Welcome to the Panama jungle! We are currently deep in the forest on a
small track but this might have to be my last because the rocks, roots and clay
mud are incredibly slippery. I think I've traversed ice with more grip.
It wouldn't be a trip to Panama without a visit to the Panama Canal. Let's escape
this mosquito-infested jungle and go have a look.
This engineering marvel was constructed 100
years ago to reduce the shipping distance and time between the Atlantic
and Pacific Oceans. A series of canal locks lift the ships 26 metres up to an
artificial lake in the middle of the country, then locks on the other end
lower the ship's back down to sea level.
It was noisy camping out on the canal, but it's a unique experience having 350
metre long vessels passing just metres from your tent.
Last night I wasn't allowed to cross this bridge because it's not for
bicycles but I looked at every other option for crossing the Panama Canal and
there were zero options so I'm doing the old 4:00 a.m. bridge cross.
I just saw the bridge security cross on the other side so I could have got caught but they were going
the other way.
Panama is not known for its cycling, in fact, people normally scoot across the
country in about a week. I'm interested in finding out if there are alternative
roads for adventure cyclists, so I've created a very ambitious route across
the country by linking up trails only found on satellite maps.
My focus will be on the sections of trail that I don't think have been traversed on a bike yet
so this obviously can't go wrong.
All right I'm gonna have to call it, this track is just way too steep and slippery
and if I get caught out in the rain, there's almost no chance I'm gonna get
anywhere with all of my gear, so lets turn around.
The back roads of Panama are very very steep. I think today I'll be pushing my
bike more than actually riding it. But that's okay it's a nice place to be.
I think the best thing so far about cycling in Panama is that there's wild fruit
everywhere so I'm finding mangoes and passion fruit all day.
So, mission avoid main highway is currently going terribly. I've climbed up
an 800 meter high mountain and up at the top I've arrived at this security
checkpoint and they've told me that I'm not allowed to pass because every
mountain that I can see around me is private land and so I have to go all the
way back down from the main highway.
I feel like a bit of an idiot right now. If you haven't heard of it, iOverlander
is an app where you can drop pins with information about road conditions or
attractions or accommodation. Anyway my ride into the mountains yesterday where
I had to turn around, it's actually listed in the app as a road that's
closed so if I thought to check this information yesterday I would have saved
a whole day.
I have got my first puncture since I was in Brazil one and a half years ago!
It's been so long I don't even know if I'll be able to fix it anymore.
This is a really important step that I think a lot of people miss when they
change their punctures. So what we're gonna do is take the tube out and lay it
on top of the tire. We're now going to pump up the tube and try to find out
where that hole is. Okay with the tube fully inflated, I've managed to find the
hole which is just here and because I've got the tube orientated on top of the
tire still, I'm able to determine that the puncture must have happened just
here on the tire. So what I'm gonna do now is check whether the debris is still
stuck in the tire. I have actually been able to locate some debris in the tire
and it's so small I don't even know if I'll be able to get it out! There we go
ladies and gentlemen, a little bit of wire from a truck tire.
If I had have left that in it would have caused me a lot of headaches down the
road. I usually prefer to patch my tubes rather than replace them. This is just
because it's wasteful using a new tube all the time. At the moment I'm just
roughing up the spot where the puncture occurred.
Hello, who are you?
Hello, my name is Alysha and I'm from New Zealand, a better country than Australia. (What?)
We're climbing a mountain.
We are going to 3500 meters, we are currently at 2000.
It has started raining a little bit. (Just a little).
Volcano Baru is the highest point in Panama and we've just scaled it! What do
you think? It was excellent. We could see both the Pacific and the Atlantic Oceans.
We could also see Costa Rica from where we were, which was pretty amazing.
But unfortunately we couldn't bring this message to you from the top because it
was just so damn windy. We were very lucky to get good weather.
What have you got in your brekkie?
I normally stay in very very basic accommodation because I'm travelling for
years at a time, but sometimes you strike a real gem. For the last two nights
I've been staying in a castle. This place used to be a private residence but it's
now a hostel where 30 or 40 people get to enjoy such a crazy residence.
And here's the coolest bit - this place is the same price as everywhere else in town.
Can you believe it? I've been barricaded into my own tent by this audacious spider.
The gigs up buddy. Get out, get out of my tent!
You've got a very sticky web
which I guess is a good thing for a spider.
He's a hot tip for all the wild campers out there.
If you're cycling through a mountainous part of a country and
you're looking for a flat bit of land, you want to find the power lines.
Underneath each of the power line towers is flat bit of land and it's usually
well landscaped and you're almost guaranteed that nobody will ever find you.
And if you're worried about the whole electromagnetic radiation thing we
have zero scientific proof that it affects the human body, so don't be scared.
This has been one of the hardest sections of trails so far, but hey, I'm now at
the top and what goes up must go down.
Okay, so where are we at with Panama? Well, I don't think I've discovered any new
routes that are actually worth riding. And following the Panama mountain range,
anything more than in-and-out adventures is a very rare opportunity.
It is possible to divert from the main highway at Bochete, Santa Fe and El Valle, but that's about it.
Google and Open Source Maps are pretty inaccurate through those areas so stick
to the bigger roads if you can. Anyway I had fun, type 2 of course. Pura vida!
See you next in Costa Rica.