Our first impression of Bocas del Toro on Colón Island was refreshingly authentic. Sure, there were plenty of tourists and attractions trying to attract our attention. But we did not see any massive luxury hotels or posh estates owned by wealthy foreigners, and we liked that.

The hostel, where we slept in a tent and where howler monkeys were swinging around in the palm trees in the courtyard, was located a bit outside the center. This was quite convenient, as it meant we were less tempted to spend a lot of money on food and coffee at the numerous restaurants. And for our trips to the amazing beaches, we didn’t have to ride very far. Using the snorkel we borrowed from our Warmshower host Francisco, David was able to marvel at the giant starfish up close at Playa Estrella, just great!
We also spent a lot of time chatting with other hostel guests, with a Swiss expat (also named Francisco), who was in the middle of giving his fence a fresh coat of paint, and of course with Leti and Pati, whom we had already met in Nicaragua and Costa Rica. We liked Bocas del Toro so much that we would have gladly extended our stay a bit longer. But since, for once, we had a schedule to keep, we left the island after four days and took the ferry back to the mainland.

Our route took us through a very beautiful landscape characterized by dense rainforest, cacao trees, banana palms, and indigenous villages made up of simple stilt houses. In Rambála, we sought shelter from an approaching thunderstorm and looked for a place where we could pitch our tent in the dry. We happened to find it at the venue of a lasso competition, and we were delighted to have this unexpected cultural insight! In the competition, a calf is chased out of a crate and stopped as quickly as possible by a cowboy on horseback using a lasso. When the lasso tightens around the calf’s neck, it spins around its own axis and falls to the ground. That’s when our enthusiasm for the local cowboy culture came to an abrupt end. We felt terribly sorry for the calves, and it was awful to watch! On top of that, Mr. and Mrs. Cowboy were getting drunker and more unscrupulous by the minute. When a calf lay down on the floor of the crate, terrified, it was kicked in the head until it finally took off galloping. Enough was enough! We retreated to our shelter, cooked dinner, and were glad that by 9 p.m. everyone had left. Dead drunk and in their cars, of course.

The next day, we headed back across the main mountain range to the Pacific coast. At the (unnamed) pass summit, we crossed an impressive weather divide: the clouds from the hot and humid Caribbean piled up against the mountains, revealing the seasonally dry landscape on the Pacific side. In Chiriqui, we reached the Pan-American Highway and rode for two days on the wide shoulder with little traffic toward Santiago. The route wasn’t particularly exciting, and it was very hot! Even with an early start and extended lunch breaks, we couldn’t avoid riding in temperatures well over 30 degrees Celsius in the shade—and there was no shade. We drank liters of water and were grateful for every air-conditioned gas station shop where we could cool off. We found the interactive canal museum in Santiago not only air-conditioned but also really interesting. Although we sacrificed the “cooler” morning hours to visit it, we didn’t regret a single minute of it. It was especially funny how David, amid enthusiastic praise from the simulator, navigated a container ship through the canal’s lock system… “Good job, Capt’n!”

From Santiago on, there was a bit more traffic on the road, yet there was still nothing to see. We made good progress despite the heat and the headwind. On a rainy morning, we reached Penonomé. From there, our route became a bit more varied again as we wound our way up small country roads to El Valle de Antón. As usual, the climb consisted of numerous grueling steep sections instead of a pleasant, steady ascent up the mountain. No matter, the effort would be worth it! We had gotten in touch with Ursula and Harry through a few connections, and a parcel of spare parts from Switzerland was waiting for us at their beautiful home. Special thanks to everyone who helped make this happen!

At Ursula and Harry’s, we were not only able to pick up our parcel, but also stay in a room in their former guesthouse. In the large garden, we were able to service our bikes; in the evenings, we had barbecues together, chatted a lot, and visited Ursula and Harry’s sloth sanctuary. Their entire house is equipped with baskets, branches, and ropes so that their docile housemates can move around in it. Aww, how cute! We really enjoyed our three-day break, even though the village wasn’t as peaceful over the Easter holidays as it usually is.

The morning of Easter Sunday, we said goodbye to our dear hosts and rode down to the bustling Pan-American Highway. At 9am, about 100 kilometers from Panama City, traffic was already at a slow crawl. But thanks to the heavy police presence, the line of cars moved very orderly toward the city; the mood was relaxed, and there was no pushing or shoving. This meant we always had a safe place on the hard shoulder, and no one would pass us too quickly or aggressively, how convenient! Although we made unexpectedly good and effortless progress, we called it a day about 40 kilometers before the city and saved the final stretch for the next day. We preferred to tackle the section that other cyclists had described as dreadful after a good night’s rest.

