One Continent Down

Current Location: Panama City, Panama
Distance Cycled to Date: 11,824 km
Number of Nights Camped at Gas Stations to Date: 11
Flat tires to Date: 27 (Keenan - 16, Jeff - 11)
Days on the Road: 204

We reached the end of the Pan-american highway, or at least the northern part of it. From here in Panama City it peters out into a gravel road, and finally into an impregnable jungle. And so every cyclist going from North to South America faces a choice when they reach Panama City - to fly to Ecuador, or take a boat to Colombia. Colombia has received a poor reputation in the media in the past decades, with guerrilla warfare and drug cartels dominating the headlines. When we left home, we had promised our family that we would skip Colombia. In fact, it was kind of one of the conditions that we left with. However, since leaving home we have met a number of cyclists who have come through Colombia and all have given it a glowing recommendation. We have heard from numerous travelers about the huge strides in safety that the country has made in the past few years, especially along all the major highways. However, despite these stories from travelers, the Canadian government (as well as British and American for that matter) still recommend avoiding all travel to certain rural areas of the country, including some of the southern regions that we would have to cycle through.

We don't feel that cycling Colombia is any more dangerous than any Latin American country that we will be visiting - however, we did make a promise to our mom, and our government is telling us not to go there. And so, despite almost booking a boat trip from here to the Colombian coast, we finally decided on completing the trip as we had originally planned, and will fly from here to Quito, Ecuador tomorrow.

So - as of right now we have cycled one continent. North America is done. It started off tough, climbing the Canadian Rockies right out of our backyard, and it finished even harder as we climbed the Continental Divide of Panama crossing from the Atlantic to the Pacific coasts. In the past 204 days we have had the opportunity to see just how well roads are engineered in Canada. We crossed the Rockies on a road that we thought was steep. We didn't know steep in those days - Panama has schooled us in this lesson. Our first day back on the mainland we expected some very steep hills, up and down, and got exactly what we were expecting. It was difficult, but being armed with those expectations beforehand made it much easier.

It was the following day that really hurt. After attempting to camp first at some sort of Petro-chemical campground full of American RVs, and then at a police station and being rejected both times we finally had to resort to paying for a cheap 'hospedaje'. We even slept in an extra hour or two the next day, thinking "it's only a 1500 metre climb'. We're not sure why we were taking it so lightly, but as the day began with some steep roller coaster-esque hills, we realized we were in for a long day. The road continued its quest for finding the steepest hills to climb, and we followed, sweating like we have never sweat before. We would be standing, pumping our legs as if we were on a vicious Stairmaster, knowing that if we slowed at all we would tip over, and not be able to start moving again on the steep grade. Along with this, the soles on our cycling shoes are worn down so much that the metal cleat protrudes, giving us no traction at all, especially on steep hills. It was continue pumping those legs and keep moving at 5 km/h, or tip over and have to turn around.

We took hours and hours to go the 30 or 40 km to the top, but once we reached the top and felt the blast of the Pacific winds hitting us we thought we would be down in no time. The road on the opposite side of the mountain was built just as steeply, but luckily without so many sections missing from landslides. It was an insane downhill, where we would pick up speeds so quickly that we were continually riding in the 70s, while pulling our brakes. Corners would come rushing at you so quickly you hardly had time to think, and it seemed at times that our brakes were not up to the challenge. But, like always, we made it down without any incident, and lost as much elevation in about half an hour as took us 6 hours to gain.

After getting to the Pan-american, the rest of the ride through Panama was, well, almost a little boring. It went up and down with some small easy hills, and we found ourselves either daydreaming on the amazingly wide shoulder, or else being jarred to pieces on the stupidest concrete sidewalk/shoulder covered in cracks and rumble strips. There was no in between on this highway - half the time the shoulder was amazing, the other half it was the worst we had experienced.

Our last night before entering Panama City we came across some of the first un-fenced fields we have seen since Mexico. In fact, it looked like Panama was presenting us one last chance to have a true stealth-camping experience, as magnificent as we had in the Baja. After spending so many nights sleeping at noisy gas stations and even a rural bar, this was a very appealing option. We set out into the long grass and trees, and found a perfect spot, just like in the old days. It was a great way to end cycling this continent.

Our final day, after fixing a few more flat tires (those of you keeping an eye on the flat tire count will notice the huge comeback) we finally reached the Bridge of the Americas, the grand entrance to Panama City over the Panama Canal. We had heard from a few cyclists that they had been stopped by police and not allowed to bike over the bridge, instead being forced to hitchhike their way over, and so we prepared ourselves for this indignity. However, with all the construction going on, we managed to slowly make our way to the front of the stopped traffic without anybody stopping us, and when it came time for our side of the bridge to cross, we just booked it, pedaling as hard as we could, getting waves and smiles from police and construction workers alike. And so, we were granted a grand entrance into the city.

Panama City is a pretty amazing place, unlike any of the other Central American capitals we have been to. Part of it is 16th century Spain, part is 20th century slums, and part is 21st century skyscrapers and shopping malls. It's a cool mix, and we've enjoyed trying to explore it all while taking a few days to relax, and soak in the fact that we just rode our bikes from Canada to the Panama Canal.