Theme 2: Highlights

In no particular ranking, these included the Panama Canal; Bocas del Toro group of islands; rafting, and hiking in the rain forest, where the wildlife was the major attraction, as it was indeed throughout our journey; and the Eco-Termales hot springs near La Fortuna.

The Panama Canal deserves to and will get longer comment and reflection on another occasion (especially in connection with politics), but it was a real highlight, the more so perhaps since it was our last cycling day (Day 14).

The canal was conceived in the early days of discovery in the 16th century with the desire by the Spanish to unite the Pacific and Atlantic oceans across the Isthmus of Panama. The project was finally inaugurated by the French in 1869 with Ferdinand de Lesseps as its builder, but was beset by financial problems, weather and disease (over 6300 graves were dug during the abortive construction) and abandoned in 1903. Strong political pressure from the United States led to the independence of Panama from Colombia in 1903, with the US then 'negotiating' a treaty with the new country whereby a strip of land 10 miles wide from ocean to ocean plus some parts of the capital city and and adjacent islands were ceded to the Americans to build and manage the proposed canal. The Panama Canal was finally completed in 1914, a hugely impressive engineering feat. The US maintained control of the Isthmus of Panama until 1999, when, following growing tensions over financial confrontation and sovereignty and the breaking of diplomatic relations, it was transferred to Panamanian ownership and control.

We visited the two-tier Miraflores Lock, one of three lock systems overall, located at the Pacific end of the canal. At this lock system, ships are lowered by means of two tiers to the level of the Pacific Ocean, from which they enter a broad approach channel and continue under the spectacular Bridge of the Americas to the open sea. Average transit time for the overall canal journey is 8-10 hours, but 24-30 hours in total when customs and other formalities are included. We were extremely fortunate as a ship was about to enter when we arrived at the observation platform overlooking the lock system at 9am on this very hot and sunny Friday. Although at first I thought it was going to be like 'watching paint dry', the transit process was both obsessively fascinating and impressive; and from entry to exit of the Miraflores Lock only took about one and a quarter hours. While ships are under their own control in the canal (or at least that of a canal captain), a number of mechanised vehicles (called 'mules') are attached to the ship to keep it centred in the canal chamber and prevent it hitting the concrete walls; the widest ship would only have 60cms space on each side of the lock walls. So this was a great spectacle, most enjoyable, accompanied by detailed commentary and applause from the many visitors. I bought Isla, one of my grand-daughters a Panama Canal t-shirt for Xmas-she's only 6 so I hope I can explain this to her okay, but I have decent photos which will help.

Leaving Miraflores, we had our last cycle ride alongside the canal to lunch at an open air restaurant on the lake shore. While, this wasn't the best ride because of heavy traffic (something we had hardly experienced before), the open vistas of the lake and the Bridge of the Americas from the restaurant were great.

Bocas del Toro is the main town on Colon Island, one of a group of islands off the Caribbean coast of Panama, close to its border with Costa Rica. A 30 minute crossing in a small boat dropped us off a few metres from the Bahia Hotel where we stayed for two nights. The Bahia Hotel is the old Panama headquarters for the infamous United Fruit Company (now Chiquita Brands) and the big safe, where ill-gotten gains were doubtless stored, has been maintained. And no cycling - which was something of a relief! I also spent the second evening on my own, eating a burger and drinking some beer by the ocean, which was also a relief I must confess.

Bocas del Toro is an emerging tourist town, attracting a mix of backpackers and wealthy incomers at present. It is basically a single street, one side of which backs onto the waterfront. The latter was a curious mixture of rundown dwellings and very expensive properties with equally expensive boats. There was a real Caribbean flavour to the town, so although the Afro-Caribbean population was not as dominant as in Cahuita, there was a pleasantly relaxed air which I liked.

With a free day on Tuesday (Day 11), a number of us opted for a trip involving dolphin watching, snorkelling and a visit to Red Frog Island. We all got soaked on the boat trip out to Dolphin Bay, a combination of heavy rain and the spray from the waves; we saw a few solitary dolphins, the remainder presumably having shut up shop because of the weather (Juliette has a similar but better story about hedgehogs on North Uist!). However the rain gradually eased and then the sun came out (shades of 'wait a minute it's stopped raining, guys are singing, guys are sailing... mother, father kindly disregard this letter' - only people of a certain age will know the song!), and I enjoyed the snorkelling which I haven't done in years. The highlight, however, was the afternoon when we took the boat through an area of dense mangrove swamps to Red Frog Island. We hiked over to the far side of the island (looking at some red frogs en route - tiny frogs about 3 or 4 cms in length) where there was an idyllic beach and the surf was up giving the opportunity for some great swimming. So a day which started out in a dispiriting manner ended on a real high.

