmshowers. We had arrived early afternoon and were unexpectedly tired so we listened to our bodies and had a blissful doze. We were mighty glad of the roof as there was some torrential rain in the night 

The next day we were heading along the coast. This was not flat coastal riding, it was lumpy, bumpy riding where mountains came down to the coast and the road went up and down over many rivers crossings and ridges. The orientation of the sign made us laugh at first but was not far from the truth. 

Another thing that fascinates is about border crossings is how quickly typical food changes. In Costa Rica, asking for breakfast resulted in the delivery of a plate full of rice and beans. In Panamá it involves tortillas but unlike ones elsewhere these are akin to discs of fried polenta. They are mega tasty, especially when they come with eggs, onions, chillies and coriander.

Even though the road was tough going and had us pushing in a couple of the steepest sections it was really stunning. We haven't yet tired of riding through dense forest with the huge variety of trees and plants. Every tree is home to many plants that either climb up it, hang from it or grow in the joins of branches. There is also a huge variety of bird and butterfly life. We are particularly taken by Cherrie's Tanger and the blue morpho.

We knew that our route would take us over the central ridge to the south of the country and we had several glimpses of the mountains we would have to cross the next day. They were covered in clouds and mist and somewhat foreboding.

Cycle touring means you get to stay in a whole range of random locations. Our guest house for the night had seen better days but the bed and bedding were all clean. Perhaps because of all the washing machines they had access to?

The next day was uphill. From sea level (more or less) to 1300m. We had seen from the profile that it had some steep grades and we were a bit anxious about it ability to haul the loaded tandem up them.

The road was incredible with forested valleys, rivers, waterfalls, small rural countries and a mix of rain and sun.

We had to have several rests on the way up (and used a pouch of dulce de leche as energy gel) but we rode it all. It got cooler with altitude and we were delighted to be riding without cascades of sweat running off us. 

By the time we got to the final few ramps to the top we were being assisted by a really strong wind that was actually accelerating us uphill. We didn't complain but we paid the price at the summit as we had to walk down the first few hundred metres as the combination of the downhill gradient and raging tailwind was more than our brakes could cope with. (Rachel's Instagram post has a video)

We are staying for two nights at Roots Hostel which is just below the summit. It is super quirky, built into/onto the hillside, with many levels. We are the only guests here and it is mega chill. We have great views down the the flat lands to the south.

Google photos https://photos.app.goo.gl/p8J9ERd7iN2bGiZy9

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