Author Archives: mev

Sahagun

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Making an easy cruise through lowlands of Colombia. It is humid and afternoons can be warm. However, mornings are pleasant cycling and hence have made some shorter rides before skipping to an air conditioned room in the afternoon.
Day One
Hot humid afternoon makes for another morning ride.

Made my way to larger city of Sincelejo, though my “maps.me” application somehow didn’t point me at right location for the hotel. Hence, found a spot near the main highway outbound from town. A nice restaurant nearby but no internet.

Once again out on the road early. It started near 22C (71F) but warmed steadily through the morning. The road was mostly flat for first half of the ride and then hilly in the second half.

At the 6km mark, there was a long line of trucks backed up and no traffic from the front. I carefully cycled in left lane to figure out what was going on. It looks like a local protest had blocked the road. There were branches spread across the road and a set of young people on top of those branches – keeping the road blocked.

Nearby were half a dozen police officers. I looked at the officers with a puzzled look. They motioned over to the side to tell me to carry my bike over the branches on side of the road. So carefully walked over and kept eyes open as I walked over the barricade. All the trucks and even motorcycles were stopped, but somehow it was ok for a bicycle to pass.

After that passed the long line of trucks waiting the other direction. The road became pretty quiet with no traffic from behind and only occasional vehicles from front. Otherwise pleasant cycling though occasionally with a rough road.

At 27km, I came to small village and stopped for a snack. Right about this time, a large number of cars and trucks came past. Apparently, the roadblock was now over. I waited a bit to let the worst of the traffic pass. After this point started having some small hills.

At 36km was town of Tolo Viejo and shortly thereafter the road joined with another major road. It became a four lane divided highway and briefly went past a toll road. The hills continued and by now it was getting warm.

Stopped one more time for a cold coke and to cool down a bit. Shortly thereafter made a steady climb up to Sincelejo. Nice views over the country side.

I have an Android app that pointed me to a hotel I had picked: Hotel Arawak Plaza, presumably next to the plaza. I cycled straight into the city.

Came right into center of town, presumably also the plaza. I should have looked around here a bit more, since often hotels are found right next to the town square. However, followed my map and discovered there wasn’t a hotel where I expected.

By now I was already headed “outbound” and knew from other blogs there would be something at road intersection leaving town. Hence, cycled to this road intersection. It was warm enough that decided it would make for a good stopping point and chance to tackle road ahead tomorrow morning.
Day Two
Misty overcast morning as I started today. Children go to school early as I passed many walking along the highway when I was riding at 6:30am. Roads continue to be reasonable, in terms of road condition, traffic and shoulders. Overall, like cycling in Colombia so far.

Family portrait.

I see these Colombia hats occasionally worn. The town of Chinu had this large hat, but also many smaller shops selling them as well. Also saw several signs for “artisan” as well.

At 27km, it was time to stop for a cold drink. It was still relatively cool. Other journals had described the route today as “hilly”, though then it turned out easier than expected. Still made it a shorter day as this is how the towns lay out.

At 42km I went into town of Sahagun to find a bank. Typically can be found around the town square. It took a bit, but found my way first into the middle of the town and then back out. After that, headed for a hotel that had been listed in one of the blogs I’ve followed. They were full, so continued southbound. A few kilometers south of town there was a hotel and restaurant. I first had lunch in the restaurant and then decided to stay in hotel (wifi is only so-so, but otherwise one of the nicer places I’ve stayed).

Otherwise having fun on a slow cruise through countryside of Colombia. I expect ~200km from here I’ll enter first a river valley and then have substantial climbs into the Andes over to Medellin. Elevation should make for cooler temperatures though also a lot more climbing.

San Onofre

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Another easy ride today. Cooler temperatures and overcast. Weather forecasts called for thunderstorms, particularly in the afternoon. In the morning it was humid but never over 30C (86F).

Photo of the hotel from last night. It was at a major road intersection and cost 30,000 pesos (~$11). Reasonable restaurant attached to the hotel, though not much in way of stores. I was able to find some tuna and bread for breakfast which I had starting out.

The road started out a bit rougher and narrowed than yesterday, though the first 40km were pretty flat. I was looking for a place for second breakfast. I saw a few restaurants and a few roadside stands, though nothing very inviting until Palo Alto at 42km.

Here was an example of a gas station hotel near the 20km mark. There were several small villages along the way. Basic housing and surprised to see as many people as I saw in these places.

