Yaviza – Meteti – 55 Kilometres 47
Backtracking wasn’t all terrible as we escaped the rain and it became a pleasant
day of cycling. A vendor presented us with pineapples, avocados, mangoes, and a
strange unknown fruit. He wanted no money, and with panniers bulging, we
continued until Meteti.
Meteti – La Palma via Puerto Quimba – 20 Kilometres
Departing Meteti was at a leisurely pace to cycle the short distance on a slightly
hilly and gravelly road to Puerto Quimba. The area was beautiful in its remoteness
and at times so quiet that the forest noises sounded deafening. Once in Puerto
Quimba, a boat to La Palma was located and, being a short distance, the ride barely
took 30 minutes.
La Palma, capital of the Darien Province, strangely, wasn’t reachable by road and
consisted of a few colourful houses on stilts. La Palma only had one ‘street’ along a
muddy riverfront. There was nothing else besides the few shops, bars, and
restaurants lining the only path. Our accommodation consisted of a ramshackle
stilted bungalow where one couldn’t just hear the water sloshing underneath but
could also see it through the floorboards.