What a hodgepodge of small countries. I can’t get any real order in my thoughts about Panama. So let me try to talk about some facts.
It is just 500km from Panama City to the border with Costa Rica on the Panamericana. It is also about 500km in Costa Rica to cross the country from border to border and in Nicaragua it is just 350km, in El Salvador 280km.
Costa Rica has 5.1 million inhabitants, El Salvador 6.3 million and Nicaragua almost 7 million, while Panama has only 4.4 million.
My obvious thought was that it might be better to make one country out of these small ones and a few others. But since there are still many examples today of people not being able to cooperate properly and instead spending all their energy on insults or even worse, bashing their heads in, it is probably better if each country continues to exist on its own.
Panama already has enough to do with hodgepodge, their diversity
I’m curious to see how things will look in the coming countries in terms of waste. Here in Panama it feels like we’re still in the Stone Age, but with all the garbage from our time. I can’t believe how littered this country is. The roadsides are lined with bags full of garbage.
People like to excuse this with the rapid increase in packaging waste. I find it difficult not to see this as a lame excuse. A country that can build a metropolis like Panama City should also be able to take care of its citizens’ waste.
Well, Panama is not my favorite country, but rather quite far behind
The criteria are different for us, because of course the most important thing is how comfortable we feel in terms of traffic. It’s pretty miserable here, because people drive far too fast on often bad roads with cars that are far too big. They give us space if it’s possible, but if not, it’s quickly forgotten that you could just take your foot off the gas. They often simply drive badly. On the other hand, twice we actually had a car that stayed behind us. In particularly difficult and dangerous places, with hazard warning lights, and thus protected us as an escort vehicle.
Yes, we were often scared on the roads, where the shoulder was often missing and we were never rewarded with particularly beautiful views (rather boring scenery), nice villages or stalls with fresh fruit juice.

Every town has at least one mall
And the stores are gigantic. There is everything, but everything is really expensive. You can clearly see who can afford it. We meet French people who have emigrated here to a coastal strip. The tax in this country is so much lower, they say, and kitesurfing is perfect. And when we eat one fruit bowl in a small French café with an attached personal trainer gym, 10 dollars are gone. Ouch. Losing weight is easy 🙂 with this prices.
It’s a strange country, a hodgepodge of so many things. Somehow it doesn’t really belong anywhere and has nothing original about it. Or does it?
It is also a hodgepodge of people: 67% of Panamenos are mestizos, descendants of Europeans and the indigenous population or Europeans and black Africans, 14% black Africans, 10% white, 6% indigenous. A colorful palette of all kinds of cultures. I like that 🙂 59% of them are concentrated in the urban areas. The others live in rural areas or in the jungle.
Back to our hodgepodge
The huge cars make us think of Oman. Here, too, people like to leave the car running without passengers so that the air conditioning can keep cooling, while they are maybe shopping in one of the air conditioned malls. We think of New Zealand and how ruthlessly drivers treated us. With all the shiny malls we think of the UAE. We think of the loud trucks in Chile that use the deafening engine brakes without soundproofing and of Indonesia, the garbage problem. And I think of Berlin :-), the density of broken glass on the roadside is “frightening”.


But of course we also meet wonderful people who are keen to talk about their beautiful country. I suspect that what people would like to visit, to see in Panama and would be enthusiastic about is far from our route.
The green gold
Around 30% of Panama is protected in 15 national parks, a dozen forest reserves and 10 wildlife reserves. A total area of more than 22,000 km² (total area of Panama 75,000 km² ) therefore enjoys this protection. Panama’s mangrove forest is the largest in Central America. Panama’s extensive coastline includes ecologically sensitive reef complexes on the Caribbean coast.
Incidentally, the Darién National Park, which we circumnavigated by boat from Colombia to Panama, is also part of this system and has been declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site and Biosphere Reserve.
It is all worth protecting, but this protection is often circumvented for various reasons, of course always to make money. At the same time, private organizations are reforesting for all they’re worth. What a crazy battle between these interest groups.
Strikes to protect nature
In 2023, there were huge strikes, demonstrations and road blockades in the country because the government had approved a huge copper mine in the rainforest. People demanded that nature be preserved and the environment protected. And it has done some good.
Teachers, who had been on indefinite strike since October 23, 2023, chanted: “This fatherland will not be sold, this fatherland will be defended.” And then in December the new verdict.
“We have done it, we have defended our most valuable asset: the green gold, the fauna, the natural treasures.” The Ministry of Education announced that the salaries of 17,495 striking teachers across the country had been withheld for the second half of November. How shameful.
I am simply thrilled by stories like this. Unfortunately, we rarely hear about them on our route. But then we do end up having a conversation. In one of these malls. In one that also offers cheaper products. While I’m standing there in one of the endless queues, with yogurt and juice in my cart (the queues are longer than usual because it’s the end of the month and everyone has received money and is now shopping), I meet three young people. They tell me a lot about their country and I notice their positive mood. Their energy and enthusiasm for their country. They were born here, they are the indigenous people who want to stay here. They are the young people who have had a good education and know how they want to protect the “green gold”.
Unfortunately, we have seen far too little of this part of Panama in our bubble, but at least we know that there must be more to see.
I do believe that Panama is worth a trip
Just maybe not by bicycle.
We only have 4 more stages ahead of us, then we’ll be in Costa Rica. And we’re hoping for a little less rain, which is warm but feels like it’s falling all the time. It’s always rainy season in this country. And we are slowly realizing that we are moving away from the equator and winter time is approaching, the dawn in the morning is slowly shifting further into the day. Our start times too. We venture out onto the roads at 6 a.m. at the earliest. Then it’s light enough. If we are in Mexico in December, we might not start until 7 am.
Just in case anyone is wondering: of course we crossed the Panama Canal. Unfortunately, cycling there was a disaster. I didn’t see much of the canal and the stress level was extremely high.
It’s also worth mentioning that it feels like it’s always the rainy season in Panama, even if it’s not actually the rainy season at all 🙂




