Boat Border Crossing, 15 Hours Of Travel
Trip Start
Sep 29, 2007
1
43
221
Trip End
Ongoing
Today would be our last day with taz the surfer from Oz. We´ll miss the little guy very much. We left at 5:00am to all take the punt that immigration and the crossing would be open on Sunday. In luck.We took the boat 3.5 hours up the river back to San Carlos in the rain to find immigration would open at noon. Yippieee! Into Costa Rica. We are all running out of money due to no ATM´s anywhere in these parts.
We had our passport stamped at san Carlos and jumped a motorboat on the Rio Frio to Los Chiles. The boat was checked at a military checkpoint. We saw a crocodile on a log just before we hit the dock. Our bags were quickly searched then we waited in a fast line for immigration to stamp us in. Easy crossing although the lads at the desk stepped out for lunch while we were in the line up. We managed to get the last very full bus with no air to La Fortuna and checked into Arenal Backpackers which was pretty much gringo land. Arenal volcano (1633m) was covered in cloud so not much opportunity for night time lava viewing. We ate a traditional meal and tried to buy a sloth t-shirt but ended up with a new baby pet monkey to keep the other one company then fell asleep exhausted in a cramped dorm room with snoring party animals. 15 hours of bus and boat travel.
We had our passport stamped at san Carlos and jumped a motorboat on the Rio Frio to Los Chiles. The boat was checked at a military checkpoint. We saw a crocodile on a log just before we hit the dock. Our bags were quickly searched then we waited in a fast line for immigration to stamp us in. Easy crossing although the lads at the desk stepped out for lunch while we were in the line up. We managed to get the last very full bus with no air to La Fortuna and checked into Arenal Backpackers which was pretty much gringo land. Arenal volcano (1633m) was covered in cloud so not much opportunity for night time lava viewing. We ate a traditional meal and tried to buy a sloth t-shirt but ended up with a new baby pet monkey to keep the other one company then fell asleep exhausted in a cramped dorm room with snoring party animals. 15 hours of bus and boat travel.