I think this belching factory might be palm oil but not 100% sure. I did see a number of palms today.

Stopped in main intersection for Palo Alto. There was small religious shrine here. Assume Colombia is a catholic country, though I only noticed one church busy with Easter services when I cycled past yesterday.

I have seen more burros here, some with people riding and some carrying goods. This seems like a relatively poor region, not sure if this represents all of Colombia or just a poorer section overall.

At 60km, I came into San Onofre. A little past the turnoff to the town, there was a place advertised as “hotel y restaurant”. I stopped and had lunch here for reasonable 12,500 ($4.50). While it was still early, also inquired about the rooms and these were reasonable 25,000 ($9), so decided to make it a shorter day, This lets me get into larger town of Sincelejo tomorrow.

Picture above shows the water pipe for the shower. There is one temperature, not hot but also not very cold either.

One interesting milestone today: the sun is definitely north when overhead at midday (if it were visible today). I am south of 10 degrees and the declination is now north of 10 degrees. Still a ways to the equator (near Quito), but from here on out through South America, I should always have a midday sun to the north.

Cruz del Viso

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Happy Easter! Short easy ride today as I start to explore Colombia. So far, roads are good, people seem to talk faster (or at least harder for me to understand than Mexico) and lots of green.

Yesterday, found a nearby market and got some of my cycling staples, e.g. tuna, crackers, juice and some yogurt. Also found a restaurant on the beach strip. There was a fair amount of wind and wind-blown sand coming from off shore.

Had a nice sound sleep, perhaps catching up from night in the airport. This morning was on the road around 6:30am. Folks were just starting to set up the beach umbrellas.

Cycling through a city of one million is always a little busy, but early on Easter Sunday, Cartagena was pretty easy. I was on one of the major highways that had two lanes each way. Buses kept pulling over and stopping for passengers in the right lane, so all was fairly slow.

One of the photos of the skyline.

At 14km, the road started as a two lane divided highway. There was a toll booth here. Rightmost lane was a separate narrow lane for bicycles and perhaps motorcyles as well. I saw perhaps two dozen cyclists out for a ride. There was a 150m climb here over a hill and then to Turbaco. Temperature already up to 30C (86F) by top of the climb and humid. Until I reach the Andes in ~400km, I expect there will be some warm cycling days.

At 24km, took my first break at a small roadside restaurant. There were many of them on the route today. This one a person with car and bike rack waiting for his cyclist buddy. The buddy arrived and off they went.

Not much longer, the road narrowed to one lane. Have a new road sign in Colombia. Overall traffic was still light.

Got to Cruz del Viso before 11am. Decided to just make it a short day today since the next hotel I know about is ~60km further down the road, though there could likely be other places in these small towns. Nice to be starting the ride in Colombia.

Cartagena

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Hooray, my flight arrived in Cartagena. Packed my bike and rode first 3km to a nearby hotel (just 12,497km to go).

Uneventful flight, though flying with a bike is a bit annoying. Can’t tell if the airlines have gotten worse, or if I’m just older and grumpier than I remember flying with bike years ago.

Arrived at the airport with plenty of time to spare. Delta Airlines gave me three new pieces of information:

  1. We don’t have bike boxes – No problem I walked to United and bought one there. It might be getting less common to be able to just ride into an airport, buy a box and go. In future might need to box my bike before coming to airports.
  2. If you get refused entry into Colombia, it won’t be our fault – Also no problem, though this took a bit to figure out. Colombia like many countries doesn’t require a visa for US citizens for a limited stay (e.g. 90 days in Colombia). As a result, the rules are written to require some evidence of “onward travel”. Similar requirements into Honduras, Costa Rica and Panama. Not a particular problem at land borders since you show the bike and say, “that is my onward travel”. However, Delta instead asked “when is your flight back?”. I said, I’ll fly back from Argentina in December. Since that was more than 90 days, they decided to tell me Colombia was going to refuse my entry and that it wouldn’t be their fault.
  3. We can’t check your bike and luggage onto Cartagena, since your layover is over 5 hours – This one was a bit more annoying since I’d already tried to optimize my 11 hour layover by booking a “Minute Suites” on the airport concourse. This would let me sleep overnight in the airport and never need to leave TSA secured zone. So cancelled Minute Suites since this would no longer work (a shame since those in-the-airport hotels worked well in Singapore).

Hence, flew to Atlanta. Retrieved my bike from the domestic terminal baggage claim. Found the shuttle bus that goes from the domestic terminal to the international terminal (photo above).

