Costa Rica and Panama (13-30 April 07)

Calgary to Costa Rica

Some time ago, Murray and Joyce - our Canadian friends emailed us an offered us the chance to take a side trip to Central America. The idea was for us to join them for a while on the coffee plantation and organic farm, or Finca, as they are known that they were going to look after while the owner was away on holidays.

So, four days after we arrived in Calgary we were back at the Calgary International airport. This time boarding American Airlines Flight 2167 bound for San Jose Costa Rica via a stop in Dallas Fort Worth. The day started early at around 4 am, Chris, Murray and Joyce's son, drove us to the airport and after the usual immigration procedures (which were American) we boarded our flight and headed off South towards Dallas. Our flight passed over many US states, our birds eye view giving us an excellent vista of the patchwork quilt that is the prairies and of course the Rocky Mountains.

Leaving a very brown and frozen Canada we eventually landed in a very Green Dallas Fort Worth, where the airport is so large you need to use the mono-rail that runs around the outside of the terminals to get from one end to another, and something we did for fun and to pass the time between flights.

Leaving Dallas we missed a large storm and hurricanes that were wreaking havoc on Texas and eventually coming down through the clouds into a very steamy warm San Jose. Immigration and Customs were nothing but a formality and before we knew it, we were in a taxi and heading for our hotel - Hotel Aranjuez through some dark streets that would leave you a little uneasy about walking through after dark - and so ended another long day of travel.

Waking early we prepared and then went to the breakfast room where we enjoyed a wonderful breakfast of rice and beans, made to order omelet, fruit, bread, cake, juice and coffee. Murray and Joyce turned up and so we checked out and headed off in their rent a wreck 4 x 4, complete with missing rear shock absorbers to undertake the 150 kilometre trip over the mountains to San Isidro (pronounced San Is-eed-ro) el General and the small farm (Finca) we were to stay at near the small hillside town of Revus (pronounced with the V sounding something between a V and a B - Ree-huus), a tropical rainstorm adding to the spice and fun of the trip.

This is the front view of our little cottage in the Costa Rican jungle. It comprises of 4 concrete walls, some openings for windows and doors, one room, a tin roof, black plastic pipe on the roof hot water system and a flushing toilet. It is rather rustic but has a charm of its own and we are enjoying the simplicity of it.

During our stay we always had a happy hour, sometimes extending it into happy "hours". Murray and Joyce were living in an open air gazebo type building and the photo of us here shows us sitting in the dining area with the kitchen behind us.

The place we were staying at is owned and run by two ex-pat's, one Canadian, the other English. Between them they run an organic farm with coffee and other foods growing on it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The coffee grows everywhere here and can be seen growing all over the countryside. On the bush it grows along the branches and in between the leaves, as shown below.

One of the delights we experienced was the morning birdsong, and the many colourful birds that would come and feast on the bananas that we left on the feeder platform each morning. Using the clamper pod (see our equipment page) that I had been given I was able to clamp the camera to the table and with a flick of the button, capture the birds and an Iguana as they feasted to their hearts content some 15 feet away from us.

One other interesting bird was the "bellbird" which sounds the same as the bellbirds in Australia, and as it ding its tune out all night long it is a nice sound to drift off to sleep with.

 

 

 

 

Of course we are not sure what these birds are called but it was nice to have them around.

Here is the Iguana coming up for a feed, and then giving us a cheeky look before he tucked into the banana's.

 

We also had fire-flies In the jungle at night, their little lights ducking in and out of the trees as they made their way around. On the way back to from happy hour one night we managed to get a couple of photos of one as he rested on the trunk of a tree.

So after a pleasant few days in our little cottage in the jungle we decided to chance our ability's and travel overland into Panama to visit a friend of ours that works in the American Consulate there.

Costa Rica to Panama

We arrived in Panama City at 5.30 am on Friday 20 April after an interesting bus trip from Costa Rica - 3 hrs from San Isidoro (near where we are living) to a place called David (pronounced Dav-eed) then a 6 hour bus trip to Panama City. It took us two days to travel here and although the bus trip wasn't too bad, crossing the border into Panama was almost a nightmare.

