| 19 Cycling Days | 1247 km | 12,826 m ascent |
Our route through Costa Rica and Panama
Costa Rica
We hadn’t been in Costa Rica for very long, but we already felt a lot more at ease here than we had in the countries before. The only downside was the comparatively high prices – almost as high as in Switzerland! Unlike in Mexico, where we could stop at every gas station to treat ourselves to cold drinks and ice cream, we couldn’t continue doing this in Costa Rica with a clear conscience. On our first morning in Costa Rica, we stopped in the shade next to a police checkpoint to put on some sun cream. The policewoman was super interested in our journey, asked us a lot of questions and even gave us her breakfast ration for the day, which she hadn’t needed herself. It was hot and windy, and we were pleased with our new sun hoodies, which we’d had for a few days. At last, we only had to put on sun cream on our faces and legs! Sun cream was outrageously expensive here, honestly. Almost 20€ for a normal-sized bottle – and as we needed to apply it several times a day, it really doesn’t last us very long!
Once we arrived in Liberia, we went to pick up our package from Mexico – finally, we were reunited with our drone! A very kind owner of a hotel had helped us and even picked up the package from the local DHL branch a few weeks earlier to stop it from being sent back (it was all a bit chaotic, as usual).
Monteverde
After Liberia, we were heading into the mountains – some time ago, Sebi had seen videos from Monteverde and absolutely wanted to go there. Monteverde is located at an elevation of about 1300 meters and is characterized by evergreen, tropical cloud forests. The flora and fauna there are unique, and with a bit of luck you can spot lots of fascinating animals. The road there was one of the steepest we’d cycled on so far. Long stretches with gradients of 20 per cent and more. And every now and then, there were short stretches of downhill! Making sure we couldn’t even look forward to a nice descent later on.
The next day, we arrived in Santa Elena/Monteverde around midday and received a warm welcome by our host. Ellen has been welcoming cycle tourists at her place for years and we enjoyed a few relaxing days in her gorgeous and light-filled house. After the heat in the past few weeks, the pleasant temperatures of around 25°C up there almost felt cold to us! But it was really refreshing.
Our two friends Ethan and Lani from the USA, who are traveling by motorbike and whom we first met in Belize, happened to be in Monteverde at the same time as us. We met up one morning to explore the Curi Cancha Reserve together, one of many reserves in the region. Many of the animals found here are nocturnal. But the forest alone was impressive and would have been worth a visit on its own, even without any animals! We saw lots of hummingbirds and even some toucans. In the evening, the four of us went to a café/restaurant – but to be honest, it wasn’t really enjoyable with those prices in Costa Rica.
Lush green and lots of wildlife
The descent from Monteverde towards Arenal Volcano was, unfortunately, as expected, very tough. Time and again, there were short, steep uphill stretches. The road that followed, however, was so beautiful! Unpaved, winding, gently hilly. Every now and then we had to cross shallow rivers or streams. This seemed to be normal for this road, as many local motorcyclists were wearing rain boots. All the plants had lush green and enormous leaves. We were moving way slower than expected, so in the evening we looked for a place to camp and found a nice spot close to a river. We pitched our tent only a few metres from the road in the bushes, but it felt and sounded as if we were right in the middle of the jungle! Shortly before that we’d spotted an anteater – they really are so cute.
As we set off the next morning, we spotted a few beautiful toucans in a tree. While cycling along the main road around the Arenal Volcano, we passed one fancy spa and hot springs hotel after another. They all had a few too many stars for our budget and were certainly too expensive for us. We preferred pitching our tent once again near a river and listening to the howler monkeys and parrots above our heads.
One night we camped at the home of someone who apparently has lots of sloths in their private forest. We went for a walk in the evening, but couldn’t spot any, no matter how hard we tried. It’s not exactly easy though, most of the time they don’t even move at all! Instead, we went frog-spotting in the garden afterwards and found the typical red-eyed tree frog and a huge toad. There were also a few really cool plants, including coffee trees. During the day, the place was full of all sorts of colourful birds! Though they were being fed too…
Lots of rain on the Caribbean Coast
After a long and exhausting day with a lot of rain, we finally arrived at the Caribbean Coast – something I had been looking forward to for a long time! Unfortunately, I am not very lucky with beautiful places at the sea, as I always happen to be there when the weather is bad or the ocean is not beautiful for whatever reasons. That was the case this time too, and the sea, which is normally turquoise-blue, was brownish-red, sandy and very rough.
After one night in the tent we continued cycling for another hour, until we reached the small village of Cahuita. Not far from there was a beautiful accommodation run by Swiss owners. We had booked a double room in a big wooden cabin and stayed for a few days. Even though it was super close to the ocean, we didn’t leave the accommodation much. The weather was terrible and it rained and thundered almost non-stop throughout our stay. Nevertheless, we found time to relax a bit in the pool and go into the garden in search of nocturnal animals. We saw two tiny snakes, another one of those cool red-eyed frogs, a huuuge millipede and some tiny, colourful poison dart frogs. In the afternoon, a sloth was hanging right above the pool and was even moving a bit.