Flights for the day were done and international terminal was otherwise mostly random tourists wandering around and cleaning people riding those floor polishing machines. I found a space over by the windows and got out my sleeping bag and pad and slept in the terminal.

Next morning, waiting in the lines and got to check in my baggage. Here Delta spent ~30 minutes since they weren’t really sure if my United bike box (70″x40″x10″) would fit in the cargo door of a 737-800 (48″x36″). They suggested it probably wouldn’t and I would need to send my bike via cargo. I pointed out that I had started the trip on a 737 to Prudhoe Bay and this was standard size United box, but that didn’t really help, so we waited around until they could call someone who loaded cargo into the planes. Eventually they gave up and said they would page me if I needed to retrieve my bike.

Overall, I would rate Delta as lower down on the “bike friendly” airline list. Perhaps getting grumpier, but recent experiences on Alaska Airlines and United have gone more smoothly and staff seems to be more familiar with flying bicycles.

After that uneventful flight and arrival into Cartagena. Airport is small with just a few international flights per day (and more domestic flight). No jetways, but instead those roll up stairs. Getting through immigration was no issue (despite Delta’s warnings).

Bike arrived on the luggage belt. Box was slightly beat up by now, but bike was fine. Assembled it before I cleared customs. After that, cycled to hotel where I had a reservation. Photo above is of the assembled bike at kilometer 0 at the airport. It is warm and very humid here. My camera was still cool and hence lenses quickly fogged over so no other photos yet.

Haven’t figured out yet whether I’ll go sightseeing tomorrow or whether to take advantage of light Sunday traffic and use it to escape the big city. It does seem useful to get on the road early, at least if this can get ahead of hottest parts of the day.

Colorado visit, getting ready for South America

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Nice stopover in Colorado as I get ready to continue in South America.

Lee’s Cyclery did a good job in servicing my bike. Replaced the chain and cassette. Otherwise made a good overhaul check on all components. I replaced both front and rear tires and also bought two new spares.

Amazon was busy as I bought not only tires, but also more brake pads. One pair of cycling shorts was well worn and replaced as well as my shoes. Bought maps for six countries I plan to travel: Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, Argentina and Chile.

Made a test ride to Boulder to visit my brother and otherwise make sure all was ok with the bike.

There is a nice path along US 36.

After that local city streets and into middle of Boulder.

In addition to renewing worn items, I also have chance to look through my gear. In hindsight, I carried more cold weather gear than necessary through Central America. However, I’ll expect it to be colder in Peru/Bolivia as that area is 3,000-4000m of elevation. Also didn’t use my stove much in Central America. Otherwise, most items I had with me were useful these past four months.

Also prepared for the next phases of the trip. Roughly speaking way points will include Cartagena, Cali, Quito, Lima, La Paz, Salta, Mendoza and Bariloche before arriving at Puerto Montt, Chile. At Puerto Montt I am signed up for TDA Global Cycling ride along Carterra Austral road to Ushuaia, Argentina. TDA’s South American Epic is actually a ride across all of South America leaving in early July, so I’m starting 2.5 months earlier to join at end of the trip.

Otherwise, mostly ready to fly on to Colombia and start next phase of the journey.

Panama Canal boat tour

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Time to be a tourist.

There is a company that does half-day boat trips every Saturday through the canal. Once a month there is a longer all-day trip that does “full transit” of the canal from the Pacific to the Atlantic. Enjoyed the trip, though it was a long day starting at 4:30am pickup from my hotel.

Our bus went to the docks where we waited for all to arrive and shortly past 6:00am we were loaded and underway.

We first crossed underneath the Bridge of the Americas. I cycled across this bridge a few days ago and nice to see it from different perspective.

We came into the Miraflores Locks. On right is the observation platform. Our ship was too small to pay for a lock by itself (costs up to $800,000 for the largest vessels. We paid $4,500 but not sure how they get calculated). Instead we went together with Sakura Ocean. Fortunate, not much of a wait.

One of the “mules” that pulls larger ships through the locks.

Tug boats are also used.

Next set of locks was Pedro Miguel. These brought our total elevation gain to 26m (85ft), height of the interior lake on the canal.

We sailed over the continental divide. In the background is the Constitution Bridge, the second major crossing of the canal. I read that bicycles were not allowed on this bridge, though we did see one crossing.

