Coconut on the beach for breakfast; a quick internet session and couple of attemprs to get find the guy from the bicycle shop, but no joy. After an hour cycling, I have arrived in Porto Vieho de Talamanca. Very vibrant full of expats (old hippies), with a distinctive smell of ganga in the air. Found a bike repair shop that managed to sort out my loose spoke - plus ckecked all the others. All in all – it was done in 15 minutes for two dollars (I think the guy really liked the idea of touring hence the price). Had a bit of a look around and have to say it was a better spot than Cahuita. Anyway didn’t hang around and went straight to a botanical garden run by family of ex-Americans with a laid back altitude. Really nice spot with an interesting program of local and imported plants. Red frogs and other species. The really nice touch was being able to sample locally produced fruit (totally unique) home made chocolate beans (beautiful taste). There was also a presentation of spices (cardamom, pepper and cinnamon) and rare palm trees rubber trees etc. Strongly recommended; especially in September (driest month of the year in this region).
Hopped back on the bike and headed for Sixaola (the border town with Panama). Arrived there at about 4 so did not hesitate in heading for the border crossing as the frontier town didn’t have anything to offer. The Panama side was even worse: a typical town frontier in an undeveloped country. Begging kids and crooked officials where trying to send me on a pointless taxi ride selling me a rubbish story about the bridge crossing not being possible. Well got to the next town and found a grotty hotel for 18 dollars (not impressed).
The people were very friendly and not much different to most of Costa Rica (as yet).
It was also impossible to buy a map - tried everywhere. Contacted Teresa and asked her to download me the Lonely Planet guide so that I had some information on the country.
Hopped back on the bike and headed for Sixaola (the border town with Panama). Arrived there at about 4 so did not hesitate in heading for the border crossing as the frontier town didn’t have anything to offer. The Panama side was even worse: a typical town frontier in an undeveloped country. Begging kids and crooked officials where trying to send me on a pointless taxi ride selling me a rubbish story about the bridge crossing not being possible. Well got to the next town and found a grotty hotel for 18 dollars (not impressed).
The people were very friendly and not much different to most of Costa Rica (as yet).
It was also impossible to buy a map - tried everywhere. Contacted Teresa and asked her to download me the Lonely Planet guide so that I had some information on the country.