My first km into Panama coming down the hill with the border I saw rain up ahead - and stopped to wait out the shower at this weigh station
After the downpour I continued, still wet but better visibility. Due to the heat and humidity I was always wet and sweaty anyway.
I stored my bike, trailer and panniers at this little shack in the bus station at David while doing the side-trip to climb Volcan Baru.
In the morning at park entrance after being dropped off by a taxi 10min above the little town of Boquete.
Start of the hiking trail to Volcan Baru. I didnt know it then, but this road track goes practically all the way to the summit.
Making progress hiking up Baru, hoping for the weather to stay dry.
View down to the West towards Pacific Ocean.
Beautiful pastures remind me of the European Alps.
Weather clearing and a farmer working on the pasture.
Getting higher but still very lush greens all around.
Every km there was a marker with distance and altitude information.
View towards the South from maybe 200m below the summit.
The reason for the dirt road is this antenna forest near the summit of Volcan Baru.
If you come up with an ATV, these last 50m are all you need to walk to reach the summit.
Summit of Volcan Baru, 3475m, highest peak in Panama.
Panamerican Peak Number 10. North and Central America done, South America still to go.
View of antennas from summit of Baru.
View North towards Costa Rica.
View East. On a clear day one can see the Carribean in this direction (and the Pacific Ocean the other way).
Marker on summit of Volcan Baru.
More views down to the North towards Costa Rica.
Serious off-road vehicles can drive up and down on this track to Baru.
... such as this vehicle ...
Bad stretch with big boulders on track.
Another view down from the lower slopes of Volcan Baru.
Returning to park entrance.
Happy to be back down, after 2000m vertical up & down in about 6 hours.
My taxi back down to Boquete.
Boquete, a lovely little town in the mountains.
I stayed at this small hostel right next to the river flowing through Boquete. Reminded me of small villages in Alpine valleys in Austria.
River running through Boquete with hostel on the left.
Riding again leaving David, heading South-East towards Panama City.
Friendly family, curious about my bike.
Carreterra Panamericana - here there is only one major road. When traffic is light, life is good for the cyclist.
Group of recreational cyclists, a rare sight. They had passed me a half hour before And then turned around, but with my heavy bike and trailer I couldn't keep up.
The heat is on: 36.4C = 97.5F with very high humidity. The sweat pearls are white from the repeated application of sunscreen. Especially cycling uphill was very hard. I craved two things: Fluids and Sugar. Typically in the form of big bottles of Coca Cola.
River flowing from mountainous interior to the sea.
The Road Ahead. It was not always this good - smooth, wide shoulder, little traffic.
Rest after a hot climb to refuel and avoid cramps...
Got some bananas?
Occasionally the road would lead up along a ridge and offered nice views.
Unpacking my camping gear at police station in Los Ruices.
Packing up a wet tent after rain overnight in Los Ruices. The tiki hut was on the grounds of a police station, which luckily allowed me to pitch my tent for the night.
Staying at a police station over night provides a comfortable feeling of safety.
Early morning start with cool air and residual fog. After a slow warm-up km going uphill there was a long downhill, always enjoying those...
Nice long downhill; the only complaint was the road turning into an old, bumpy concrete surface half-way down.
Between Los Ruices and Nata, some 300km and 2.5 days from Panama City.
Church in Nata (I believe).
Drying my wet tent in a small hotel room in Nata.
Ready to roll in the morning in Nata in front of the little hotel room.
Second breakfast in Penonome and updating my Blog and Skyping via my Dell mini Netbook. In most places I found WiFi; my bigger struggle was lack of daylight time to ride and eat and blog...
Random roadside scene.
Deicious Yoghurt drink, lasted all of 1 min after I paid for it.
I wonder how much they paid this family to have their home sport the Coca Cola logo and colors?
200m hill on last 30km leg to Capira. Nice evening mood here, despite the increased traffic.
Hills slow me down, but they do make for great views of the surroundings.
And most hills going up also mean another stretch going down...
Stopping at Firestation in Capira for the night.
My tent in the morning on the grounds of the forestation in Capira. The adjacent building was used for a religious ceremony the evening before, so I waited for all the people to leave prior to setting up my tent.
Friendly Fire Fighters at the ready in Capira.
More views from the hills in Panama. Now within less than 100km of Panama City the Carreterra Panamericana increases in size - and in traffic.
Puente de las Americas - the bridge over the Panama Canal.
On the Panama Canal bridge - no shoulder, but the drivers were patient with me...
Cresting the bridge and looking down at the Panama Canal was an emotional moment for me. It hit me that I had cycled all the way from Alaska across North- and Central-America.
Outskirts of Panama City.
Skyline of downtown Panama City.
Lots of construction activity in Panama City. Countless tall building had cranes and busy workers on them.
Following a bike path and rolling around in Panama City reminded me a bit of Miami.
More construction activity. Not sure how the real estate boom & bust cycle played out in Panama City.
Panama City waterfront view from bike path.
One more leg from Panama City out to the Tocumen airport.
More traffic, but at least a shoulder and mostly friendly and curious drivers...
Just like on the Mexican cuota, the toll roads here are also free for cyclists. I enjoyed the fact that the folks there didn't mind me riding there...
Last night at airport hotel; I need to pack away my bike for the flight tomorrow...
Parts start coming off ...
2 hrs later the bike is in the box, ready for the flight back to Florida for Christmas eve tomorrow!