This area required the most excavation to construct the canal. It is also still the narrowest part of the canal and two of the largest ships can not safely pass. Hence, from 4am to noon, large ships are allowed Pacific to Atlantic direction and from noon to 8pm, large ships are allowed Atlantic to Pacific direction.

Large container ship. I believe this is too big to fit in the original locks and hence goes via the new locks with Panama Canal expansion opened in June 2016.

After sailing over the continental divide, we docked and those on the half-transit disembarked. Most than half the passengers left. The next three hours were spent on a slow cruise through the lake created for the canal by dam across river that drained to the Altantic. Small islands we passed used to be mountain tops. Apparently, biological studies were being done on animal species that had now been isolated together on these small pocketed islands.

At other end of the lake we came to the Gatun Locks.

A ship was just leaving.

The largest size vessel that fits in the original locks was known as “panamax” size. This one looks like it is very close.

Unfortunately, our dilemma was that no other larger ship was available to share the lock with us. So we waited. In this photo you can also see that it started to rain. We got rain intermittently through the afternoon.

Two hours later, our companion ship arrived and we could go through the Gatun Locks.

On the other end, they are constructing a third large bridge, expected to open in 2018.

Once we had crossed the canal, our Panama Canal “pilot” departed on this small boat.

We sailed on to nearby port of Colon and arrived ~6pm. In total, 12 hours on ship to cross the canal.

We took a bus back to Panama City. My luck and I was the last one to be dropped off at my hotel and hence arrived back a little past 8pm. Overall, it was an interesting trip and glad I got a chance to see it. One pretty much sees all the highlights in the half-transit portion though it was interesting to do a full-transit anyways.

Meanwhile, I’ve made an appointment to have my bike serviced in Colorado. Will fly there tomorrow for ~10 days before flying on to Colombia and continuing the trip.

Panama Canal

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Today I visited the Miraflores Locks on the Panama Canal. Had fun and was a great visit.

My bicycle is already in a box, but I had several choices on traveling to the locks.

  • One way taxi fares seem to be quoted in the $15 range, so perhaps lower if you are good at bargaining.
  • There is a “hop on hop off” tourist bus that makes a loop through the city and includes the locks. Hence, buy a 24 hour pass for ~$30 and use it to see the locks as well as other places.


However, I decided to try public transportation.

After walking to nearby subway station, I took the subway to “Albrook”. This cost $0.35.

Next find the right bus.

Albrook is a huge station for both local and inter-city buses and so it took a bit to find the right bus. Public buses don’t have numbers but instead list the destination up front on electronic sign. Until they have a destination, “Viva Panama” is used.

I had printed my destination, Esclusas de Miraflores, on a 3×5 card and showed it to people who were then helpful enough to direct me to stand in right queue to wait for the bus to arrive. It was a ~20 minute bus ride that cost $0.25.

This brought me to the Miraflores Locks. There are two channels here along with a new much larger channel behind that was recently opened (June 2016) as part of a enlarging of the canal capacity. I watched several ships go through the locks.

First the ship is brought into the lock.

Then the water is raised.

Engines are started.

Away it sails.

Each of these channels actually has a double lock back to back.

While we were watching the ship go through the far channel, another had entered the lower locks of the near channel.

Water in the near channel was still at the highest level. However, they brought the lower lock (with ship in it) up and brought the upper lock down.

You can see that water levels are more evened out here.

Gates were opened and ship sailed from lower lock into the upper lock.

Ship is now in the upper lock.

There is room for a second smaller ship.

And a third even smaller ship.

Locks are closed.

Water is raised.

Engines started.

Sail away.

The entire process of bringing a ship through the Miraflores Locks was right around an hour. Apparently, ships go one direction in morning and another in the afternoon. Coming right around 9am is a good time to see some of the morning rush. There were quite a few people visiting.

I decided to skip the buffet lunch in cafeteria here as was expensive.

However, there is a nice museum that explains about the canal, its construction and operation. This was part of an exhibit where they figured out the species of mosquito that carried yellow fever. A major challenge during construction was fighting tropical diseases including yellow fever.

Overall, was fun and informative visit and chance to see the canal in actual operation.

After that time to find my way back. I used the public bus and metro again ($0.60 total). However, one of the “hop on hop off” buses just happened to come by in the 25 minutes waiting for the bus.

Panama City!

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Over the canal and into the big city. My training ride to prepare for South America is complete!

