Across the finish line in Panama
From the beautifully diverse forests of Corcovado Park it was sad to pass the mono-culture of palm oil plantations. Kilometer after kilometer of straight rows of millions of palm trees. It is incredible to witness this and know that the production in Costa Rica is very small compared to Malaysia and Borneo. We reach the border with Panama in the morning. It has some dodgy booth where you need to pay the exit fee. However, we manage to enter Panama without getting scammed. We assume there will be some lunch spots across the border, but unfortunately this is not the case. We do meet a cyclist from Korea, who is bikepacking in the opposite direction. Good to do some knowledge sharing! Our first stop in David is really nice. The hostel has a kitchen, pool, bar and a pet nose bear. All you need!
The next day we leave the bikes at the hostel and take the chicken bus to Boquete. When we arrive the coffee farm tour was just leaving, so we can hop along. Some sharp corners take us up to Finca La Milagrosa. Interesting to learn more about the coffee making process and even better, taste it! Panama is known for producing high quality coffee like ‘geisha’. The owner Tito is also there. He built this artisanal farm in a time that all of the plantations were owned by foreigners. As it was also a time of crisis, he built all the processing machines himself, using old car parts and a washing machine. Very inspiring, especially because they still work! The touristic town has some nice restaurants and shops, so we indulge in good Italian food and craft beers before we head to bed.
The next day we hike one of many trails around Boquete, the El Pianista. It is infamous because two Dutch girls disappeared here in 2014. Our guide Feliciano was the one who was supposed to walk the trail with them. But they left to do the trail a day earlier, got lost and were only found about two months later. Apart from this sinister story, the trail was really beautiful, and a lot of fun to hike with a group of other Dutchies and a Belgian. When we got safely back to town, Feliciano warned us about being run over by drunk people on horses. This seemed really random, but later we see why. In the afternoon hundreds of Panamanian cowboys are parading through town in full attire, while playing loud music and drinking a lot. Malou and Michiel, who we met in Costa Rica, are joining us for the drunken horse show. We have a good laugh while enjoying a specialty coffee before we take the crowded bus back to David.
The next day we have a nice ride to Las Lajas, a small town close to the coast. A perfect place for European pensioners and we stay at a German owned B&B. We learn that there is a pizza and pasta place in town. The couple who owned the Italian restaurant split up and now the husband serves pasta at one place and the wife pizza at another. We go for the pizza and take our Whike about 2.5km down the road. We don’t take any gear, and of course at this point Matthijs gets a flat. We decide first things first and eat some pizza, after which Jakoba makes a round trip back to the B&B to get a repair kit. The tire is actually so worn out that you can put your finger through the hole. Time for a new one for the last 400km to Panama City!
After a nice pancake breakfast we are back on the road again. We take a bit of a detour from the Panamerican highway to a nice tropical green side road. On this route we can find a place to sleep and the elevation is almost the same according to Google maps. The road is really quiet and has a nice combination of farmland, some mangroves and even a view of the ocean. But the road is much more hilly than expected, and the climbing does not seem to end! When we are resting at a bus stop, a truck full of farm workers exits a field close by and drives backwards to stop in front of us. A lady gets out of the truck and hands us a fresh picked sandia (water melon)! What a great treat and being very thirsty in the 35 degree heat we manage to almost finish it at once! But after this nice gesture, we get into trouble again. The batteries are getting low and on a hill Matthijs’ pedal breaks off again, like it happened in Mexico. Only this time on the other side. So we are stuck again, on a quiet road in the middle of Panama. Luckily a farmer with a horse truck drives by. He needs to deliver some horses to a farm nearby, but promises to be back in half an hour to pick us up. Pretty down beat we sit around and wait for him, but he comes back as promised. The man is very quiet but helps us loading the Whikes into the truck. On our way to Sona we pass a lot of steep hills and reckon it would have been very difficult to make it to Sona by Whike before dark anyway. We compensate the horseman for the ride and he drops us at a nice little hotel. The manager is willing to help us out and makes some calls to find a welder. The next morning when we wake up, the guy is already done fixing it! Again incredible helpful people! After breakfast we’re back on the road to Santiago, which is actually quite boring and we have difficulty finding an acceptable place to sleep. We end up hauling our bikes up the steep and narrow steps of a degraded hotel. A tedious exercise which asks the best of our teamwork. Feeling fatigued and the boring rides result in a low morale, which is not really supported by the unfriendly and uninterested hotel staff. Its only 250 kms to Panama City by now, but we wish we were already there. We have difficulties to recharge and the next day we struggle to get on the Whike again in the 35 degree heat. Result, we only ride 60 kms to Aguadulce. We get our hopes up on a big hotel with a pool to cool down and recharge. But after check in they tell us that the pool is closed for maintenance… Seems like we gained some negative Karma points along the way. We are getting really close to our destination now, but the kilometers seem to get longer and longer. The road does not get any more interesting, as we mostly pass sugar cane plantations, and traffic proofs more challenging as it is getting busier. With minimal hard shoulder to Whike on and fast passing cars, our safety is becoming questionable.
