San Lorenzo and Camino de Cruces Section 3

Waypoint introductions and full write-ups

1. 1. San Lorenzo

   Fort San Lorenzo stands on a cliff above the mouth of the Chagres River, and from the old walls you can see the Caribbean on one side and a green tangle of jungle on the other. It was built by the Spanish in the sixteenth century to guard the point where the river meets the sea, because the Chagres was the water road for the treasure caravans coming across the isthmus. A fort was only as good as its garrison, though, and in 1671 the Welsh buccaneer Henry Morgan took it, with a force of a few hundred men, before marching on Panama City itself.

   Read the complete San Lorenzo write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   San Lorenzo is where the day begins. Next is Fortifications on the Caribbean Side of Pa.

2. 2. Fortifications on the Caribbean Side of Pa

   Columbus named it Puerto Bello, the beautiful harbour, in 1502, and for once a sailor's first impression was right. Portobelo sits on a deep, sheltered bay on Panama's Caribbean coast, backed by steep green hills, and for two centuries it was the point where the wealth of Peru left the New World. Gold and silver came by sea up the Pacific coast to Panama City, crossed the isthmus on mule trails like the Camino de Cruces, and were loaded here onto the Spanish treasure fleets. Every year, a great fair was held, with merchants and soldiers crowding the little port, and prices and diseases both soared.

   Read the complete Fortifications on the Caribbean Side of Pa write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Fortifications on the Caribbean Side of Pa comes up about 70 km into the recorded legs. Next is Camino de Cruces Section 3.

3. 3. Near Curundú

   This point lies on the western side of Panama City, in the belt of land that was once the American-run Canal Zone, between the old neighbourhoods of Curundú and Ancón and the green slopes leading towards the canal. Ancón Hill, the forested hump that dominates this part of the city, was for decades the administrative heart of the zone, and the area still has the wide lawns, tidy wooden houses and tropical trees of that era.

   Read the complete Near Curundú write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   about 166 km into the recorded legs you reach Camino de Cruces Section 3. Next is back through Fortifications on the Caribbean Side of Pa.

4. 4. back through Fortifications on the Caribbean Side of Pa

   Return visit. Read the place description above.

   Read the complete Fortifications on the Caribbean Side of Pa write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   back through Fortifications on the Caribbean Side of Pa, late in the day. Next is San Lorenzo.

5. 5. San Lorenzo

   Return visit. Read the place description above.

   Read the complete San Lorenzo write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Back at San Lorenzo. That is the ride.