Week 52/52: Panama: The final week (26 May - 4 June) 100 km / 16,221 km While the time couldn't pass slow enough in the beginning of my travels I counted down the days since a few weeks for a couple of reasons. Now the last of the 52 weeks had started and my dear red bicycle - which I call Susi - had carried me over 16,000 kilometers so far. Though the bike is 19 years old and has cycled approximately 50,000 kilometers it's still in good shape - as well as it's rider if I may say so. Thursday - still in Costa Rica - I spent my remaining Colons on Coke and biscuits in a small kiosk. The owner had lived in the United States for a few years and spoke fluent English. The border crossing was annoying as usual. Again I had to pay a fee before the border control officer stamped my passport. Unfortunately nobody was able to tell me where exactly this amount was to be payed. Finally it turned out that I had to hand my passport through a small car window where a person with a card reader used my Visa card and handed me a payment receipt. God knows which fraud schemes are possible but the officer was happy with the receipt and I could enter the last country of this trip: Panama. I didn't know much about this country apart from it's canal and the famous German children book "Oh, wie schön ist Panama", also of course I was aware of the Panama Papers affair. Other travelers had praised the good road quality which was true for about ten kilometers but shortly after the border deteriorated significantly. Without any shoulder I was driving through the heavy traffic towards David, Panamas second largest city. Once in David I steered towards a small house at the end of a blind alley, very quiet and very green. It's owned by Kris and her husband. Kris has started as a warm shower host by chance when she met two cyclists and helped them with directions. Somehow she invited them to her house and hosted many other cyclists since. Just recently she did a long bike trip herself and now better understands how grateful her hosts are for the shower, food and kindness she provides. This afternoon she was visiting a friend but had left the gate and house unlocked and told me to help myself to freshly made ice tea. For dinner she had invited Effie, another German, who had recently moved to Panama with her husband's family. She is into conspiracy theories and thinks that while Germany is going for the dogs she at least can survive in Panamas dense forests providing her with sufficient tropical fruits and water to survive a couple of years of global turmoil. Currently she supports her family by selling banana cakes on street markets. Boquete, located about 100 kilometers from the coast and 1,500 meters above sea level, is a preferred location for foreigners who can't - or don't want to - stand the liquid heat of Panama. The fresh air, volcano views and impressive cloud forests and coffee plantations have led to sky rocking property prices. Rich Panamesians "commute" by helicopter between their villas and their offices in Panama City. Many politicians are among them - Honi soit qui mal y pense. My hostel is run by a 60 year old German who moved to Boquete many years ago. His many properties must have made him a rich man but he is still living with his young wife and ten year old son in a small house, he almost seems stingy to me. During a coffee discovery tour on the Kotowa plantation I walked with my guide through the hilly grounds in the middle of the cloud forest while it was partially pouring down, not unusual in the rainy season. It was neither blooming nor harvest season but due to the mild climate we could see some white blooms as well as ripe red berries containing the coffee beans. Out of the forty different arabica species they mainly grow the famous Geisha which only produces one pound per tree but this pound costs up to 350 dollar. Japanese who love the tea-like taste are the main customers. I too found it delicious during the included coffee tasting session; but it's out of my budget. In Boquete there are a couple of recommended hikes, among them a hike to the top of the Barú volcano - offering views towards both oceans on clear days. During the rainy season I wouldn't have seen much and therefore decided for an organized walk through the cloud forest: the three waterfalls hike. Would I have known that it to turns into a "four waterfalls hike" I wouldn't have done it. But let's start from the beginning. Through dense forest our guide led our group of five to waterfall #1 while the sun was still shining through the brushwood. Pictures, laughing, climbing on top of waterfall #1 and soon we continue through a very steep and slippery jungle path to the less impressive other two waterfalls. It's slippery because it rains every late afternoon. Late afternoon? Not today, today it starts to drizzle, then to rain, then to pour already in the late morning ... transforming the path into a literal waterfall. While I try to keep my shoes dry in the beginning, soon I don't care any more and just walk - totally