21/01/15 Bocas del Toros to Santiago

Another early breakfast, then on to the boat to take us back to the Panama mainland of Almirante.  The tourist dollar has not reached this area at all, very poor people.  Loaded our gear back on the bus and headed through some rain forest covered hills.  Saw some women wearing traditional dress as this area is where many indigenous people still live. After about an hour on the bus we got back on the bikes for a 14 mile ride through the rugged mountains, riding through some beautiful rain forest scenery, there were a few undulating hills to climb in this remote region.  It was a good hard ride, I (Lynette)  really worked myself putting everything I had into the hills and the flats as I knew it was only a relatively short ride, I was exhausted and very hot when I got to the end but felt  great about my effort.  After lunch we got back on the bus headed along the continental divide. We headed up the steep Fortuna Road where the rain forest turns into cloud forest as we climbed to almost 6000 feet (2000 meters). The climb was so steep we had to turn off the air conditioning in the bus so it could use the power to get up the hills. We began our afternoon ride, a fast downhill from Los Planes to Guanaco then to the Pan Am highway, it was great fun and got some speed up along the way. Loaded up again and headed to our great hotel La Hacienda in Santiago. A few beers to celebrate the great day, I even got Paul the Mechanic to give me a Salsa dance he is a great dancer.