Rafting and Hiking. The two wildlife-focused activities were the float trip down the Rio Tenorio (Costa Rica) on the morning of Day 6 and the hike in the Hanging Bridges of Arenal (it sounds better in the Spanish - 'Puentes Colgantes del Arenal') private nature reserve in Costa Rica on Day 8. I was impressed with this reserve which comprised 600 acres of protected forest, located in an area of ravines, streams and waterfalls with 16 hanging bridges to negotiate the terrain; some of the bridges were high up allowing spectacular vistas of pristine rain forest. It was designed with conservation in mind with a single paved track over the bridges and around the reserve. It was beautiful in the rain, although I didn't see much because it was late morning before I got there. However I has a fascinating discussion with my guide Walter (I hired a personal guide) which I'm going to write about in the next theme. Wildlife sightings were a regular feature of cycling days too, especially those through the rain forest areas.

Just a general aside on conservation, it seemed that Costa Rica was doing a decent job in balancing wildlife tourism and rain forest protection. There was mention of 35 state-owned and a similar number of private reserves. But I need to investigate this. By comparison in relation to Panama the Footprint guide writes that: '..the integrity of Panama's fragile natural environment is in peril. Rainforests are being cleared for gated communities and foreign-owned housing projects; ancient tribal lands face obliteration from grandiose hydroelectric schemes; and many of the country's most beautiful coastal habitats have already been wrecked by luxury hotels hoping to profit from tourism' (p317).

On the Rio Tenorio rafting, the main species were the iguana (some pretty large), crocodiles, various types of heron, egret, kingfisher, humming birds, and howler monkeys. On the Arenal hike I saw a viper close up which was pretty special (they are small but very dangerous and apparently quite a number of children are killed by trying to pick up the yellow variety to play with), but otherwise there wasn't much on view as it was late morning when I got there. While cycling, we saw toucan, parakeets, white-faced monkeys, coatis (like racooons), and the huge sloth. The howler monkeys were pretty ubiquitous in the forests: they make a sound like a dog barking, but when you hear them at dawn, the noise of a colony is quite haunting, reminiscent of distant thunder. The habitat of most varieties of toucan is open woodland rather than rain forest, so we saw these distinctive yellow-beaked birds on a number of occasions. As ubitiquous as the howler monkeys were the vultures: I saw vultures nesting on a fence in Ometepe Island; and four vultures in the scruffy back yard of a ramshackle dwelling on the waterside in Bocas del Toro (for vultures in Bocas del Toro, read sparrows in Scotland!).

Hot Springs. While not in itself a huge highlight, the hot pools were integrated into the dense surrounding jungle with an attractive hotel/restaurant complex where we had a good buffet dinner (Day 8). The hot pools were layered by heat level, which I'd not experienced before, with an artificial waterfall and it was very relaxing. My previous experiences with hot springs were more interesting and amusing, however! When Juliette and I were in the Amazonian rain forest, we were taken to a natural 'hot spring', basically a little pool filled from a stream which drained into the main river complex. There was just enough room for the four of us present. Sitting uncomfortably on stones of different shapes and sizes, I seemed to be attacked at every turn by little biting fish-the other three were women, whom these fish apparently didn't fancy, so I didn't stay too long! I wouldn't say the water was terribly hot either. The second (non-)experience was also in Peru, this time Agua Calientes (literally 'hot water'), a shabby, rundown town at the bottom of Maccu Pichu. Returning from the Macchu Pichu trek, all my clothes were dirty and smelly, so I stripped off and sat huddled under the blankets on the bed stark naked - what a sight to behold! - while Julie took her and my clothes to the laundry. She returned with them three hours later, having also investigated the hot springs which she pronounced dirty and smelly too and not worth a visit. We had a good laugh about all of this-perhaps I have an obsession with clean clothes which has come up a few times in this blog!