Amidst so many people, trucks, cars, busses and anything else you can think of we had to get off the bus and then file through to fill in paperwork to leave Costa Rica, then when we turned around the bus had gone onto the Panamanian side of the no-mans land to wait for us. We walked about half a kilometre across no-mans land, dodging all sorts of traffic and the like, to where the bus was, and then had fun with the Panamanian Immigration.

We had bought a ticket to Panama but not a return, because we didn't know when we would be going back, that of course meant that they wouldn't let us in the country until we bought one. Thankfully we were able to get one from the bus driver. From there we had to buy a tourist card ($5USD), which we got from another place that, without help we would not have even found. Then it was back to the other window to get a stamp ($2USD), and only then could we be processed to continue.

We ended up paying $2USD to a man who helped us and although he is a bus company client service officer, he still wanted a tip - of sorts. We gladly paid up as we would still be there trying to sort it out, phrase book in one hand and the other firmly on the wallet!

So, after arriving at David, in the heat and humidity, we had to arrange an onward journey, which, we initially intended for the next day as we were going to overnight in a hotel because it was already 5pm. Well, as things often do when you are tired, hot and don't speak the lingo, things didn't go to plan. We ended up buying a ticket from David to Panama City but for 10.45pm that night, not the next day!!!! Oh well, that's the way it goes. So we walked off to find the hotel we had planned on staying in. The idea being that we could find it on the return journey. We stopped and had a meal in their restaurant (pork chops, chips, salad and orange juice - $15.23USD) before heading back to the bus terminal to sit for a few hours in the waiting room.

Finally, we boarded this posh double decker coach and headed off towards Panama City. Unfortunately the seats didn't recline enough and we sort of slept sitting almost bolt upright for the entire journey, arriving in the bus terminal which is as big as Spencer St Station.

A short taxi ride later ($5USD) we were at our friend Mike's place in time for him to set us up with a bed and an explanation of the place before he left for work. Phew! What an interesting couple of days. Hopefully it will be better when we go back - now that we know the routine.

So, recovering from our overnight travel experience, we spent the next few days sightseeing with Mike. We enjoyed a particularly nice meal in a restaurant overlooking on of the locks of the Panama canal, where we watched a few ships traverse the locks.

Built in 1913, these locks see around 40 vessels per day traverse them. To travel the canal costs an average of $180,000 per ship, so with 40 per day, the cash register chinks away nicely.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Another part of our sightseeing too us North to the Caribbean side of the country to see Fort Lorenzo (circa 1570). This fort was built to protect the gold shipments which came down from the Californian Gold Rush. The fort sits on the mouth of a river at the junction of the river and the Caribbean.

Another trip took us up into a dormant volcano and a pleasant visit to El Valle, where we took a walk through the rain forest, watch leaf cutter ants transport their cargo, looked around the place, enjoyed a nice lunch and the cooler climate. Traveling back down to the coast gave us some great vistas of the coast and of course returned us to the heat and humidity.

Returning to Panama city we witnessed a car swerve across the two lane highway and then roll several times in the monsoon drain. Plenty of other cars and busses stopped so we continued on. The next day the paper reported that the driver was retuning from the beach and lost control of the vehicle sustaining only minor injuries and a broken arm.

Our final look around Panama City, took us across the concrete causeway that runs out into the sea, and over to the old city, which is now a mass of ruins.

The new city appears to be rising up out of the ruins of the old with the skyscrapers starting to appear over the top of the old city skyline.

A trip to the shopping centre saw us devour a huge meal for a very small price (fillet mignon, salad and drink - $10) and while we were doing so, Mike had his car washed in the parking lot for $3!

Panama is a very busy city and one that is a consumer's paradise. Panama uses American Dollars but has its own coins called Balboa's.

So after a hectic few days looking around and visiting with Mike we boarded the bus for our long trip back to David and then San Isidro. The trip back, unlike the trip to Panama was rather uneventful and boring, with the exception of the Police boarding the bus to check everyone's passports at random roadblocks.

