End of GAP trip and a Change in Plans

Trip Start Dec 03, 2007
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Trip End Mar 29, 2008


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Flag of Costa Rica  ,
Thursday, January 3, 2008

On January 4, we ended phase two of our trip and decided to go directly to Boquete, Panama from San Jose rather than spend another week travelling on the Caribbean side of Costa Rica. As we had been living out of our backpacks for several weeks, we felt that it would be a good plan to get settled in our little cabana and get rid of our head colds before travelling again. We had rented the cabin from January 1 to the end of February so it was ready for us.

Once again, though this time on our own, we caught an express bus from San Jose at 6:30 in the morning, paid $12.50 each and enjoyed the wonderful, green scenery in the southeast part of Costa Rica. This is definitely an area that we will have to come back to as it truly magnificent. We believe that this is in the area that our friends Pat and Gail bought some property and if so, we understand why they would have fallen in love with the area Coming into Boquete with th esetting sun
Coming into Boquete with th esetting sun
 .

Crossing the border into Panama was once again quite a challenge and very time consuming -  one long line after another - and a complete baggage check! The bus driver waited patiently guarding bags and suitcases, as all of us on the bus went though the procedures required to get a one month Visa to enter Panama.

Now we were back on the bus for a 2 hour ride to David, the 2nd biggest city in Panama and then a short 1 hour local bus to the mountain town of Boquete (cost $1.50). By now, 12 hours have gone by since we left San Jose and it was dark. We called Joy and Jerry, our new landlords and they quickly came to pick us up and take us to our ' teepee in the clouds', where we unloaded our stuff and fell asleep.

We have included a few photos of our cabin, which is about a 1 km walk up a mountain from the village of Boquete. The views and rainbows are spectacular, the teepee has everything that we need as our home base for exploring and we get good exercise walking down the mountain into the town. Taxis and buses are cheap for returning home ($1.00 each) and the cabin is on a secure and safe property with sheep. Our landlord lives on the property, as well as a Canadian couple who are making the big decision about relocating to Panama so we have good company.

More about Boquete will follow...
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