Go reader Ben Cunningham'slatest despatch from the Pan American Cycle Test, which he and his fellow cyclists are undertaking for charity
TRAVELLING by bicycle is a good way to see the natural borders between countries. The difference in landscapes and terrain as one passes through Central America makes cycling through every country a different experience.
We have had mixed results when it comes to the practical processes of crossing borders. We have had no problems cycling across borders, but getting our support vehicle through has proved troublesome.
The almost impenetrable bureaucracies that exist in this part of the world emerged as we crossed from Mexico into Guatemala. Although leaving some countries was not difficult, problems arose when we found ourselves between countries. Unable to return to Mexico, having been stamped out, and with the Guatemalan border officials requiring one document we did not have, we were forced to pay more money to prevent our jeep from being impounded. Border crossings can become very costly affairs.
Guatemala was the first of the Central American Four - the others are El Salvador, Honduras and Nicaragua - that we passed through. The highlight of our time in Guatemala was a brief trip into the mountains to the lakeside town of Panajachil, which nestles among active and dormant volcanoes. It appears not to have changed in centuries: the local women still dress in a traditionally bright and colourful way, and speak their original language rather than Spanish.
After Guatemala we passed into El Salvador. Despite worries that the roads would not be good enough in Central America, the roads in El Salvador were among the best we have encountered. El Salvador is not a popular destination for tourists, as the civil war that ended in 1991 is still very much remembered. El Salvador also has a reputation for gun violence and gang warfare.
However, the Pacific coastline of this country was as amazing as anywhere we have been. The landscape is almost completely unspoilt, populated only by fishing villages and small towns. But there is a feeling that it is only a matter of time before the outside world discovers this paradise and develops it.
From El Salvador we crossed through Honduras and into Nicaragua, all in the space of 10 hours. The pacific coastline of Honduras is extremely short, at just 135km. The colonial towns of Leon and Granada, in Nicaragua, are based around main squares and dominated by Spanish colonial architecture. Granada is situated on Lake Nicaragua itself.
In contrast to Nicaragua and Guatemala, Costa Rica is dominated by western and American influence. There is a very different atmosphere in Costa Rica, which, unlike the rest of Central America, embraces US investment. As a consequence there are far more Americans in Costa Rica, and the country caters for this. Our Pacific highway brought us through the resort town of Jaco Beach. Instead of ordinary road signs, up to 30km outside the town the signs for Jaco showed the distances to McDonald's and Subway.
We arrived in Panama City on November 9th. At this halfway stage, important and difficult decisions regarding our route have to be made. Our security detail from FreightWatch Group, which had accompanied us since Tijuana, is not yet established in Colombia and thus is banned from operating within its borders. Though the country is mainly safe, there are still pockets that we would have to cycle through that were not.
After obtaining advice from the Colombian army and police force, and other local security companies, we decided to change our route and head for Ecuador instead. This means we have to send our support vehicle to Ecuador instead. The process is proving extremely frustrating and difficult as we deal with the customs and shipping bureaucracies.
At the time of writing we are still in Panama and cannot move into South America until we have finalised all arrangements for the jeep, which is taking far longer than we expected.
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