Originally, I had booked Bodhi in El Valle for until Sunday. However, I had to extend another night, because in Veraguas, the district in which my next place is located, has a Sunday curfew - nobody is allowed outside their house -except for emergencies.
Also originally, I had booked an AirBnB in Chiriqui. But, the host let me know just two days ago that I can't come "due to something outside of her control". She hasn't been on WhatsApp for close to 3 weeks, so I guess it must have been something rather serious. Glad to hear from her, though, as that might indicate that she's either better or on the way to being better.
Bodhi has another hostel in Santa Catalina, and they had a vacancy. So Monday, I hit the road to relocate there.
The road from El Valle to Penonome leads across a few passes, and through lovely landscape. At the very beginning, just 5 or 6 km outside of town you reach the top of the main pass - that leads across the ridge that is formed by the crater walls - you can see in the distance a field of windmills. What an awesome sight!!!
Turns out, this field is just beyond Penonome and the Panamerican Highway leads right through it. There must be 50 or 60 windmills, as much as I saw. So awesome, that a developing country like Panama is also investing in renewable energy!
In Santiago - the capital of Veraguas - route 5 forks off south of the Panamerican Highway. This is a lovely country road, along which there are several timber plantations. You can see Teak trees everywhere, lining the road, in the fields, in peoples yards... I really would like to plant a few of them as well, once I have a land in this beautiful country.
The temperature in El Valle was around 23C (73F), by the time I reach Penonome it had risen to about 27/28 C (81-83F). So it is still cool enough to be able to regulate the temperature by just opening the windows.
Just before reaching Sona there's a sign, lamenting the fact that the folks from Sona have been waiting for 70 years for a "carreterra". There are problems everywhere in the world, even in a beautiful place like this. Well, obviously, otherwise, everybody and their grandmother would want to live here! :)
From Sona, the road to Santa Catalina is forking off Route 5. This road is even more "country-road" than route 5. With that comes the issue of potholes - in places so many and so deep, that even at walking speed the car's bottom might scrape the road.
Thankfully, I haven't encountered any rain so far. And the remaining 65 km are dry as well... I reach the hostel around 16:30 - almost 6 hour drive, with only one stop to fill up the car. There's no gas-station in Santa Catalina, neither an ATM, nor is there good cell-phone reception, and electricity might go out, too... As my mom says: it's the ass of the world.
But, what a beautiful ass it is! Maybe it is not the ass after all, but the place next to it! ;)
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