Riding bikes on an airport runway

A few months ago, my girlfriend and I stayed in Bocas Del Torro, Panama for around 2 weeks. During the time we were there, big carnival celebrations were taking place so most hostels and venues to stay were booked out or crazy expensive. We were looking for a place to spend a few nights when we met Robby, an awesome surfer dude who had built a life in Bocas for the last 12 years. Robby is a well traveled man, a Vietnam veteran and simply a humbling and kind person.

As soon as he heard about our dilemma, he invited us to stay with him in one of the spare rooms he has in his beautiful house. He built a house on the water, surrounded by mangroves on the one side, starfish and crystal clear waters on the other. It was a serene atmosphere any time of day and we had so much fun staying with Robby! We went out together and spent hours listening to elaborate stories about his time and Vietnam and traveling Europe many years ago.

One thing which made his house even more special, was the fact that is was built right next to the international airport in Bocas. Due to the location of the house, there is no way around the airport to actually get there, which meant that you had to pass a couple hundred meters on the runway of the airport before taking a right into the mangroves. While it was a little weird to be riding your bikes along a massive runway, we started to enjoy our daily rides up and down the runway.

In the evening, the sun set right at the end of the runway, which made for an incredible view and experience when returning home. At the end of the day, we would often see local kids who used the paved runway to play football and just hang out together. Can any of you in Europe or the US imagine the trouble you would be in just for stepping foot on an international airport without proper authorization, let along ride your bike or play ball?

We kind of got used to our daily commute across the runway, when we were heading to town for some groceries one day. We just started paddling on the runway, when I looked up into the sky and saw to massive headlights moving our way fast. I realised that there was a plane coming our way and was about to land on the same runway we were riding our bikes on any moment. We both thought about booking it and trying to make it to the exit ramp a few hundred meters down, but realised there was no way we would make it.

We jumped into the bushes alongside the runway and decided to wait for the plane to land before we would keep going. as the plane landed, I wasn't sure how far the wings would reach towards the edges of the runway (where we were standing!), so I told Raquel to keep her head down until the plane passed us. Needless to say, we were pretty nervous at this point.

As soon as the plane made a squeeking landing right next to us, we jumped back on our bikes and started paddling like crazy to get off the runway. When I looked behind us while we were booking it, I realised that the plane had already turned around at the end of the runway and was now coming for us. We made it to the little turn off the runway, a small bridge heading back into town right before the plane caught up to us in the end and were happy to have gotten out of there without any trouble.

Sometimes while traveling, you just find yourself in situations which make you think "Is this really happening right now?!". This was definitely one of these experiences for us and something I will surely not forget.