Paul and Lynette's Travels: 22/01/14 Santiago to Panama City (Albrook Inn)

After an early breakfast we drove to San Francisco, our ride today was broken up into four sections (3 stops along the way) the ride itself was undulating, the first section Paul rode with Roberto at the front and Lynette was back with the rest of the leaders. The first stop (9 miles) was at a cascade, Paul wasted no time in jumping into the pool at the bottom and swimming over to the falls. A few of the other riders joined him just in time to get the "Mischa" (let's go) call.
The next stop was a fruit and snack stop near a closed restaurant (9 miles again) and the stop after this was after about another 8 miles near a church, the ride had been hot on back roads through dry tropical forests with little shade. For the last mile of this stage Lynette had a local little boy join her, she came in first with Paul, the little boy was glad he came for the ride as he got some fruit, biscuits and some pencils for his effort. Julie had a bathroom stop near the abandon church, we had a laugh as a coke truck disturbed her privacy, she gave the driver a wave.
The last section Paul and Paul helped Moya to finish the stage first with a helping hand on the back from time to time. Moya had finish last most days at the rear, this was her day for the yellow jersey.
We really enjoyed the riding today, breaking often is really the way to tackle the ride in the heat.
After the ride we had a long drive to Panama, stopping after an hour for lunch, after lunch in rained heavily, we glimpsed the city first, then the Panama Canal as we drove over "the Bridge of the Americas" (very impressive structure) on the way to our hotel Albrook Inn.
We went to an Italian restaurant (Rhinos) for dinner, it was very nice decor and reasonably priced meal. Some of the group went clubbing, while the rest of us returned to the hotel via the supermarket where we bought chocolates and wine and finished off a great day with drinks in Audrey and Julie's room.