By the numbers:

  • 14,884 kilometers (9248 miles) from Prudhoe Bay to Panama City.
  • 206 cycling days spread out over a little more than 9 months
  • 130,600 meters climbed (428,600 feet or 81 miles)
  • 5 flat tires, 5 sets of brake pads, two hubs and one derailleur

Overall, that makes this my second longest cross-continent ride. The complete list:

  • Around Australia (2001) – 17,700 km
  • North America, this trip (2016) – 14,800 km
  • Europe+Asia: Amsterdam to Vladivostok (2007) – 12,800 km
  • Africa (2013) – 12,000* (that was posted distance, though I didn’t ride every inch and ride also skipped part of Kenya – so likely less distance than Canada)
  • Across Canada (1997) – Fairbanks to St Johns – 9,800 km
  • Across northern USA (1992) – Astoria to Portland – 5,850 km
  • Across southern USA (2001) – San Jose to Jacksonville – 5,280 km

I have a week in Panama City before flying to Colorado for ~2 weeks. Will use this time to figure out what worked, what didn’t and prepare for the next part of the ride: across South America.

The ride today was busy and required concentration – though parts I thought would be hectic/difficult turned out fine and other parts were a bit more iffy than I expected.

First 3km were through town before I rejoined the major #4 bypass of the Pan American. This road was three lanes with reasonable shoulder and high speed traffic. As before, the shoulder sometimes went away to squeeze past a quick bridge. However, what made it more hectic than expected were all the trucks and other vehicles that decided to stop in the right shoulder. First it was one or two, but between the 11km and 13km mark it was almost continuously trucks parked stopped in the right shoulder. This meant that I was now riding past them in rightmost of the three travel lanes. I’d check my mirror and traffic gave me room but still took some care to keep watching.

Not quite sure why, but my guess was that there was some reason (rules or traffic) that these trucks weren’t allowed further into the city and hence they parked on shoulder of the road until they could proceed. I had started ~7am so early but not as early as other times and I also noticed right around 8am I started having many trucks, particularly dump trucks, all the sudden decide to pass.

Later I saw signs like these that suggested some of the lanes were occasionally reversed earlier and hence my theory of why these trucks decided to park.

At 16km, was the exit to #1 the direct route into Panama City. Much of the next 5km was completely stop and go traffic. Usually the shoulder was OK and I could ride off in my private shoulder (except for the few “cheaters” who wanted to also ride there). Occasionally when the shoulder went missing or was blocked I’d be back with the other vehicles. However, speeds were never very fast so this was all fine.

At 27km, I saw sign for Panama City! Yeah!

Just thereafter was entrance to “Bridge of the Americas” which crossed over the Panama Canal.

From reading other blogs I anticipated this would be the most hectic part of the ride. Two narrow lanes. A pedestrian walkway that was unusable and a high narrow bridge. Several other blogs outlined three choices:

  • Some chose to take a bus from earlier in Panama to Panama City to avoid this
  • A few tried last minute to hitch a ride across the bridge. I didn’t find a journal where this was successful
  • Pretty much everyone else gritted their teeth and rode across the bridge. Some writing it was a tough experience.

However, my ride turned out easier than anticipated. There was still a fair amount of traffic so speeds weren’t high. Pretty much everyone gave me enough room so never felt particularly vulnerable. I did however, decide not to stop or get any photos from the bridge of the canal.

In contrast, I found riding past those stopped trucks to be a bigger deal.

Hooray, I was now in the city! I found some quieter roads and even a bike path that went out along the water.

Here was a set of tourists out for an organized bike ride. I had several such groups coming the other direction and appreciated having my bike bell to give warning (it would have been sad to have ridden all way to Panama City and then get involved in a bike path accident with a tourist).

I stopped and got an obligatory photo of bike with Panama City skyline in background.

Looked like it was low tide.

After that found my way to an inexpensive hotel I had reserved for one night on Expedia. Hotel was fine, so I’ve reserved for rest of the week as well. I’ve now and a not very long “must do” list:

  • Buy an oversized duffel bag so I can combine panniers into fewer pieces of luggage
  • Get a bike box and/or have bike shop box up my bike
  • Find my way to the Miraflores Locks and watch a boat or two go through the canal

Not particularly ambitious and already got the first one done on the list. This afternoon I figured out the Metro system and rode out to Albrook Mall. Found a reasonable duffel bag there. Tomorrow will go in search of bike shops…

For now, happy to have arrived in Panama City.

p.s. Some may wonder why I’m flying to Colombia rather than bicycling there? There is a region between Panama and Colombia known as the Darien Gap where there is no road. this article has some good descriptions and photos of the Darien Gap. Hence, pretty much all Pan American cyclists get around the Darien Gap. Most popular ways are either to take a boat from coast of Panama to Colombia/Ecuador or to fly from Panama City. Since I’m flying anyways, figure I can take a stop over in Colorado to get bike serviced, replace worn parts, file my taxes and otherwise prepare for the South American portion of the journey.