Arriving in David we walked the few streets to the Hotel Alaca where we meant to stay on the trip to Panama. So, after dropping our bags etc, we took a stroll through the very busy streets for a look at the locals and the shopping. Buying nothing we just managed to get ourselves back to the hotel before a huge storm hit the place and drenched all and sundry.

the next morning it was back onto a bus for the trip to the border (frontier) where we had to get off the bus, pay $1 each to get a stamp, complete the necessary paperwork and have our bags searched (for what we don't know, but guess drugs) before we walked the half a kilometre across no mans land to the Costa Rican Immigration. Here we filled out our paperwork, got our passport stamped and were then hearded into a corral with the others. Waiting for what seemed like an eternity, and in a caged area, we eventually had our Cost Rican Government hosts come in and call us out one by one to have our passport and bags checked yet again (just in case we managed to beat the Panamanian search) before we boarded the bus for an equally uneventful trip to San Isidro.

Arriving in San Isidro we found a taxi and after a short(ish) exchange in very bad Spanish and some translation from a nearby shop keeper, we were back at the finca. Happy hour was spent recalling our adventure to Murray and Joyce before we headed off to bed.

A very pleasant few days passed as we spent our lat few days in Costa Rica, all of us enjoying happy hour of an evening and relatively easy days in between.

Cost Rican beer comes in a number of vessels, but we were drinking out of litre bottles for the price of 975 colones ($2.30AUD).

So eventually the day came where we left out little cottage hideaway and took the short trip into San ISidro for the last time before boarding a bus for the 150km, 3 hour ride to San Jose and the Hotel Aranjuez.

 

 

 

 

Climbing up out of the valley, we climbed for around an hour until we could see that we were level with the tops of the surrounding mountains and the valleys shrouded in cloud.

 

Arriving in San Jose around noon, we used the free Internet to catch up on a few things online before taking a short walk for something to eat. the rest of the afternoon being taken up with a nap and then a short stroll out for an Italian meal with Argentinean wine at a nearby hotel.

Our taxi driver - Harry took us to the airport via the back streets of San Jose, giving us a glimpse of the non tourist route. Arriving at the airport we paid the $26USD each required to get a piece of paper allowing us to leave the country before boarding our American Airlines flight to Calgary via Dallas Fort Worth.

An uneventful flight aw us land in Dallas where we had to collect all of our belongings and traverse the US Immigration Service minefield. Murray and Joyce managed to glide through but when we got to the desk our fun began.

Our immigration officer was not in a good mood and after inspecting Joanne's passport dropped it on the bench and began asking all sorts of questions, and so the conversation went something ,like this:

Him: why are you coming to America?",

Us: We are transiting through to Canada.

Him: "where is your return ticket out of the contiguous United States and Territories?"

Us: "we don't have one because the trip we are on will take longer than 12 months and we cannot get a ticket for longer than that time because they don't sell them"

Him: "well, you can't enter the US because you don't have a return ticket"

US: But we are only transiting America to Canada and we are only here because the plane brought us here. We are going to Canada and then later on will be flying to Alaska to cycle back to Calgary and then down into the US"

He then decided to check the passports again and all of a sudden the penny dropped and the light came on inside the fridge and he uttered the magical words of. "Oh silly me, my itty bitty brain just ain't work'n today". You guys don't need a ticket because you have a visa!" and with that he duly processed out I94 forms, stamped our passports and even told us how to ensure that the portion of the I94 Departure from the US form is processed properly! His whole demeanour changed from a nasty SOB to one trying to apologise and save face.

Us: "its been a long day huh?"

Him: "oh you bet"

Us: "well, hopefully it will get better"

Him: hope so - Welcome to the United States - have a nice day"

and so we were through another nightmare entry into the USA. We passed through the security check and after getting ourselves a mango smoothie, located Murray and Joyce in the departure lounge.

Another uneventful flight saw us land in Calgary, get through Immigration and Customs with a minimum of fuss and arrive by taxi at Murray and Joyce's home.

No snow around (except on the Canada Olympic Park Ski Slope as seen from our bedroom window) and the buds on the trees starting to bloom.

 

The next few weeks will be taken up preparing for Alaska, and we will document that in our preparations page.

Read about our cycling trip around Australia in our book - "Ants, Dust & Flies in my Coffee..."