Web Log

The Fight Against the Road in Chiriqui - Boquete, Panama

October 24, 2004

If you were able to listen to the interview with Eliezer Castro in our second Feature of the Week you will already know a little bit about the proposed road through the Parque de La Amistad in the state of Chiriqui, Northern Panama. Now we are in that area and have learned even more about this issue.

The Northern part of Panama is one large rainforest and international Park (it goes into Costa Rica, too) and is bordered by the town of Boquete. Last year, the former president Mireya Moscoso decided that a road should be built right through the middle of the park to reach the coast on the Atlantic side. Many people were against the building of the road because it would displace indigenous people, cause deforestation, landslides, soil erosion, and increase traffic in the protected area. People who were against the road said that the president only wanted the road to benefit her own friends and their business interests, while the president said that it would be good for the development of Panama. In April of 2004, locals in Boquete organized to fight against the road. They wore green pins and hung green flags to show that they were against it (see photo below). 150 people marched at the edge of the park to protest; the president sent out the police but the local people kept going and broke through the police lines. Finally, there was so much protest that the president put her plans aside. In the election in May, she was not re-elected and people are hoping that the new president, Martin Torrijos, will not be as corrupt as Mireya was and will not pursue development of the road project.

The Road to Sona

October 21, 2004

Today we started from the large town of Santiago at 6am. There were many people awake at this time: students going to school in their blue and white uniforms, buses picking people up to go to work, store owners opening the front of their businesses.

We descended quickly into rolling, almost-flourescent green hills with white and brown cows grazing in deep pastures. We came to a “shortcut” that turned out to be a muddy local road leading through two small towns and a school. The mud was red and clayish and stuck to our tires, feet, and shoes. I'm sure this is a place where tourists never go - people were very curious about where we were going, where we came from, and why we were on their road. They offered us directions and were very friendly. One kind man even offered us a ride in his large, empty cattle truck (we refused..of course!). Soon after the shortcut ended and we were back on the road, (yet still in the middle of nowhere), Erin ran into four guys from Santiago (the town we were in last night) wearing cycling outfits and riding really nice road bikes. We stopped and hung out with them for a bit and suddenly one of them noticed that I had a flat tire. Before I could do anything, one of them (the one in red in the picture) began to change my tire and in less than ten minutes it was taken care of. His friends were joking with him and calling him “El Mecanico”. Pretty good luck to have run into the Panamanian cycling team just at the moment when I happen to have a flat on an empty road in the middle of cow pastures!

Tonight we are in Sona, a small, cool mountain town. Because Independence Day is coming up soon (Nov. 2nd), all the high school bands are preparing. Band practice just let out and these guys played in the center of town for about three hours....the SAME song over and over. Here is what it sounded like [MP3 Audio|Ogg Vorbis Audio].

Words of the day: llanta - tire, lazo - mud

A Homestay in Aguadulce, Panama

October 19, 2004

Salt, sugar, and shrimp: these are the things that keep this town running. After a 52 mile / 80 kilometer day of riding, we arrived at the house of Senor Araiz and Senora Paula de Cajar in Aquadulce just as the rain started pouring down. “Estan mojadas!”, Senora Paula exclaimed as she opened the gate to her yard and immediately showed us to the shower. We stayed in her (now grown) daughter's room for the night. Rumor has it that Sra. Paula may be the best cook in town, as she served us huge plates of rice, chicken, vegetables and plantains with a carmel-pineapple glaze - I almost forgot to mention the fresh pineapple juice.

Senora Paula shared with us some of the history of this town. It was the center of the 1000-Day War, the war in which Panama won its independence from Colombia. Panama celebrates this Independence Day on November 2nd. They also celebrate independence from Spain on November 28th, and the 4th of July, because of heavy US influence. After Sr. Araiz returned from working as an engineer, he and Sra. Paula took us on a tour of the town. We visited sugar mills where they harvest the fields of sugarcane that we had seen growing along side of the highway (the mystery crop from our previous Q. of the Day!). Most of it is for export to China, United States and Europe. Engineers here are experimenting with producing alcohol from the sugar cane to use as an alternative fuel for cars, because fuel costs the same here as it does in San Francisco at $2.43 a gallon. If that price seems expensive in the US, think about how much that must be for the average Panamanian.

