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A bicycle ride across the Americas

from Deadhorse (SCC) to Ushuaia (USH)

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Home→Categories Panama

Category Archives: Panama

Panama Canal boat tour

A bicycle ride across the Americas Posted on 2017-04-02 by mev2017-04-02

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.

Posted in Panama

Panama Canal

A bicycle ride across the Americas Posted on 2017-03-30 by mev2017-03-30

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.

Posted in Panama

Panama City!

A bicycle ride across the Americas Posted on 2017-03-27 by mev2017-03-27


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.

Posted in Panama

La Chorrera

A bicycle ride across the Americas Posted on 2017-03-26 by mev2017-03-26

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.

Posted in Panama

Fallarron

A bicycle ride across the Americas Posted on 2017-03-25 by mev2017-03-25

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.

Posted in Panama

Aguadulce

A bicycle ride across the Americas Posted on 2017-03-24 by mev2017-03-24


Today an easy ride on the big road.

Not the most scenic as the entire day was spent on shoulder of a four lane highway. However, it was relatively flat and winds only picked up part way through the morning. Starting in Santiago there was a fair amount of debris on the shoulder. Fortunately, once one gets further from town that usually clears up and except for bridges one can ride on shoulder.

This was mostly flat farming country. I saw sugar cane and also some large fields like these that had been cleared.

Machinery shop had a large mural suggesting rice, coffee and corn were also processed here.

Public information board on the highway, Panama without Dengue.

It was overcast early and not too warm by 11am. However, a good headwind had started to pick up. There was an inviting hotel just off the highway in Aguadulce and hence made a short day of it. Now also a chance to work out remaining distances from here to Panama City, most likely split it into three shorter days riding.

Posted in Panama

Santiago, Panama

A bicycle ride across the Americas Posted on 2017-03-23 by mev2017-03-23


Short easy ride that brought me back to a larger town and the Pan American Highway.

Back on the road early. Two places with some hills today but overall flatter terrain. Somehow my bike odometer lost the profile file, but remember the distance and expect only around 300m of climb total.

I’ve noticed more pay phones in Panama. Not sure if I didn’t notice them in earlier countries or if there are still just more pay phones here. Panama uses the “Balboa” as its currency. However, one Balboa is exactly one dollar and both forms of currency can be used. In practice all the bills I’ve seen are US, but I’ve got a mix of Panamanian and US coins. Will need to be careful to get rid of the Panamanian ones before departing.

Something else I noticed today is a lot more honking. The road continued narrow, but had more traffic than yesterday. Again, not sure if the Panamanians do more honking of if this was a side effect of the road I was on.

One of the small places along the way. I stopped only once as distances were short. At 46km, I found my way into and then through town of Santiago. It was a bit of a mess to find, but by 48km, I was back to the Panamerican Highway and 1.5km later found a reasonable hotel that had been recommended in Lonely Planet.

There are signs here to respect bicycles, though still a busy road. Not far from here is a large mall and afternoon adventure will be to explore that mall.

Posted in Panama

Sona

A bicycle ride across the Americas Posted on 2017-03-22 by mev2017-03-22

Great ride today on small back road alternative to the Pan American. Long, hot and hilly but easier than I anticipated.

After the first 23km, I took a small back road with great scenery and not much traffic.

I had seen several blogs recommend this, but also surprisingly several blogs where hilly terrain, heat and distance had caused them to hitch a ride (e.g. this one and this one and this one).

So I took a rest day to make sure I was well rested and started off right at sunrise. Overall, it turned out easier than I expected. Yes, it was 96km and yes it got warm and yes there were some hills. However, the road often provided some shade and it wasn’t as warm as some other days. Leaving early also gave me some time to slowly power up the hills, some of which approached 10% grades.

The road started with a ride back to the Pan American Highway. I had seen a small road on the maps and went to investigate, but that turned to rough unpaved road so took the standard road back. For the next 18km, there was still road construction. I had a mix of having the road to myself and staying in the right lanes with all the traffic. Overall not too difficult.

At 22km, I came through a control point where they wanted to see my passport. After that was the road junction shown above on the small road.

It was a great little road. Not very wide, but also not much traffic. At 35km, I stopped at this gas station for a drink. I wasn’t quite sure where I would find places to get snacks, so took opportunities I could (turned out 35km, 53km and 77km were all stop points for me).

After this the first of the short steep hills. My odometer registered over 12%. I was still relatively fresh, though later in the day I walked a 12% grade or two. After this point, the route left the coast.