Countless banana plantations and a chaotic border crossing
We said goodbye to the cozy cabins and continued on the main road towards Panama. The roads were lined with banana plantations to both sides. In addition to the banana plants, we saw many processing facilities. Workers were pulling the bananas with a rope along some kind of cableway from the plantations into the halls, where they were washed and packed into boxes. We arrived at the border at midday, and it was perhaps the most chaotic border we had crossed so far. It was right along the main road, without proper immigration or customs buildings. Pedestrians were everywhere, walking between the trucks and there were no signs whatsoever. We spotted the exit checkpoint – a container with a window by the pedestrian crossing. We had already paid the eight-dollar exit fee online. We cycled across the bridge and, on the other side, had to turn off onto a side road somewhere to find the immigration office. After that, we had to go to yet another container, where we had to pay the tourist tax for Panama. Nobody told us this on site, and luckily we had checked beforehand. Apparently, there’s a military checkpoint about 20 kilometres past the border, where they’d send you back to the border if you hadn’t paid the 4 US dollars tourist tax…
Panama was our tenth country on this trip, and with this one we had really traveled through every country on the North American mainland! The banana plantations continued uninterrupted after the border, as if there’d never been a border at all. We continued to Almirante and made it to an accommodation just before the rain set in. That evening, we had one important thing to organise. Sebi’s dynamo hub had started to break some time ago. Although the manufacturer had offered to send a replacement, we still had to sort out the best way to get it to Colombia. International postage is just so expensive and unpredictable! However, via a WhatsApp group, I actually found someone who was flying from Germany to Colombia and offered to bring the dynamo with her.
Our route took us through the mountains for two days, which was exhausting, but also really beautiful. For hours, we were sweating buckets as we cycled uphill. At one point we were so high up that we started feeling cold in our wet cycling tops and had to put on an extra layer. The view, however, was absolutely stunning! We spent a night in a small hostel, that had been built, rather experimentally, into a hillside. Additionally, it was open to all sides and I was constantly worried I’d drop something. The following day began with a descent of over 1000 metres. Just like in Guatemala, the trucks were incredibly loud here. This time I finally remembered to measure the noise, and they easily exceeded 120 dB when speeding down the mountain! No wonder it hurt our ears.
We camped in the garden of a friendly restaurant owner who often lets travelers stay with him. He showed us all sorts of cool plants in his garden, including the ackee tree and the wonderberry. The ackee tree was fascinating – as long as the fruits are closed, they are highly poisonous and can even be fatal. However, once they’ve opened naturally, the “seeds” are edible and actually taste quite good – a bit like pine nuts. Ackee is Jamaica’s national fruit and is usually served with fish. The wonderberry completely alters your sense of taste. Sour flavours are suddenly perceived as sweet – and indeed, the lime suddenly tasted more like a juicy orange.
In Panama, the effects of the heat exhaustion over the last few months definitely started to take their toll. We were pretty exhausted, both physically and mentally. We needed more rest, shorter days, and were longing for Colombia and our planned break in Medellín. The last few hundred kilometres to Panama City seemed to take forever. It was consistently extremely hot, and it rained and thundered more and more frequently in the evenings and at night, which didn’t make camping any more relaxing for me – or for us, rather. Because of the heat, I struggled immensely to eat anything at all. At lunch time, I usually just had a cold Coke or Gatorade to get at least some energy. Sebi started to feel unwell and had a slight fever, so we cycled even less and took rest days whenever we felt comfortable enough to do so in a place.
Towards Panama City, the only option is the Pan-American Highway, which doesn’t have a great reputation amongst cycle tourists. It is characterized by heavy traffic and there are no alternatives. Fortunately, there was a hard shoulder almost all the way in our direction, which only let us down on bridges and in small towns. One night we stayed at a gas station that had free showers, washing machines and a small area with grass, perfect for camping. Another time, we camped by a football field in a small village, and the rest of the time we stayed in affordable hotels with air conditioning. In Santiago de Veraguas, there was a little highlight – an interactive museum about the Panama Canal! The location for it was slightly odd, as the Panama Canal was still quite far away, but it was really well done. It had lots of small exhibits from the time of construction and encouraged visitors to think critically. There was even a simulator where you could steer a container ship through the canal!
Panama City
The last stretch into Panama City was everything but boring. We followed the recommendation of another cyclist ahead of us and took a small detour to Veracruz to get off the highway for at least a few kilometres. This turned out to be more adventurous than expected – after a short stretch of cycling path, we turned onto a new highway, that was finished, but not yet connected. It was a dream to cycle, but at the other end we had to climb down the embankment and through the bushes to reach the next road.
Back on the Pan-American Highway, we had to cross the Bridge of the Americas. The traffic on the bridge usually has two lanes in both directions, but depending on time of the day and main traffic direction, the lanes are assigned differently. As luck would have it, we arrived at the bridge just as the lanes were being changed, leaving only one lane in our direction and three in the other. It was very tight, we had hardly any room, and we were glad when we finally made it to the other side.
Panama City has a really cool bypass road that goes all the way around the old city centre outside over the water – and it comes with a separate section just for pedestrians and cyclists! Every few metres there are benches and binoculars to marvel at the skyscrapers up close (they even work without having to put any money in). We followed a really nice cycle path almost all the way to our accommodation, and the ride into the city itself was surprisingly relaxed.
We stayed a few days at the hostel, and our bikes were safely stored in the middle of the lobby. The dorm rooms were equipped with air conditioning – which was unfortunately set to such a low temperature that I unpacked my sleeping bag to not feel cold at night. One day we did the obligatory visit to the Panama Canal. We arrived right when they opened at 8am, and it was already full of people! From the viewing platform we could watch a big container ship being lifted in one of the locks. There really isn’t a lot of clearance between ship and lock! To the sides it is being guided by small trains, fascinating. After that, we could see a movie about the Canal in the adjacent IMAX theatre. The movie was interesting, but particularly interesting for the landscape shots and unfortunately a bit… glorifying. There wasn’t much critical coverage, and Sebi and I were both glad we’d managed to visit that little museum in Santiago before.
Published on August 07, 2026
Experienced from 08.05.2026 – 05.06.2026
