May 30, 2017
to Ciudad Neily: pura vida
"Panama definitely has embraced the one person per car" Rachel says as we navigate out of David in almost stand still traffic. Then we see a billboard with a picture of a bike and sofa, Patrick says it's an advertisement for a mini-storage place. The message: Buy a bike, store it and drive your car.
On the news, we see that Noriega, former Panamanian dictator has died. We start early, it is about 50km to the border. There is a flat hill with a steady gain of elevation and a sweet 10km gliding downhill. We lose the nice new highway, the last kilometers in Panama are very much like the first out of the city: busy highway with no shoulders. Leaving Panama is easy, there are no lines and the guy behind the counter just stamps our passports. There is quite the town in no-mans land. Besides the typical roadside stalls and shops, there is a big mall behind all these, advertising Western food of Subway, Burger King and MacDonald's. We take a short break for a cold drink, then ride into Costa Rica, land of Pura Vida ("simple life" or "pure life" and in Costa Rica, a way of life).
Their immigration office isn't as apparent, but when we find it we see a large group of what looks like African refugees waiting. We read that most Central American countries don't really want to deal with refugees and prefer to just sent them along northward. We are travelling for fun, these people are on a more desperate journey with little chance of a happy ending. Once again we feel gratitude of the opportunities we have living in the United States. Once again reminded of how "travelling let's you see a thousand lives you might have lived".
We get our entry stamps and set-off for the final 20km to Ciudad Neily. The road goes from divided 4-lane highway to a two-lane road with no shoulders. Traffic is light though and the few trucks and buses that pass are considerate. The scenery changes abruptly, we see large trees and dense jungle. Ciudad Neily is much larger than it seems at first, there are several supermarkets and banks. We stop at an ATM for cash, Costa Rica uses the Colon, one US dollar is about 580 Colon, so we're dealing with large numbers again. Other cyclists have stayed at Hotel Andrea, so that's where we head first. The price is a bit high at $40 for a room with a fan. We check-out another place just down the road, it is 15,000 C, ($28) for a room with AC and attached bath. After clean-up we walk to the city park where there is an excellent Chinese restaurant.
We have great meal and make it back to our hotel just before an enormous downpour hits. In no-time the roads are running like rivers, and the rain lasts for a couple of hours. Glad we got here early.
| Heart | 0 | Comment | 0 | Link |
| Heart | 0 | Comment | 0 | Link |
Today's ride: 70 km (43 miles)
Total: 32,347 km (20,087 miles)
| Rate this entry's writing | Heart | 0 |
| Comment on this entry | Comment | 0 |