There were one or two places with agricultural fields.

However, at least as much, this seemed to be “cowboy country”. These guys were rounding up cattle from within a pen.

I saw a horse or two tied up, this one near a bus stop.

At 77km was this small church and road junction. After 81km, there was more downhill than up – so became a bit easier at the end.

Most of the area along the way was fenced off. Sometimes the fence posts were composed of trees that were then pruned back into mostly post shapes.

It was around 3pm when I came into Sona. Nice hotel on the main street. Otherwise, good chance to relax after a tough – but not as difficult as I expected, ride through backroads of Panama.

Posted in Panama

Las Lajas

A bicycle ride across the Americas Posted on 2017-03-20 by mev2017-03-20

Had a highway to myself today as I cycled on road under construction. Nice contrast from yesterday.

Breakfast in the hotel before getting on the road. Once again, trying to get some riding in before the heat, though the last 15km my odometer still recorded over 40C (104F). A little higher than air temperature as this is over pavement – but still quite warm.

After 3km of riding through the town of David, I was back on the Panamerican. The surface was smooth. There was curb and gutter so still narrow, but once I left town, there was a nice new smooth shoulder to ride.

At 23km, there was a sign directing all traffic to the left to make the left two lanes two-way traffic. I stayed right.

This gave me an entire smooth road to ride without any traffic. Occasionally, I would pass construction workers and occasionally there were barricades. However, for the most part, I was on a new smooth road all to myself. It was great cycling. Only once did I get myself into trouble – I came to a bridge and construction workers indicated the bridge was under construction and not open. Not to worry, I backtracked 500m and got back on the regular highway lanes.

At 43km, I stopped for a bite to eat. After this it definitely became warmer. It was also moderately hilly. No big hills but enough short steep hills to record 656m of climb for the day.

Another example of road construction along the way.

The last few kilometers before turnoff to Las Lajas, there was several kilometer long backup of vehicles. Not sure if there was road closures or other reasons, but I was still able to bypass it.

Turned to the right and found my way to nice little hotel. Has a restaurant and even a swimming pool. However, happiest that the room has air conditioning.

Posted in Panama

David, Panama

A bicycle ride across the Americas Posted on 2017-03-19 by mev2017-03-19

Made it to Panama, eighth country on this trip.

Once again started early. First 18km to the border was on a reasonable though occasionally bumpy road. Once again, nice to have the cool morning air.

Many of the houses in Costa Rica have these boxes out front. Sometimes they will have an empty bottle or two or other debris. Always on a post out of the ground, but otherwise vary in construction. I assume these are garbage but not 100% sure.

I cycled past the Costa Rica immigration building. Asked some police and they directed me back to what I thought was a bus station. First step was to go across the street and pay $8 ($7 exit tax and $1 fee). Next had to fill out the exit form. Otherwise, was quick and easy to get my stamp to exit Costa Rica.

Next stop back to the Panama immigration building. This went even easier. They looked through my passport. Next took a photo and scanned my fingerprints. After that a stamp and I was ready to go. I had read a variety of things on the internet and was prepared to document my exit (plane ticket from Panama City back to US) and prepared otherwise answer questions – but it all went easier than expected.

The road in Panama started very nicely and gradually became worse as I neared David.

Initially it was a four lane concrete highway with a good asphalt shoulder.

About half way, the shoulder deteriorated and disappeared in many places. Hence, I was riding on the concrete. Unfortunately, the traffic also increased – though vehicles generally gave me room. The last 10km into David, the adjoining cement slabs had shifted and now there was often a 1cm (1/2″) sharp drop from one slab to the next. Bump, bump, bump. Not the best to ride but not much alternative.

We climbed slowly to 250m and after that a majority of the riding was downhill into David.

Saw some of these housing developments along the way. Signs are in Spanish, though wonder if they are directed to expat communities, as I know Panama is a popular destination.

There is a big festival in town: Feria de David, from the 16th to the 26th of March. Many of the streets were blocked off. I had made a hotel reservation via Expedia to make sure I had a room, though availability was low. Saw quite a few people on horseback including these riders.

Overall, nice to get into David and reach Panama. Plan is to cycle from here to Panama City and then fly from there to Colombia with a short intermission in Colorado in between. I bought the ticket a bit ago, and hence have some extra time I’ll spend either along the way or in Panama City when I arrive there. Given the warm afternoons, also nice if I can make some shorter (cool) morning rides.

Posted in Costa Rica, Panama
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