Day 103
The road to Boquette ends shortly after the Northern edge of the town and it is in effect a dead end, so to leave it there is no alternative but to retrace your steps back down Highway 41 in the direction of the city of David. So setting off South out of Boquette my plan was to head up to the Caribbean side of Panama and cross the border in to Costa Rica at the town of Guabito. Just out of Boquette I took Highway 10 to Gualaca and then headed North to the Caribbean coast. The road here was quite good except for the odd deep pothole or two and the views were also quite good of the volcano in the distance.
Now at this point it is prudent to mention that although I am using the term Highway to describe the roads, the only road in Panama which can truly be called a major road is Highway 1, the main Pan American highway. These other roads are smaller roads of varying quality from adequate to very poor but because most of them are the only road connecting the cities and major towns to each other, they are given numbers and called Highways.
As I was riding along enjoying the scenery I rounded a bend to see something in the middle of the road but I could not make out what it was. As I got nearer I saw that it was moving but I was not able to identify exactly what animal I was looking at. I stopped the bike and walked over only to see that it was a 3 toed sloth. I waited until it slowly got to the side of the road where I took a photo of it.
Around 2 o’clock in the afternoon I had reached the town of Almirante from where you can catch the ferry to the Island of Colon in the Bocas del Torros island group which are very popular with tourists. However, as I had planned to cross in to Costa Rica the following morning I gave that trip a miss and looked for somewhere to stay for the night. The choices of accommodation in this area apart from on the islands are very limited but I found a place to stay in the jungle with some indigenous Indians for $25 so I headed there, but as I left the town I encountered the best stretch of road that I have found in Panama, newly laid and deserted.
On my way to my destination for the evening I passed what looked like a small village of wooden shacks in a field, each of the buildings had a roof made from dried grass or dried banana leaves, and some with black plastic over them. Although they appeared to be inhabited there were no obvious indications or signs of modern facilities such as electricity or running water in this village.
About 2 hours later I arrived at my destination for the evening which was a 2 roomed wooden shack with no mains electricity and an outhouse toilet and shower. The dining area was a grass roofed area next to the shack and the kitchen was under a corrugated iron roof at the back of the shack. The only electricity that Raul, my host, and his family had was generated by a solar panel on the roof of the shack that he used to charge a 12V car battery to allow them to charge their mobile phones and to provide some lighting at night time.
My host, Raul, even offered to take me fishing on the river in his dugout canoe in the morning but as I had planned to cross the border the next morning I reluctantly had to decline.
Raul and his family were very nice people who made me very welcome. In between my broken Spanish and their broken English we got along very well. I then went for a walk along the road alongside which the village is situated. A short distance from Raul’s family shack there was a group of buildings that were all fitted with grass roofs which I was told was a tribal community area where tribal celebrations were held.
I then spent the evening sitting, sharing my cigars and coffee with Raul and his family, telling them my story and listening to theirs. At one point one of his sons alerted him to something at the side of their shack. I went to investigate and I was told that it was a venemous frog and to keep away from it.
I have since researched this animal, the Smoky Jungle Frog, and this is what I found online. “The skin of the smoky jungle frog contains leptoxin, a lethal protein toxin” Just as well that I took Raul’s advice!
As we sat under the lights, in the darkness beyond the shack I heard a loud noise which Raul told me was a Jaguar calling. He further told me that the Jaguars are scared of people and run away when humans are about, the Pumas that also inhabit the jungle in this area can attack people but it’s not particullarly common, but the most dangerous animal was the black panther which is not scared of people and will actively hunt them if it can. Gladly, all of these animals Raul told me lived in the jungle on the other side of the river and never ventured in to the village.
As we talked, smoked, and drank coffee, the skies opend up and the tropical rain fell, drumming hard on the corrugated iron roofs. When it was time for sleep I got in to my bed under a full size mosquito net and let the drumming of the rain lull me to sleep.
My stay with Raul and his family was one of the best travel experiences that I have yet had on my journey.