Capurgana, Columbia - Puerto Obaldia, Panama – Capurgana, Colombia
The next day, we were up early not to miss the boat to Puerto Obaldia again. The
boat was barely able to take four people and their luggage, let alone two bicycles.
The whole shebang was packed in the pouring rain, and the boat set off over the
swells along a rugged coastline toward Panama. The procedure was enough to
make anyone feel like an illegal refugee. Due to the rain, sea spray and wind, I was
frozen nearly all the way. The single outboard motor coughed and spluttered, and
halfway we had to pull in at tiny Sapzurro to top up with fuel.
Our first sighting of Panama through driving rain was the miserable tiny military
outpost of Puerto Obaldia. We offloaded the bikes and panniers and after being
checked by the army, headed toward the immigration office.
With immigration officers paging through our passports repeatedly and glancing at
us suspiciously, we felt justifiably uneasy. So, we weren’t all surprised when the
officer declared we needed a visa (contrary to the embassy’s information). There is,
however, no arguing with border officials.
While figuring out what to do next, we pitched our tents in a derelict house where
other travellers (including two other cyclists) were sheltering from the rain. The
immigration officer soon reappeared and ordered us onto the next boat to
Columbia. It took two hours at the dock for a boat to return us to Colombia. By
then, the rain had abated, and we were scorched by the sun. Indeed, from one
extreme to the other.
Still, this wasn’t the end of the saga. In Capurgana, Colombian officials informed us
two days had passed since we were stamped out of Colombia, and they couldn’t
reverse the exit stamps. Instead, we were advised to repeat the process in one of
the larger Colombian cities (almost a week away by bike). We were hence floating,
neither in Panama nor in Colombia.