“You can’t ride here,” the Director of Operations for the autopista told us. “It’s way too dangerous. Big trucks ply this road all day – making it hazardous for bicyclists.”
Crap. Now what?
Today was one of those days like an action movie – we jumped out of one situation right into the next. Over and over and over…
We had asked many people in Panama City about the best way to get to Colon. We asked taxi drivers, policemen, and our hotel owner. Every single person told us the autopista was the way to go. We got up early in order to be on the road at first light, fully intending to spend the day on the brand new autopista.
But then we had flat tires. Davy’s bike was flat, and John’s BOB was too. By the time we got on the road, it was significantly later than we had hoped, but we were still OK – it was only 76 km to Colon and we were going to stop a bit before the city. We headed out.
A mere 400 meters after entering the autopista a police car pulled up and stopped in front of us. “It’s prohibited to ride a bike on this road,” he said. “You’ll have to take the old road.”
Huh?!?!
We stood around on the side of the highway for 30 minutes or so waiting for another patrol to come escort us to the old road. It was definitely getting late.
All went well once we got on the old road. It was a narrow, twisty, windy road with lots of ups and downs and a fair amount of traffic, but it wasn’t too bad. As usual, John and Daryl rode way ahead of me and Davy, and we poked along at our agonizingly slow pace.
Around 10:00 or so, we came to the autopista. It was boldly marked as the way to Colon, and the other road all but disappeared. What to do?
“I say we take the autopista,” John said. “It looks like this old road ends anyway. What’s the worst they can do to us? The autopista has a nice, wide shoulder and the hills have been cut out so it’ll be faster going. Seeing as how we are running so late, I don’t think we have any choice.”
We entered the autopista and started pedaling toward Colon.
And then another car pulled up and stopped in front of us and the Director of Operations stepped out of the car.
“There is no way you can ride this road,” he told me and Davy, “it’s way too dangerous. I’m going to call a pickup and we’ll put your bikes in the back and he’ll take you back to the entrance of the autopista.”
“My husband and other son are up ahead,” I told him, “and they have a big bike. It won’t fit in a pickup.”
He just shook his head. “We’ll do the same for them – we’ve got a big truck. We’ll go pick them up and take them to a hotel/restaurant in Chilebre. You’ll meet up there.”
What could we do? We piled our bikes in the back of the pickup and headed 10 kilometers back where we waited. And waited. And the clock kept ticking.
Finally John and Daryl showed up – in an enormous tow truck. It was one of those trucks where you push a button and the whole thing tips back so you can drive a car up on it – but they had driven their bike up. Yeah, I guess the autopista people do have a big truck!
So now it was noon, and we had traveled, in real terms, a grand total of about 30 km. And we had hoped to be at the junction by then…
Push on? Or stay put?
As it turned out, the hotel they dropped us at was a resort with a huge water park. The rooms were slightly above our budget, but we figured the kids would have a blast at the park. We checked in.
And the kids did have a blast – for a little while anyway. But then the rain came. And came. And came. Typically, we expect a shower in the afternoon. It pours cats and dogs – and horses and elephants too – and then it stops. But this time it poured, then let up and just rained normally for a few minutes. Then it poured again. And let up. And poured.
I’m hoping the sky will get all the rain out of its system today – we’ve got a long ride ahead of us tomorrow.
PS: My toe did great today! It actually hurts a lot more while walking than cycling. I think the infection is pretty much taken care of, but I’m soaking it in hot water with Epsom salts since we have hot water here in the hotel. I think I’m on the downward side of this hill, and will have the ingrown nail removed once we get to Cartagena.
Kilometers today: 37
Kilometers to date: 14708