We are positively surprised when we see our white giant friends along the way. Penonome’s wind farm is one of the biggest in Central America and we are happy that we pass by so close! We take some photo’s and feel cheered up when we get to San Carlos. It is a cool surfer’s spot and we find a nice room. Time for a dip in the ocean and some sundowner beers on the beach! Over the past days we have been in touch with Jurriaan, Matthijs’ cousin who works at the Dutch Embassy. They are preparing a cycling event to welcome us to Panama City and asked us to share our story. By accident we meet the interns of the embassy here in San Carlos and go for Chinese food together. Small world after all and fun to share experiences about Panama!
The next day is a big one: our last day on the Whike! We have another 100km to go with about 1,000 elevation meters and leave early. The road into Panama City is increasingly dangerous, with parts where we need to get on the road because the shoulder ends. And last but not least, Matthijs has his last puncture. Always a great mood changer, especially when Jakoba is already out of reach and you’ll need to fix it alone. Jakoba in turn is updated by a friendly motorcyclist who spoke to Matthijs. His Spanish is actually worse than his English and he tells Jakoba that Matthijs is tired and takes some rest. A bit of a strange story, but as Matthijs has become an expert in fixing tires he joins quickly after and we can continue on our final stretch.
Our last obstacle is the bridge of the Americas that will lead us into Panama City. We are stopped by the police – for the first time on our 11,000 kilometres trip. Was this going to be a bridge too far? The police officer will not let us get onto the bridge. Night is about the fall and we do not have much time to faff around. After a diplomatic call the police officer is reviewing the options again and waits for the verdict of his boss. Minutes feel like hours and we doubt if we will be able to finish our trip by Whike. We may have to arrange a ride… But finally we get the green light from the big boss. We even get escorted by a police motor. However, we do understand their safety concern. The bridge provides four lanes at 117 meters above the Panama Canal and is extremely busy. At this altitude we feel the wind waver our sails and we fully block one lane which annoys the impatient motorists. We look down at the giant tankers entering the canal and we feel like we are on top of the world while riding into Panama City! WE DID IT!
But we should not cheer too early, a few navigational errors lead us through the very rough parts of town. It adds to the adventure, but also here they love our strange looking Whikes. Finally, after 11.185kms we reach the home of Jurriaan and Anouk, Matthijs’ cousin and his wife. We finally made it! A bit overwhelmed and emotional we get to the decorated finish line and open a bottle of bubbles. This feels so good! Being welcomed by family while accomplishing our goal is really the cherry on the cake!
The next day the rainy season hits with torrential showers. We praise ourselves lucky that we managed to reach our goal on the last sunny day, even though the 35 degree heat was killing us. A wipe out on the bridge would have been worse. We are enjoying a few days of rest and prepare for the welcome event. After 152 days of cycling and gaining experiences for a lifetime it was difficult to distil a short presentation, where to start?
The Embassy of the Netherlands organised a cycling event to welcome us and even the deputy mayor, the Dutch ambassador and the ‘cyling mayor’ are present. We feel very welcome and are happy to share our positive experience of more than 11.000 kilometers on the bicycle. Together with the audience we brainstorm about potential cycling policies for Panama City and share experiences from cities like Vancouver, LA and San Diego. Afterwards we go for a ride along the Cinta Costera to the Old Town (Casco Viejo). There is a lot of energy around the cycling topic and we are positive surprised by the Duth Embassy who is actively promoting cycling in many countries around the world where they all appoint cycling mayors! The same week the Dutch also celebrate “King’s Day” and we enjoy this festive day in Panama where we join the celebrations in the American Trade Hotel. Our Whikes are displayed as a Dutch innovation and some brave women in long dresses try sitting on our Whike to take pictures. We almost roll on the floor laughing as this picture pose proofs more and more difficult after a few rounds of wine, beer, cheese and herring (Dutch version of raw fish). Later that week we are asked to join another cycling initiative on the weekly auto-free Sunday. Together with Professor Jorge Isaac Peren and the architecture students from the Sustainable Cities initiative SusBCity we go on another bike ride. It is a lot of fun to share experiences from our adventure and talk to the enthusiastic students.
To conclude our adventure we finally get to use the Cocoon from Land Life Company that Jakoba has carried some 3500 kms all the way from Mexico City. Together with the City of Panama and nature conservancy group Audubon we plant a Harino tree in the Summit National Park. This is the first tree to offset our emissions for our adventure. We also get a tour through the park and get to see a tapir and the majestic Harpy eagle. What a great way to end the adventure of a lifetime!
