Sometimes when you plan contingencies A, B & C, you can be sure that the best plan is Plan D. I had been e-mailing my friends Angel (ON hill) Rodriguez (RRRodrrriguez) & Carla Black (Carla Black) about meeting them when Odyssey got to Panama. Every time I got more route information, plans changed. The final plans were they would join Odyssey for dinner in David.
When I got to the Panamanian border area, up walked my friends. They came to kidnap me, another friend (#2 Len Biel) and Len's friend Joe. Angel (who hates waiting especially in sweltering heat), hustled us thru the border in 50 minutes.
While later riders were learning border requirements (some took two sweaty hours and had to pay/bribe the guards an extra $5 for their bikes), the three kidnapees were being trucked to Angel & Carla's home in the hills. After a stop at their Hotel Don Tavo in Volcan, for a fabulous lunch and some surfing in their Internet Cafe, we drove out to their modest home with one of the most spectacular and tranquil views I've ever been relaxed by.
We toured Carla's garden. She grows a grove of Bird of Paradise, an orchard of oranges and grapefruit, a plethora of plants, and a horde of herbs. Carla mixed up the most fantastic fresh grapefruit juice any of us had ever poured down our gullets. We washed our clothes, took leisurely hot showers, then were treated to the BEST meal of the trip. While Angel showed his technical expertise at everything from rebuilding the BBQ grill, to truing my rear wheel, to fixing Joe's sunglasses, to making an antenna for my SW receiver; Carla chopped, mixed, pureed, baked, boiled, and BBQ'd a feast of Narajilla juice (one of the world's delicacies), an herbal pasta salad, banana bread (from homegrown bananas), chicken breast spiced with Carla's herbs, and pasture grown beef hamburgers. It may sound simple in black & white where there are no tastes nor smells, but it was manna from heaven for hungry cyclists.
After dinner, we retreated to the patio fire pit for an hour of star watching, conversation and fire poking, topped off by a Super Bowl half-time light bulb flashing display by local fireflies. After a night in the guesthouse, the kidnapees had plans that didn't include bicycling. We had pushed ourselves (and our bikes) over high (11,171ft) and steep hills (can you say 15 Toe Jam Hills in one day?) for two days. Len had the chills. I had a cold (cough) and a slightly sore Achilles Tendon. Joe knew a good thing when he heard it. We decided to accompany Carla (who was going to Panama City) in the truck, not to the morning start in David as planned, nor to the dirt field in San Bartolo (the day's end), but to Penonome and an air conditioned motel room for two days out of the wind, heat, humidity, and narrow highway riding.
After hugs to our Saint Carla, bags put in the room, and bikes locked away, we headed for downtown Penonome for some serious laundry. Three gringos finally located a laundry. The attendant put a hose into the washer to fill it with water. Len thought he understood laundry would take a half hour. We set off to look for lunch. We found a fairly crowded cafe (a good sign) and tried to order the only thing we could read off the wall menu, pollo frito. They were out. After frustratung the wonderful senorita waitress, we hoped we ordered something else with chicken in it and three Pepsi's. She returned with plates piled high with white rice, lentils, spaghetti, and chicken. This feast for three cost a total of $5.40 or $1.80 EACH.
Clothes in the dryer, we searched for bandanas. After frustrating shop owners, we found the perfect solution to overheated heads - diapers! We bought the local thin diapers, which when wet under our helmets would keep us cooler. Thus, we created Team Diaper Heads.
Happy Trails,
Bruce