Costa Rica a Panama

There were two places we definitely wanted to visit in Costa Rica: Monteverde (recommended by every person we spoke to about Costa Rica) and Tortuguero (for the turtles). There were a few other places we wouldn't have minded visiting, but from everything we read about Costa Rica, there wasn't anything else there much different from what we've already seen in Central America. Plus several people have told us that Panama is just as lovely as Costa Rica but cheaper and with a lot fewer tourists. So we decided to head on down there.

From Monteverde, we returned to San Jose. The bus back was a delightful 5-hour trip, as opposed to the 8+ hours it took us getting to Monteverde from San Jose! We enjoyed the afternoon in San Jose, finding more cow statues and eating at a cool vegetarian restaurant. We were also pleased to use the public bus system rather than getting taxis everywhere. We tried to get tickets for the next morning's bus to Bocas del Toro, Panama, but we were told we'd have to buy our tickets on the bus. All they could tell us was that the bus would leave at 9am up the street. (Seemingly thousands of buses leave San Jose for various destinations, and each of them leaves from a different terminal or random place in the road. It's chaotic.) We wanted to go on a Saturday, and our guidebook mentioned how busy the buses are on Saturday mornings. So were a bit anxious about the next morning.

We got up bright and early and had our free brekkie at the hostel. Then we got to the approximate area where our bus was supposed to be. There was a bus there with loads of people lined up by it. Luckily one of them told us it wasn't the bus we wanted, and we needed to join the much smaller queue up the street a wee bit. Chris saw some other backpackers in that queue, and they confirmed there were going to the same place as us. Phew! After about an hour, the bus showed up, and luckily there was plenty of room for all of us. Even better, the 7-hour voyage only cost $11 each. For once, our guidebook listed a price that was more than the actual current cost!!!

We drove through gorgeous scenery towards Tortuguero at first, but then we turned off to continue south along the Caribbean coast. At some point, our bus broke down, but another bus showed up at the same time and we all just transferred onto that. No worries. We got to the border, which we read was the most relaxed crossing between Costa Rica and Panama. Bear in mind that it took us something crazy like 8 hours to cross the last border (Nicaragua to Costa Rica). This border crossing was ACE. On the Costa Rica side, we had to fill out a short form, but we got through in a few minutes. Then we walked across a crazy rusted bridge lined with haphazardly placed, rotting boards to the Panama side. (It was scary enough walking across it. Our bus drove across it after us!)


I was the only American citizen in our little group of backpackers, so I had to buy my $5 tourist card, but it was easy peasy. Then some very informal border patrol guys (jeans, t-shirts, baseball hats, lots of gold chains, and loads of Caribbean charm) stamped our passports. We were through in about 10 minutes. Now THAT is how border crossings should be.

Our bus took us to the nearby town of Changuinola, from where a taxi took the 7 of us backpackers (crammed into a car built for about 5 people) to the water taxi dock. We paid $3 each for that privilege and then a $7 fee each for the water taxi to Isla Colón in the group of islands called Bocas del Toro. We waited about an hour for the taxi, but we spent the time chatting with an English couple, watching lots of little crabs all over the waterline, and petting a lovely dog.

It's great to be in Panama!