Took another chicken bus ride over to the Miraflores locks, one of 3 sets of locks on the Panama Canal. We got there just in time to watch a ship pass through. It was pretty interesting watching the whole process. For one thing I thought they towed the ships but the train things on the side just kept the ship from smacking into the walls–it moved ahead under its own power. They also let east-bound ships through in the morning and west bound ones in the afternoon.

At the mall next to the bus terminal we found a Dairy Queen. I sure did miss those Snickers Blizzards. They are cheap here too. Only $2.50 compared to $6.00 in Canada and whatever they are in the States ($4-something?).

After we got back it was time to pack my bike. Except for one minor bolt on a water bottle cage that I snapped off, everything came apart easily enough. There was plenty of room in the box the frame and wheels. I just hope the airplane people don’t toss it around too much. Credit goes to Karen for taking all the pictures of me getting my bike ready.

09/28 If they had a Dairy Queen every 20 miles, that also sold fried chicken, Panama would be perfect. It’s hard getting used to the great roads, friendly people and gorgeous scenery. Even the grazing land around here looks nice. Saw a huge waterfall off in the distance but I couldn’t find a side road to get me closer. Wildlife was plentiful. Along the road in a kind of squished state was a python. Lot’s of cool birds including a hawk of some sort. Lizards are everywhere–they lay on the road catching some sun and they take off when I get close.

I didn’t beat the rain today even though I was on the road at 7am and only stopped for 20 minutes. The worst part is having the sweat run into my eyes and almost blinding me. It’s still coming down now.

The shoulder on the PanAm is amazing. It’s usually at least 4 feet wide and there are no potholes. There’s a bit of glass to watch out for but nothing too bad. I’m glad it was pretty flat today because my knee is a bit sore from yesterday.

[osm_map lat="9.73" long="-82.695" zoom="6" width="400" height="250" gpx_file="http://www.powercycle.net/maps/leg2/092810.gpx"]

09/08 Since most of the hard riding was yesterday it was a quick 30 miles into Granada. The place I’m staying is called the Hotel Terrasol. I’ll hang out here tonight and again tomorrow. They have laundry service here which is just awesome because washing in the sink only does so much.

Karin and Marten emailed me and let me know that flights no longer fly from Panama City into Cartagena, Columbia. That kind of sucks. Now I’ll probably have to go right to Medellin. Maybe I’ll take a boat instead of a plane. Not sure what to do now.

I rode right to the central plaza to orient myself but before I could set off again a guy named Fred came up and we starting talking. He used to live in Calgary. While we were talking a kid wanted to guide me over to the hotel. At first I said no since I knew where it was but he said he gets a commission (and a tip from the person he’s guiding) to bring people to the hotels. Not sure why he’d get a commission from the hotel since I was going there anyway but he was nice enough so I followed him over. I’ll go check out the city tomorrow since my clothes are being cleaned and I can’t be walking around in a towel.

I initiated Operation: Spread the Love this morning. Since head nods usually go unacknowledged I started waving at people instead and if I was riding by a ped I said good morning. This seemed to do the trick. Everyone I waved to waved back. I’ll try this out for a while and see how it works. People are going to be nice to me damnit.

[osm_map lat="12.821" long="-84.859" zoom="6" width="400" height="250" gpx_file="http://www.powercycle.net/maps/leg2/090810.gpx"]

09/05 Made it safe and sound to the colonial city of Leon. It took a while to find a place to stay but I tracked something down right before it started raining. After grabbing a shower I went off to explore. The first thing I noticed were how few people were walking around. It wasn’t dead but there were a lot less people than I’d expect for a city of 140,000. Very few cars too. Not sure what happened to everybody. The historic area is quite charming and there are quite a few buildings dating back to the 18th century. The cathedral is the largest in all of Central America. Getting lost didn’t take long thanks to a lack of street signs but my uncanny sense of direction got me back on track.

