On The Road Again...

Sing it Willie: "On the road again.  Can't wait to get on the road again".  And so I FINALLY AM.

The Flight of the Penguin has lifted off.  I finally left Panama City on Saturday afternoon.  It was a week of "challenges": a aproblem with the car, computer problems that I didn't want to leave Karen with, no internet access... and a general "bad hair" day.  So I was more than ready to get on the road.  The last weeks of preparation and packing are a hassle under the best of conditions, and then once you start you have to pretty much pack everything all over again.  It's a matter of "why the hell did I bring this, and forget that" for a couple of weeks.

I finally got on the road a little before 5 pm, and since I was only going about an hour and a half up the Panamericana Highway I figured no problem getting to El Palmar by dark.  Wrong!  First issue: a large  bus blocking the Bridge of the Americas caused a traffic jam that stretched from Colombia to El Salvador.  Took about a half hour to to 1/4 mile.  Fortunately I'm on a bike and can somewhat scoot among the cars.  But I don't like to ride at night (especially on that road), so I had to make time.  I got to my friend Hawk's place just as it was getting dark, so celebrated the first "mini" leg of the trip with a few beers and a good cigar.

The next morning my friend Wadi met me to accompany me to the Costa Rican border.  He was hoping to go with me to Cahuita, Costa Rica, despite the lack of a few documents (OK, pretty much all the required documents).  Oh well, this is Panama... we can get anything done (over or under the table), right.  We had a great ride across Panama and over to the Carribean side, and then arrived at the border to find that immigration was closed for the night.  At least the officials in customs were friendly, and offered us a couple of beers as compensation.  They also turned off the lights, since we were doing our drinking in the customs office.


Then it was back to Changuinola for the night, where we met up with these same guys for a few more beers.

The next morning it was back to the border.  I found out that  I was missing a document, and Wadi was missing many, so it was back to Changuinola again.  More hours getting my documents, and more frustration for Wadi trying to get his (without success).  Then back to the border for more of the same.  Finally, Wadi decided he wasn't going to get through to CR and turned back while I went on.

The next challenge was the Sixaola bridge, which goes across the river from Panama to Costa Rica.  This is an old railroad bridge dating from the 1800s.  It was built by the Chiquita Banana company to haul fruit.  I don't think it's ever been repaired, and it is SCARY!  I mean sweat buckets, tremble in fear, and brown-your-shorts scary.  Missing planks, holes going to the river, many places with no railings, and the sure and certain knowledge that if you fall you not only will break every bone in your body but you will also be eaten by alligators in the river below.  I walked the bike across the river, stopping frequently to wipe the sweat from my eyes and reconsider joining a monastery and giving up this insane travel idea.  But I finally made it across alive, and endured a few more hours of Costa Rican bureaucracy before getting away from the border.

Total time in border crossing: 5 1/2 hours.  New pairs of underwear needed: 1.   Memories: Priceless

Finally it was off to Cahuita, about 40 miles from the border.  I had been there before and remembered it as a nice quiet little town that would be great for de-stressing.  And right I was.  I remembered a place that I had stayed four years ago that was right on the beach and set out to look for it.  I found it, but it is no longer a hotel.  However, there is a cute little set of bungalows next door called the Blue Spirit, right on the water with individual cabins, each with a little patio, a hammock, and a sleeping loft.  But what convinced me were the critters.  The also have three dogs, 6 five-week old beagle puppies, a cat, a horse, and a 5 day old colt. How could I turn that down?

The first night I heard a noise outside my room and found that the equines were getting curious about my bike.  I guess that mom just couldn't resist the horse-power (sorry about that).

The following day I rode a few miles up the road to visit Aviarios del Carribe, a sanctuary for sloths.  I had been there before and met the owner, Judy.  This time I had another mission: to visit my friend Binnie's two sloths (Thunder and Lightning) that she had left there and send back pictures.  I also got to visit with Buttercup, the resident "ambassador" sloth.

 It's now Thursday morning and I'm getting ready to hit the road again.  Probably the Arenal Volcano and La Fortuna tonight, then on into Nicaragua.