21-22 July
This was the part of our whole trip that we were most trepidatious about. Of course we had done as much research as we could regarding our bus to David across the border in Panama. But we had also read much about the whims and vagaries of Border Control in Panama and how the bus would deposit slow-coaches at the border, with their baggage if they didn’t make the cut.
We also realised too late that the timetable on the Costa Rica bus company’s website gave an arrival time on Costa Rica time – not local time, so at the very best we would be an hour late. Well Que sera, sera!
Leaving Uvita
We had a late breakfast just past the bus station, and afterwards got to the station to wait in the heat, with our luggage safely away from the crowds. However, as we had stationed ourselves near a working electricity socket, we found ourselves surrounded by all and sundry as they alighted from the incoming buses.
Hot One of these?
Our green bus, numbered 102, arrived late, but we were unperturbed as we’d seen all this before. We were on the case, and got our rucksacks stowed aboard the bus before the driver went for his lunch. He used the opportunity to give us the necessary customs forms to complete. Very promising, so far!
The Border
The bus left over half an hour late, but we made good time to the Panamanian border at Paso Canoas. We had already paid our departure tax on-line, and we thus got very quickly through the Costa Rican side.
On arrival at the Panama Border Control, a short drive along, we were ushered into a small area with two counters open. We had all the documentation printed off, but as Peter had surmised, the photocopy of our on-line flights out of Panama didn’t pass muster. Nor did the agent like the screen-grab on the phone. She conferred with her colleague and he was much more amenable. Our photos were taken and phew, we got the desired entry stamp!
Now we had to queue to have our luggage x-rayed. There were only five of us, plus the bus driver. There was quite a tailback of lorries and coaches leaving Panama ahead of us in the queue. We were given a reprieve and allowed to depart without the x-ray check, only for the police to board the bus and check IDs about 5km down the road.
The bus terminal at David
David is only 45 minutes away from the Border, but we found ourselves in the midst of a torrential thunderstorm, causing traffic jams. We arrived at the bus terminal, approaching 6pm, two and a half hours later than we had originally thought, in the dark, with lashing rain. The place was mayhem. We had a hotel booked in Santiago, but there was no way we would get there much before 11pm. Would it still be open? We had tried to phone them and the number was incorrect.
So we decided to stay at a hotel by the bus station. Fortunately, we found one with a room free really close by. It pays to do contingency planning… We dropped off our rucksacks in our spartan room, and headed back out again in the rain, with torrents of water making the pavements almost impassable. We bought tickets for the coach to David, and repaired very damp to our hotel for the night, only to discover that we had, in our hands two tickets, for departure later THAT VERY evening!
So much for Lynne’s rudimentary Spanish. Back out, still in the rain and we were able to swap them to tickets the following morning – even getting some money back! It had stopped raining as we retraced our steps to the hotel, and amazingly, the torrents of water had literally drained away.
Our hotel was tired but clean. We had a bed, shower en-suite, working AC and wifi and a restaurant. What more did we want? Not food poisoning, for sure – that was an added extra, but didn’t manifest itself until well into our seven and a half hour bus journey the following day!
On to Panama City
The journey from David to Panama City went smoothly. We had a four-lane highway and an air-conditioned coach, the first-time either of us had ridden a double-decker coach. Unfortunately the guy in the seat in front played podcasts and music, without earphones for 6 hours!
Waiting Boarding Double Decker
With both of us feeling unwell, we couldn’t wait to alight at the enormous bus terminal in Panama City and catch a cab to our boutique hotel in the old city. Lynne was in bed before Peter was able to take off his rucksack. He was thinking about something light to eat, but all he could face was a wee dram of Johnny Walker Black Label at the bar.
Well we made it to Panama City, in time for our excursion on the Canal the following day. We hadn’t got much redundancy time in our schedule and it was the unexpected that could have thwarted our plans.