Woke up to fireworks and a freaking marching band parade at 6am this morning. Its 5pm now and of course more fireworks are going off. If they were actually fireworks I might not care so much. Real fireworks are kind of nice to look at. The things they set off here just explode and do nothing except make a bunch of noise and set off car alarms.

Stayed at the Hotel Don Mario in Chinandega last night. The hotel was OK but there’s a tendency in this country to keep business entrances closed up with locked steel gates so I had to find someone whenever I wanted out of the hotel. The city itself was definitely not my favorite. Garbage all over the place and it was loud to the point of maddening. Also had stupid little dogs with high-pitched yelps that I want to run over and taxis/cars that honked incessantly. My wake up call in the morning was a chicken bus slamming on its 120db horn at 5:15am.

The garbage situation so far seems to be limited to the populated areas. I haven’t seen any piles of it out on the road so I think people are content to throw it out on the street or next to their house. In Chinandega I saw a horse-drawn cart collecting bags of garbage but from the looks of it I think they need a lot more horses and some education to go with it. One middle-aged guy walking with a lady friend tossed a plastic bottle off a bridge like it was nothing. That’s one reason I don’t like buying drinks/food from the roadside vendors along the highways. They rarely have garbage cans and instead just take whatever it is and toss it in a pile.

An old lady selling Coke at one of the stands warned me about wearing my necklace. I’m going to keep it on though. If someone decides to rob me they’ll do it because they’ve seen my bike/gear and there’s nothing I can do about that. As far as cities and getting mugged, I avoid bad areas just like I would in the States and I rarely go out after dark.

Great scenery yesterday and again today. Coasted along next to the Cordillera Los Marrabiois, a range consisting of 10 volcanos, some active, that rise up from the lowlands. Clouds obscured the tops so pictures didn’t turn out so good but seeing it up close was still impressive. This area is actually the most volcanic region in all of Central America. A lot of the land is flooded, especially on the west side of the highway where the water comes down from the mountains. The highway design has a lot to do with it I’m sure. There were very few places for water to keep flowing under the road so of course it has no place to go but up.

One thing I found interesting was a bridge in the town of Choluteca. I read that the US Army Corps of Engineers designed the bridge in the 1930’s and that when Hurricane Mitch hit in 1998 the bridge wasn’t damaged but that miles of roadway leading up to it were. 94 bridges in Nicaragua were actually destroyed during Mitch. That hurricane was just devastating for the countries in Central America. In fact I’m kind of shocked that I didn’t realize just how bad it was. Over 19,000 people were killed from flooding and mudslides (almost 15,000 were in Honduras). The Army Corps is still here helping to rebuild the damaged infrastructure. The wifi password at the hotel in Chinandega was 1998mitch…

I’m feeling pretty bad for the people up in Guatemala right now. I’ve been following the situation with the rain and mudslides pretty closely and its a shame to see a group of people having to endure so much tragedy over and over again.

[osm_map lat="12.821" long="-84.859" zoom="6" width="400" height="250" gpx_file="http://www.powercycle.net/maps/leg2/090410-090510.gpx"]

At the suggestion of one of my oldest web site visitors I stayed in town an extra day to visit the Isla de Janitzio (thanks Ben). Boats leave regularly so I went and bought a ticket for 40 pesos round-trip and hopped on board. It was well worth the trip.

After a short ride on the murky lake the boat docked at a pier chock full of vendors. In fact the (steep) roads leading up to the 130 foot statue of José María Morelos were lined with shops selling just about everything. I was kind of surprised to see just how self-contained the island was. There was a school, an outdoor arena, a church and even a graveyard. One set of power lines brought in juice from the longest unsupported strand of power line I’ve ever seen. Garbage appears to be removed from the island using little barges that stink like you wouldn’t believe.

Up at the statue 6 pesos lets you inside the park area. The inside of the statue was amazing. Huge murals line the wall showing the life of Morelos (he was a revolutionary rebel leader who led the Mexican War of Independence movement). The winding staircase takes you up right into the giant raised fist here you can look out over the town of Janitzio and the surrounding lake.

No Comments »