Where I can watch her waltz for free ’Neath her Panamanian moon….

Costa Rica, Panama

Nine months on the road, over 8000 miles and we have arrived in Panama city. The ride through Panama didn´t look like it was going to be too hard but with headwinds, heat and hills, it was quite tough! However we had so much encouragement from the passing traffic, it really helped us. We rode into the city on a sunday which worked out well as there was hardly any traffic and we were able to ride over Puente de las Americas, the bridge over the entrance to the canal. We had read that a lot of cyclists are stopped and escorted over so it was a great way to enter the city. With our ride through North America and Central America complete we are looking forward to new adventures in South America.

Panama city, a very happy Lorely!

Arriving in Jaco, Costa Rica we found it hard to find a place to stay, when a lady invited us to camp in her garden, these flowers were right by the tent.

Cycling along the coast in Costa Rica we had to dodge these crabs on their suicide missions across the highway! 

We rode past huge palm tree plantations and every so often there were these picture perfect villages, set around a football pitch!

“Her passport shows a face from another time and place”. We often have lyrics and songs going in our heads as we cycle along, and we are usually singing about the towns and countries we pass through.

Quepos, Costa Rica. We really enjoyed Costa Rica, although it is a lot more developed than the other Central American countries. You get to see so much wildlife, just cycling along we were able to see lots of birds including Scarlett Macaws and on our last day Toucans, we saw electric green Lizards and Iguanas as big as small dogs. Everything had so much colour.

 Husbands for rent?

Panama, new country, new beers to try!

Sardines galore!

Panama hats.

Cycling into the financial district of Panama city.

Casco Viejo, the old city of Panama, this is where we are staying, there is so much character here and it is a fun place to wander around.

You can watch her Waltz……..

Casco Veijo.

The view from our hotel rooftop, there is such a contrast between the two sides of the city. 

Casco Veijo.

Sunrise over Panama, we are going to spend a few more days here exploring the city and having a look at the locks of the canal. Then we will begin our journey of South America. Although Panama and Columbia are connected by land there is no way through the Darien gap by road. So a flight to Cartagena on Friday and we will begin our next stage.

…long and dusty road

Costa Rica

We are back on the road again after a lovely time relaxing on the beach with Hugh and Steph, and it was definitely needed after our adventure down the Nicoya peninsula. We now have just a few more days cycling down the coast before we cross into Panama.

The beach at Samara, we had a good time here, our campsite was right on the beach, so each day started with an early morning swim….

..and an attempted surf by Rusty.

A few morning bench presses on the jungle gym!

Beach front accommodation.

We decided to take a little adventure and cycle the coast road. We had been warned of gravel and river crossings. This was the start of a long day.

The first of a few river crossings. It was quite refreshing in the heat, then cycling with soggy shoes!

“How many more hills?”

This was a great bit of the ride, the end of the hills, we just had to wait for low tide!

Coyote beach, Nicoya.

It was a tough ride down the coast, but the rewards were great, beaches to ourselves!

San Miguel beach, Nicoya.

Lucky this was a dead one!

Cool swimming waterfalls at Montezuma.

Hermit crabs at work.

Mondy and the Cat, Casa Zen.

Lorely’s brother Hugh and his wife Steph safely arrived bringing all the bike supplies that were needed.

Gekko monster.

Golden sunset over Santa Teresa.

On the way to Jaco, luckily we saw these crocs after our river crossings!

Nicoya Peninsula.