Aguadulce's economy fell in the past few years because of a disease called “La Mancha Blanca”. This is a disease affecting shrimp that came from China and killed the local industry. The results of a poor economy can be seen in town; the movie theater and some local businesses have closed. Aguadulce (Sweetwater) was named by the Spanish explorers who had travelled far without water and came upon a spring - they tasted the water and said, “it's sweet!”, thus the town was named. We would like to thank Ing. Araiz and Sra. Paula for showing us their beautiful town.

Random Panama Fact: Women over the age of 57 and men over the age of 62 receive a discount of 25% in every restaurant in Panama.

Random Sound Clip: Here is a popular song for your listening pleasure [MP3 Audio|Ogg Vorbis Audio]

The Route

October 18, 2004

The route we are taking is basically the Pan-American highway - look at any map of Central America or Mexico and you will see a red line going up the left (West) side. This is the main travel and trade route from South to North, called Highway 1 - this is the same road that eventually becomes Highway 1 in California. One of the first things we had to do was to cross the Bridge of the Americas: this is the bridge that goes over the Panama Canal where you can see all the ships waiting to go through.

So far we have been riding on the side of the road, at least until we were pulled over by the Transit Police just outside of Panama City. When the woman asked me, “Are you allowed to ride bikes on the highway in your country?” and I answered, “uh..., yeah..” she gave me The Look and told us to take the smaller road that parallels the highway. Now we are in a place where the highway has much less traffic and wide shoulders. Today we were even joined by locals on bikes for short distances. In the upcoming countries we hope to stay parallel to the highway as much as possible, because the smaller roads have less traffic, less broken glass, and are more scenic. For now, we have done about 40 miles both days and the highway has been nice and smooth, with friendly people along the way. We get a lot of waves and shouts of “Buen viaje!”. It keeps us motivated as we ride the rolling hills of the Panamanian coast.

Question of the Day: What is this crop? (Picture 4 below)
Word of the day: autopista - highway
Word of the day: ten cuidado - be careful

City Life

October 17, 2004

Yesterday we went travelling through the city by bus - check out the picture below. The buses all had local music playing bien fuerte (aka loud). That night we went dancing at a club that was playing Colombian, Puerto Rican, and Panamanian music and we (tried to) dance salsa and meringue with our local friend. New goal for this trip = learn how to dance. We´ll try to upload some music soon. By the way, the 12th of October was the Dia de La Raza, a celebration of Panama's indigenous people. There are five major tribes here. To learn more about them check out the Feature of the Week.

Question of the day: How many people can you fit in a Panamanian bus?
Word for the day: pure papas - mashed potatoes

-Marin

Panama Canal

October 16, 2004

Woah! This is so cool. I know that isn't exactly a deep thought but check it out. This canal connects the Atlantic/Caribbean and Pacific oceans. The canal is 80 kilometers (1km = .6 miles) long. They made a huge lake by damming the Chagres river and built locks on either side to lower boats back down to sea level. Now, I remember memorizing some facts about the canal in school, but seeing it in person is impressive. A huge ship named the Green Point from New Orleans was being transported from the Atlantic to the Pacific. There were less than two feet on either side between the ship and the concrete wall of the locks (the locks are 110ft. by 1000ft.). They had six mechanical towing machines “mules” pulling and stabilizing it from the train tracks on the side of the locks. They closed the top lock after the ships had entered then began to release some 26 million gallons of water as the ship slowly sank to the level of the next lock. 26 million gallons - that is a lot of water. The locks opened and the ship progressed the the next lock, then finally out to the Pacific ocean. The average ship pays $60,000 to pass throught the canal, and the journey takes from 24-48 hours. I still question dumping 26 million gallons of fresh water from lake Gatun into the ocean for each group of ships that passes throught the Miraflores lock. I am having difficulty balancing the various aspects of the canal. On one hand the Panama Canal is a an amazing engineering feat, but it required the displacement of indigenous peoples, the destruction of forest and mountains, the damming of several rivers and the flooding of land. Yet the canal must have water to operate, so as a consequence there are several National Parks along the canal route in order to preserve the rainforests which absorb the rainfall to replenish the lake and reduce flooding. Some Panamanians we talked to are concerned that the rainforests and national parks are not being protected and that the goverment is putting development before conservation. I wonder if those two need to be mutually exclusive.