soaked - through the "riverbed". Soon I realized that not only I but also my phone was soaking wet. I panicked a bit as I had already lost one during this trip. I tried to switch it on but the start button didn't work any more and the screen was blurred by the water. Three days later - after having put it in a huge sack of rice - it functioned again. After I had dried I went to Mike's Bar where I chatted with an American in his fifties. Four years ago his young and attractive wife fell "only" 1.5 meters and is totally paralyzed since. As the necessary stem cell treatment isn't available in the United States he quit his job and they moved to Boquete in Panama. He made a fortune in the construction business - among others building shops for Aldi and Sennheiser - and luckily can afford the additional expenses but still I was touched by the kindness with which he treats his wife. I was less touched though by his political views: a huge Trump supporter who thinks that Democrats use illegal immigrants to increase their votes. Sunday I went zip-lining again, Steve from the waterfall hike was part of my group. He works for an American TV channel but lives most of the time in Boquete with his Argentinian wife to relax from the stressful life in the media business. He's more and more becoming an artist and encouraged me to start painting as well and offered support via Skype. Back at Kris' house on Sunday evening, her husband Joel kindly helped me to disassemble and store the bike in a cardboard box, both of us being bare-chested due to the humid heat. He is a rock musician and though in his 60s still more alive than most persons in their 20s and still actively performing. Monday morning Kris drove my bike box, my other belongings and myself to the bus terminal - the huge box sticking out of the car's rear. It wasn't easy to fit everything in the small luggage department and only after paying a rather hefty additional bike fee I could enter the bus towards Panama City. Apart from one lunch break I spent over nine hours in that bus. The landscape was interesting but not amazing and I wasn't too sad for not cycling. At the terminus it took me some time to find a sufficiently large taxi to fit my belongings. I stayed in a hostel called Luna’s Castle located in a three-story mansion constructed in the 1800’s, once home to a wealthy family but now accommodating up to one hundred "poor" backpackers. During breakfast I'm overlooking a very colorful but rundown three story house front with many tiny apartments. Both sides observing each other: international travelers living and partying on one site, poor locals pegging out clothes, phoning, cooking, feeding cats or chasing dogs on the other side. Tuesday morning I met Melissa - for the fifth time during this trip - at my hostel. Together we strolled through the vibrant colorful neighborhood of Casco Viejo, the 350 year old Spanish colonial center of Panama City. It's recently undergone a renaissance with more and more restored hotels and restaurants in handsomely refurbished buildings. A few years ago Casco Viejo was affordable to almost all Panamesians but therefore full of gangs, not very safe even during the day and consisting of crumbling old buildings. Now due to "gentrification" more and more locals are forced out by international investors and move to other parts of town. In the Museo del Canal Interoceánico de Panamá we were informed about the history of the Panama Canal, including the first French construction attempt, the later construction by the United States, and the eventual transfer to Panamanian control. Appropriately enough the museum is housed in the former headquarters of both the French and U.S. companies engaged in the construction of the canal. Built between 1904 and 1914 many U.S. chief engineers resigned due to the many challenges. Because the canal's finalization coincided with the outbreak of the First World War the opening ceremony didn't make it to the headlines of most newspapers. Today it's the world's most famous shortcut: The 80 kilometers long canal cuts across the Isthmus of Panama and is a key conduit for international maritime trade between the Atlantic and the Pacific Ocean. The Isthmus was popular long before the canal was built and fiercely secured by Spain until independence. That's because 50 % of their riches - mainly gold and silver - went through Panama and attracted many pirates like the famous Francis Drake. We then concentrated on recent history and drove to Mossack Fonseca's offices where the famous "Panama Papers" were discovered. Melissa was interested as she's a lawyer I was interested from the Compliance officer's perspective: a staggering $200 billion of global tax revenues are estimated to be evaded each year, interestingly far more in Europe ($ 80 billion) than in the United States ($ 35 billion). The law firm Mossack Fonseca is supporting this practice as the world’s fourth biggest provider of anonymous offshore services and acts for about 300,000 companies. The German newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung acquired about 2.6 terabytes of data, i.e. the Panama Papers, making the leak the biggest that journalists have ever worked with. It proves how a global industry led by major banks, legal firms, and asset management companies secretly manages the estates of the world’s rich and famous: from politicians, Fifa officials, fraudsters and drug smugglers, to celebrities and professional athletes. The offices were located in an unpretentious three story building with mirrored windows and a small lawn with the company logo in front of it. Melissa and I were quite excited about this foto opportunity and our cameras started to click but only until the security guard prevented us from continuing ... he didn't allow us to stand on the lawn. Once on the sidewalk we could continue with our photo shooting. We walked back along the sea front - Panamas modern skyline in the background - and enjoyed the atmosphere shortly before sunset with joggers, skaters and cyclists overtaking us while lovers were sitting on the sea wall. Well informed about the canal's history we went to see the "real" thing on Wednesday morning. We visited the Miraflores locks which offer a viewing platform overlooking the locks and canal, you can almost touch the sailors on the vessels. Huge ships of up to 290 meters pay over $ 150,000 on average to pass the canal. The lowest fee - $ 0.36 - was payed by Richard Halliburton in 1928 when swimming through it. There are locks 26 meters above sea level at each end of the 80 kilometers long canal to lift ships up to Gatun Lake, an artificial lake created to reduce the amount of excavation work required. While nowadays the transit between the two oceans takes less than ten hours, for centuries it was far more time-consuming. Before the 19th century two transport options were available: either fifteen days by river or five days by road. Both weren't very secure - between 1848 and 1852 alone roadside gangs caused 3,000 victims. For a short period camels were used as transport means but too many died in the humid climate. Finally a train constructed in the 1850s sped things up, unfortunately causing 20,000 lives during construction. A wider lane of locks was constructed between September 2007 and May 2016. The expanded canal began commercial operation on June 26, 2016. The new locks allow transit of larger, Post-Panamax ships, which have a greater cargo capacity than the previous locks were capable of handling. There's no better way to see Panama's past, present and future than to take a hike up Ancon Hill where you'll have a bird-eye's view of Casco Viejo, modern Panama City and the Panama Canal. Melissa, a British guy we befriended at the lock and I walked up the paved path is through the rainforest. At the top we took a couple of pictures before walking back to Casco Viejo. I took some pictures from the impressive background of an approaching thunderstorm bathing the sky in black colors. Just when it started to pour down I escaped in a cafe, and when it didn't stop at all I jumped from shelter to shelter until I reached my hostel. As Melissa left Panama the next day we had a farewell dinner at a seafront restaurant which not only offered stunning views of Panama City's modern skyline but also had extremely tasty food - not a bad place to say good bye. Even the longest road trip comes to an end. Friday the 3rd of June was the big day. Well ahead of time I arrived at Aeropuerto Internacional de Tocumen, Panamas international airport. Out of experience I had a feeling that it might be a challenge to check in my bicycle. The box could be too large, to heavy or whatsoever and I expected either a huge surcharge or lots of discussions. None of this was a problem but they couldn't check in my bike directly to Frankfurt, but told me that I needed to check-in again in the Dominican Republic where I changed the plane. After escalating to all available staff on the ground and via hotline as well I gave up. While most people walk chilled through the corridors of the Dominican Republic airport I had to rush to the baggage claim to get my huge and unwieldy box, make it through customs and finally to check the bike in again. Of course customs wanted me to pay tax on the bike even though I was in transit. I could only convince them to be excepted by having somebody following me to the check in and watched the bike disappear on the assembly belt. Only a few minutes before departure and hyperventilating I got my flight, the next one would have left the island three days later. After entering the plane I celebrated with a sparkling wine and tried to get some sleep before arriving ten hours later at the same place where I had started my adventure: Frankfurt airport. Thank you for your interest in my blog, my trip, actually my life. Any comments and mails - [email protected] - are appreciated. For many reasons it's a good feeling to be back. In a future blog entry I will sum up the trip. A couple of pictures will still follow ... so stay tuned in.
