Click on a photo to enlarge it.
We drove out of Panama and along the Pan American Highway back through the country. It is a long drive and we finally got to the area
that had been blocked by the demonstrations that the taxi driver had told us about.
The road was now open but there was a lot of debris on the road - glass, rocks, trees and branches plus burn areas on the tarmac. It
did not look as if it had been friendly but we weren't there at the time so we can't really say.
The only info we had was that the road had been blocked for 6 days, the indigenous people were protesting about mines and hydro-electric
power, and it was only opened yesterday after the President had been to talk to them. As this is the only road from Costa Rica to
Panama City all the traffic was stopped. Six days is a long wait!
We were lucky to get through and drove to Chirique where we stopped at a petrol station for the night. We turned off the main highway
to go over the mountains to the Caribbean side of Panama. At a checkpoint we were told that the road is blocked further on and we can't
get through. It has been blocked for 12 days and, whilst negotiations are continuing, it might open tomorrow. So we decided to drive
on and find out what the situation is. The alternative route for us would have meant hundreds of extra miles so if there was a
possibility for us to get through in the next few days it would be far better to sit it out.
There were very steep grades on the mountain road and we also went through thick fog. Then we started seeing trees and branches
blocking one side of the road at various intervals. This would be a kind of warning system to drivers to slow down.
We got to the main queue of vehicles just after 1pm. We parked at the side of the road near Chiriqui Grande and walked down to see if we could find out
any information. We weren't going to complain, we just wanted to find out what the protest was about.
There was a group of about 50 indigenous people holding a meeting. So we waited for an appropriate time to approach and ask questions.
They are complaining that the mining companies and others are destroying their land and contaminating their rivers - their main water
supply. There are four indigenous groups who are taking action together. The groups on the Pan American Highway have just negotiated
a settlement. The groups here will continue until a solution is found.
This is the only way they can protest because otherwise they are ignored. They apologised to us but also said that they cannot simply
give up and certainly not when the block has already been in place for so long.
Once a settlement is reached the road blocks will be removed - they told us there are four more on the way to the border. They were
listening to a radio as they were expecting an announcement at 6pm that evening.
They were all very friendly people and they didn't have a problem telling us about what was happening. They didn't need to apologise
to us either and in our moderate Spanish we managed to convey our hopes that a solution is found so that they get what they want and
need.
A baby raccoon in action.
We went back to our motor homes and settled in for a wait. There are several truck drivers waiting and a field full of cars parked.
These must be from people who live on the other side of the road block who simply left their cars here and walked home or got on a
bus the other side.
Word had obviously got around so that there really wasn't that much of a queue. But no one would have to tell us when we could drive
through as everyone else would just get into their trucks and start driving!
That's exactly what happened at 6-15 pm! So we followed everyone else for about half a mile but the road was still blocked. Then it
seemed that the situation hadn't been properly sorted out yet and they were waiting for the president to sign a document first. Some
people were getting annoyed but we just switched off the engine and waited.
Finally at 8-30pm we drove through. It was slow going getting through the blocked areas that had been hastily pushed to the side. The
truck drivers before us didn't need to be so concerned and simply drove through but we didn't particularly want to damage our tyres
and get lots of scratches. So Kirsten and Agnes got out to move branches and other obstacles whilst Helen and Helmut drove.
We only drove 4 miles to get to Chirique Grande and a petrol station where we could park for the night.
Rock block just before Chiriqui Grande.