La Chorrera

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A tougher ride today, glad to get it finished.

Last night, the bike stayed in the room. One staff member wanted it moved and the other was fine where it was. I didn’t make it any easier and just left it in the room – being very careful not to leave a trace of its presence. Back on the road early and first 3km were along the quiet beach roads with many speed bumps. After that, back to the Pan American for majority of the riding today.

As shown in the photo, there were more small hills today. In total 900m of climb, but only one hill of 150m (500ft), all the rest was these little rolling hills down and up and down and up again. It is Sunday and traffic got progressively busier later in the day and also as I came closer to the big city.

Still a lot of little places along the way. Stopped at a few “mini-super” stores to refuel. Also had a McDonalds breakfast in Coronado at 34km.

One thing I’ve noticed is more Asian folks working (and presumably owning “Mom and Pop”) grocery stores and mini-Supers.

Also surprised to pass an Indian furniture store here today.

In the afternoon, I came past this group of cyclists in shade of a bus stop, busy fixing a flat. Stopped and had brief conversation. Not much later, they came riding past.

It was nice to watch the kilometer posts to Panama City slowly counting down. I figured today I cover at least half the distance to the city and stop if I saw a good hotel.

This was one of those hotels along the way. Not particularly inviting however, since it was out in middle of not much else along the busy highway – so not good place to get other things to eat.

By 80km, the road was quite busy. At this point was also a split where a large three-lane bypass went right and a left lane went into La Chorrera. Unfortunately, I couldn’t see how to safely cross the still speeding traffic to make it to the left lane exit. It was worst of both situations: too much traffic so there weren’t many gaps – and not enough traffic to clog things up and reduce the speeds.

Hence, I followed the bypass for another 2km, where there was a more normal right lane exit that then went under the highway. From this, was able to exit and then take smaller road through La Chorrera. It was tempting to continue on the bypass and ride all way into Panama City and I had enough daylight hours left. However, decided I’d rather ride into the big city well rested than at end of a long ride. So plan is to ride into Panama City tomorrow. Gives me some time to write down the route – though this also looks straightforward, though busy.

Fallarron

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Another day of riding the Pan American and ending at the beach.

My route through Panama is not the most exciting ride, but the road is direct and goes where I need to go. Definitely good to start out early as the first 20km were both relatively cool and less windy. The shoulder of the Pan American continued to be OK most of the time. One exception are occasional bridges. In that case, I check my mirror and in plenty of time, go into right side of the travel lane. Still watch my mirror, but traffic pretty much gives me room.

The other exception were a few places today where the shoulder was extremely rough. Fortunately, these would occur for a kilometer or two and then suddenly I would be back to smooth shoulder again.

After 10km, was to town of Nata. Occasionally see dogs like this one along the road, but fortunately vast majority are well-behaved. I suspect dogs that chase too many things on the Pan American are at risk of being hit.

Signs have started mentioning Panama City more often. After “Mexico” and “Guatamala”, I’m now more used to the capital city just using the name without “Ciudad” prefix. There was nice truck stop at 23km and chance to take a break.

Coming to Penonome I passed these windmills. Unfortunately, the road turned more into the wind and there were perhaps 10km of a slow upwind slog. After Penonome, the road turned more than 90 degrees and I benefited from tailwind instead.

There continue to be fruit stands like this one selling “pipa fria”. Also see small pickup trucks full of melons on the road. Saw an interesting exchange today where a small autobus honked and flagged over such a pickup. Both vehicles pulled over to the right shoulder. Folks got out and a watermelon was sold. After that everyone back on the road. This was one of the upwind stretches so I had plenty of time to see it unfold.

The last three kilometers brought me off to a more isolated beach area. Apparently, there are exclusive resorts out here costing many hundred dollars a night. I have a more humble hostel, though suits my needs perfectly well. Only issue seems to be that after first letting me take my bicycle into the room (I’ve reserved an entire room rather than bunk in shared room) – one of the two staff decided it was no longer OK to keep bike in the room and the other of the staff decided it was perfectly fine to have it in the room. Will see how this settles out.