Panama
Provincia de Chiriquí

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  • Day 61–64

    Baja Boquete - Panama

    January 29 in Panama ⋅ ☁️ 21 °C

    Erster Stop hier in Baja Boquete, in den Bergen des Vulkan Barú in Panama … 🇵🇦 Landschaftlich schon mal genauso schön wie Costa Rica !! und zum Glück etwas günstiger … 😂

    3 Übernachtungen
    Habitación Privada (Privatzimmer Airbnb)
    C. Alto Verde 3, Boquete,
    Provincia de Chiriquí
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  • Day 63

    Pipeline 3 Waterfall Trail - Panama

    January 31 in Panama ⋅ ☁️ 21 °C

    Ein unvergessliches Erlebnis, der Trail zu den 3 Wasserfällen hier in der Bergregion des „Volcán Barú“ in Bajo Boquete. Die Tour hab ich tatsächlich im strömenden Regen ☔️ durch den RainForest durchgezogen. (Meine Ausrüstung hat ihren ersten Härtetest bestanden !! 😀) Es war unglaublich !! Man muss definitiv im Regen durch den Regenwald laufen, man kann die vielen Eindrücke nicht beschreiben … 😳🤩😍Read more

  • Day 7

    Boquete

    December 11, 2019 in Panama ⋅ ⛅ 27 °C

    Kurzer Zwischenstopp in Boquete, eine Kleinstadt unmittelbar am Vulkan Baru, für dessen Besteigung uns jedoch die Zeit fehlt(6 h Aufstieg, Start Mitternachts). Heute geht's weiter nach Bocas del Toro 🏝️Read more

  • Day 159

    Final border crossing in Central America

    February 13, 2020 in Panama ⋅ ⛅ 32 °C

    Early start to get the first boat to Golfito leaving at 6am. We were lucky to get there 20 minutes before as it was full and some people even had to wait for the next boat. As it's Costa Rica, things were relatively organised: only one desk to pay for the ticket, a price for the bike as well and everyone on the boat got a seat and a life vest.
    After 20 minutes, we arrived safely at the other side. Golfito is really cute, a Golf within the Golf (best to see on a map again), surrounded by rainforest.
    From Golfito, we headed towards the border to Panama. We took some smaller roads again, pretty much in the the middle of nowhere and some bad gravel as well, but everything was green and hilly and there was only very few traffic.
    Before getting to the border crossing post, there's 2 roads running in parallel, one in Panama, one in Costa Rica. Theoretically, you can just cross, but it's probably better to get our proper stamps considering we want to travel some more countries on our trip...
    So we continued to the immigration office a little further up the roads - and were sent back as we hadn't officially left Costa Rica yet. This was just the immigration to Panama. So we had to go back some 500 meters on a different road, pay 9US$ exit fee (got a receipt for 8$ only) and received our stamp. We then headed back to Panama immigration and saw some Americans discussing with the lady behind the counter. Seemed like they had problems getting in. They wanted a printout of an onward flight ticket from us and we told them we were travelling by bike and leaving Panama by boat. We could even show them an email. After some discussion, we were fine and got our stamps.
    The whole procedure seems to be pretty random. The lady asked me if I could help translating for the Americans. They needed to prove that they were leaving the country again. When I talked to them, they told me they were on holidays in Costa Rica, had a flight ticket from Costa Rica back home (which they could show on their iPad) and a parking ticket on the Costa Rican side (in their hands) as they only wanted to spend a day on the Panama side. This was obviously not enough proof that they were going to leave the country, the lady insisted on them having also a bus ticket out of the country which they didn't have. Interesting policies!
    I guess it was a bit of luck for us and also being able to speak at least some Spanish, so an email reservation confirmation for a boat was sufficient for us to enter country number 10.
    We finished the last 25km to La Concepción, where we found an AirBnB and spent the night talking to our host Edwin.
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  • Day 160

    Looking for an exchange office

    February 14, 2020 in Panama ⋅ ⛅ 30 °C

    Our day started with a nice ride through the region South of the Panamerican Highway to avoid traffic. The flat and slightly downhill route combined with very few cars made it easy for us to look at the scenery while cycling. The road wasn't the smoothest, but so much better than cars on the highway!
    First, we went to Puerto Pedegral to see the mangroves and wetlands there. We were a bit disappointed as most of the area was locked, so there wasn't much to see.
    Next, we headed to the city of David. What a nightmare! So much traffic and really crazy drivers! No fun to cycle here - how should we survive Panama City??
    We also looked for a place to exchange money as we had missed this at the border. But after checking several banks and shops with no luck, we gave up. Hopefully, we can find something in Panama City.
    As we didn't like David, we decided to go straight North towards Dolega where we could stay with Max and Ken. The highway was busy again, no fun cycling. We were a little frustrated because of the experience in David and a busy highway with more crazy drivers and headwinds, so pulled over at a supermarket. In this moment, a car stopped, a lady jumped out and gave us a coke each. They had seen us struggling on the road - how nice! 2 minutes later, another family came and gave us some pastries. We were thinking of just staying at the supermarket, seemed to be a great place for hungry and thirsty cyclists 😂
    However, we continued and passed a bridge over a river. Quite some locals bathing, so we joined them, before continuing to Dolega. Here, we were welcome by Becky and Jonny, a cycling couple from the UK who are also staying here and are heading North towards Canada. Perfect, so we can exchange recommendations! We jumped into the pool and shared a beer before Max and Ken arrived. They had been on a music festival during the day. The night, we spent playing "Mexican train", a version of dominos, with everyone. What a nice day in the end!
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  • Day 161