Word for the Day: paraíso - paradise
Word for the Day: esclusas - locks
Bonus question for Jen Anter's class - Why was the Pacific ocean named the Pacific and by whom? Email us your answer.

Erin

We Made It - Panama City

October 15, 2004

We made it! Well, ok - Im only talking about the plane flight, but at 5 am Marin and I were both curled up on the Miami airport floor with the blanket we borrowed from the plane. Between the 5 hour layover and the cross-country red-eye flight I am almost up to a full nights sleep. The flight from Miami to Panama was gorgeous. We passed over Cuba as the water surrounding the islands turned various shades of blues and greens depending on the depth of the water. A bonus question for Mrs. Murphy's class: What body of water did we fly over? Jamacia appeared on our left and our adrenaline was racing when we finally hit the ground in Panama City. I felt like a worried mom waiting for our bikes and BOB trailer to appear. The Panama airport was so mellow and the people helpful; however they did insist on fumigating our bikes. Personally I thought the smell eminating from me was way worse than our bikes, but hey I'm not going to argue.

They doused our bike tires with some disinfectant then turned us loose for a two dollar fee. Oh- that brings me to the word for the day: fumigar to fumigate. You never know when that one may come in handy. A very nice man located a van for us and all our gear. Mountains of green and ocean waves soon gave way to skyscrapers and city traffic. Ok I have to save something for Marin to write. Just a note that, yes, I have already called my Mom so she doesnt worry so much. Yahoo!!

-Erin

Los Angeles International Airport

October 13, 2004

Sitting on the airport floor with some rockin' elevator music cranked up in the background. Thoughts today fluctuated between, “WHAT am I doing?” and “Yee-haw!” - feeling quite excited for the moment we descend in Panama City and catch the first scent of heavy, tropical air. Hopefully our bikes arrive the same time we do, and if so, in one piece with no major parts missing. Well, if there are any problems I guess I could always buy an old BMX and hit the road with my panniers attached to the pegs. The Department of Homeland Security stuck their fancy tape all over our boxed bikes, so the boxes should most likely stay sealed and pretty until arrival.. See ya in Panama!

-Marin

Santa Ynez, CA

October 05, 2004

Thanks for joining Erin and Marin of Teachers on Bikes. For the next three months we will be on our mountain bikes, riding from Panama back to California. This web log will be our way of communicating with you about our travels. We hope you enjoy the ride!

Right now we're hanging out in Santa Ynez, California and getting ready for the trip. We leave in about a week, so we are working to get all of our gear together and organized. Erin will be pulling a BOB Trailer and Marin will be carrying bags called panniers attached to her bike. Yesterday we hooked Erin's trailer and Marin's paniers to the bikes and went for a ride through vineyards in the dry heat of a Southern California afternoon, just to get used to the weight of what we will be carrying. Once we get all loaded up we figure that each of us will be hauling around 30 lbs. of gear on our bikes. We will be buying our food as we go and staying in hostels or camping each night.
- Marin

The countdown begins. Maps, curriculum, bike parts, flat tires, great sponsored gear and more all splattered throughout my bedroom. And I thought it was messy before. We are finally starting to bag things up and pack them away. I am sure we will forget at least one valuable piece, but hey we will figure it out. Somedays I feel so on top of it, and other days I think what did I get myself into.... Should be a fun adventure. I'll write you from Panama.
- Erin

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