We followed a taxi driver’s advice and took Autopista #1 to get into the city by the most direct route. We found the traffic on the three-lane highway to be quite pleasant and considerate. We only had to be extra careful at on- and off-ramps or when the shoulder was missing on bridges. Even crossing the Puente de las Américas was completely unproblematic. We rolled into Panama City relaxed, well before lunchtime. Yippee, we’d made it to Panama City by bicycle, a small milestone😊! After a few photo stops, we headed for our accommodation on the edge of the skyscraper district. Even before we checked in, we found our soon-to-be regular spot, an excellent Chinese buffet restaurant with vegetarian dishes. So far, the heavy, fried, and very meaty Panamanian food hadn’t impressed us at all. We were all the more delighted by the huge selection of vegetables and filled our bellies at an unbeatable price.

Our accommodation was another great find. From the balcony, we had a fantastic view of the surrounding high-rise buildings, and there was even a washing machine available for free. After running a few errands in an air-conditioned shopping mall, the first day was over before we knew it. We had planned to take our time exploring the small old town, but we didn’t end up needing it. The impeccably renovated buildings struck us as a bit too posh and lifeless. We much preferred the colorful, diverse neighborhood around our accommodation. Unfortunately, on the last day, we had to share the latter with a conspiracy theorist from Europe. The elderly gentleman can no longer stand living in his home country and has therefore been living on a Caribbean island in Panama for two years. He probably doesn’t have any neighbors there whom he can bombard with his absurd ideas for hours on end, so he chose us as the recipients of his messages. Fortunately, he wasn’t an early riser, so we were able to sneak out of the apartment undisturbed in the morning.

After a few intersections, we had left the city limits and watched the traffic at the Panama Canal near the San Miguel Locks. In the former American Canal Zone, the road ran through dense jungle for a while. The closer we got to the port city of Colón, the poorer and more run-down the area seemed. We were accordingly relieved when we were allowed to pitch our tent near a police station that evening. As we set up camp on the construction site behind the station, we heard the heart-wrenching meowing of two little kittens coming from the unfinished building. A police officer proudly explained to us that they had rescued the two and now wanted to feed them. The kittens didn’t sound fed, though. We tried to stop the whining with milk from the supermarket, but quickly realized that the little ones were still too young to drink on their own. So David went to the pharmacy and got two syringes. With those, we were actually able to feed the kittens😍! 

That would have been a nice way to end the day, but there was a bit more excitement: Our dinner was almost ready when David was increasing the pressure at the gasoline bottle to boil water for tea. Pffff… Gasoline leaked from the faulty bottle pump and immediately ignited on the stove’s flame! The bottle was ablaze, and only by quickly suffocating the fire with construction debris were we able to prevent something worse from happening! Phew, what a close call! We don’t even want to imagine what could have gone wrong if this mishap had happened in a dry forest or at a gas station…

In the morning, we fed the cute kittens one last time and handed the milk and syringes over to the police as a farewell gift. Hopefully, an officer will now be tasked with feeding the kittens after washing the car 🙏. We had to leave the two to their fate and set off for the Agua Clara Locks at the northern end of the Panama Canal. Two kilometers before the visitor center, there was a no-biking sign. We did what we always do in such situations… ignore the sign. Sure enough, a kilometer and a half from our destination, we were stopped by two security guards and, for safety reasons, were not allowed to continue on the practically traffic-free road. They found their own rules pretty ridiculous, but they absolutely refused to let us pass. So we turned back.

We used the time to seal our stove’s pump with epoxy glue and then cycled on to Puerto Lindo. Here we were allowed to camp at a hostel and were able to pack our things up dry this morning. We’re very happy about that, because we won’t be spending the next five days in the saddle!

The Pan-American Highway has existed since 1936, a continuous road stretching from Alaska in North America to Tierra del Fuego in South America. Continuous? No! Through the impassable Darién jungle, there are still only small trails to this day…
The cheapest and easiest way to cross the Darién Gap is a flight from Panama to Colombia. For us, this was out of the question on principle! Another option is to take several speedboats along the coast, which is uncomfortable, uncertain, wet, and not without danger. So we opted for the third (luxury) option and booked a commercially operated crossing on a sailing ship. Whether this was a good decision remains to be seen. In any case, we’re excited to see how it goes and will report on it in our next post. 

Written on April 11, 2026, published on April 18, 2026.