    A lazy day in Panama

    February 15, 2020 in Panama ⋅ ⛅ 30 °C

    Today, we decided to do nothing but relax. We started the morning with a coffee at the pool watching the sunrise. Afterwards, we had breakfast, did some research for the last days in Panama and went swimming in the pool. In the afternoon, we exchanged lots of information about possible routes and places to stay or visit with Jonny and Becky.
    For dinner, Jonny and Becky spoilt everyone with a yummy Shakshuka. We closed the night again with a round of Mexican train.
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  • Day 162

    Exploring Boquete

    February 16, 2020 in Panama ⋅ ☀️ 30 °C

    Jonny and Becky left after breakfast this morning and we decided to go to Boquete to have a look at this nearby mountain village. It's only some 20km away, but the climate is a lot different as it's higher up in the mountains. There is a constant rain or mist which is quite refreshing.
    Max and Ken gave us a lift up, as they went to a music festival there, so we had another day off the bikes. We walked around, looked at the fair grounds where they had a flower festival last month and peaked into some coffee and chocolate shops. Herbert was impressed by the beer selection in the supermarket. In general, the supermarket had lots of different products - a way better offer than any of the other supermarkets we had seen in Panama before.
    After some hours of exploring, we took the bus back to Dolega. We went for a swim, fed the dogs and cooked Bratkartoffeln for everyone for dinner.
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  • Day 163

    Sauna ride

    February 17, 2020 in Panama ⋅ ☀️ 32 °C

    After our little holiday in (Max' and Ken's) paradise, we were well rested to continue our last stretch in Central America. We left after breakfast and started with some beautiful remote roads, the first 10km even dirt. Most of the time, we could see Panama's "spine". This is the mountain range splitting the country into the Carribean and the Pacific side and - at least from what we see - is permanently covered in clouds.
    Afterwards, we hit the Panamerican highway again. We dreaded this and expected heaps of traffic. However, it wasn't too bad: Most of the time, it had a wide shoulder and traffic was ok, only very few trucks. The shoulder was quite dirty with glass and broken tyres, but our tyres seem to have survived it without a puncture.
    As it was 46°C today, we felt like being in a sauna and had to stop at supermarkets twice to buy more drinks. The supermarkets were disappointing, not many products in general, almost no fresh produce, quite expensive and all run by Chinese.
    However, we met Gregorio in one of them. He was on his way back to the capital and very interested in our trip. He gave us his number, so he can help us out once we get to Panama City.
    We decided to stay in Las Lajas. We were not too motivated to camp in this heat, so decided to check out a hostel. When talking to the owner in Spanish, I noticed a strong German accent - most likely from the Leipzig area. We switched to German and Christian confirmed. He gave us a little discount on the room, so we decided to stay.
    We still went to the beach for a swim - nice ride through green landscape. The beach was empty and huge. As Herbert saw a fin swimming around on the water surface, he immediately run back to the beach. Don't know which creature was on the other end of the fin.
    On the way back, we passed the 13000 km mark 💪 A good excuse to enjoy a Panamanian beer on our porch while watching first a flock of green parrots and later the stars in the sky.
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  • Day 46

    Panama Border Crossing - Twice!!

    February 9, 2023 in Panama ⋅ ⛅ 23 °C

    So schnell kann ein Grenzübertritt auch gehen ... ich fuhr vorne weg und bin dem Track laut GPS gefolgt. Micha machte sich dann aber deutlich bemerkbar als er die ersten Banco di Panama Filialen sah. Waren wir doch tatsächlich bereits über die Grenze gerauscht. Das könnte ein ernstes Problem werden, aber U-Turn, den gleichen Weg zurück und dann hatten wir die Gruppe wieder im Blick, welche mittlerweile auch an der Grenze angekommen war. Ohne Probleme dann fix zurück auf die Seite von Costa Rica und alles war wieder in Ordnung. Glück gehabt.

    Der Dokument und Stempel Prozess zog sich, mit einschließlich Mittagspause und dem Desinfizieren der Mopeds, allerdings gute fünf Stunden hin, so dass wir erst mit dem letzten Tageslicht nach Panama, jetzt dann auch offiziell, einreisen konnten.

    Damit beginnen nun leider auch schon die letzten Tage in Mittelamerika...
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  • Day 25

    Panama IV - Boquete II

    August 13, 2023 in Panama ⋅ 🌧 20 °C

    Heute haben wir eine Wanderung zu drei ganz hübschen Wasserfällen unternommen und es genossen mal keine 30•C mit 85 %iger Luftfeuchtigkeit zu haben.

    Zeit für erste Fakten zu Panama:
    #1 Panama ist etwas größer als Bayern und hat ca. 4,4 Millionen Einwohner.
    #2 Der Isthmus von Panama ist nur 60 km breit.
    #3 Der Panamakanal durchschneidet das Land und teilt es in 2 Teile.
    #4 Das Leitungswasser auf dem Festland ist trinkbar.
    #5 Der höchste Berg ist der Vulkan Barú, er ist ca. 3470 m hoch und hängt aktuell in den (Gewitter)Wolken und kann deswegen nicht von uns erklommen werden ;)
    #6 Angeblich gehen nur etwa 1/3 der Gesamtbevölkerung einer regulär bezahlten Arbeit nach.
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You might also know this place by the following names:

Provincia de Chiriquí, Provincia de Chiriqui, Chiriquí, Provincia de Chirique

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