And so to Costa Rica and Panama

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  Boquete, Panama
Monday, May 15, 2006

Well we finally left the beach on the 6th of May. We crossed over into Costa Rica at Penas Blancas. Again had to fight off the touts but we seem to be able to discourage them more easily now and everything was relatively easy and contrary to what BCAA says we did not need our carnet and in fact the car cost nothing; just a few dollars for ourselves and fumigation of the car. The inefficiency was the most "impressive" we have experienced with a row of people passing the same form from one to another for each to add their own mark.
As is often the case when we have passed from one country to another the scenery seemed to change dramatically from dry tropic forest to a lush landscape with small farms of cattle grazing and neat vegetable gardens and most of the little houses with lovely gardens; definitely a change from Nicaragua to Costa Rica. But it simply reinforces how badly treated some Central American countries are by their politicians (or dictators)

A view from our bungalow in Boquete

. I nearly wept when reading the Lonely Planet's brief description of Nicaragua under the Somoza family and then under a succession of venal politicians aided and abetted by America and their allies; and then the Contra/Sandinista conflict with America, China and Russia trying to outdo each other in terms of interference and anyone else who wanted to get involved. Billions poured into this tiny country in the form of arms and hand-outs to the favoured thugs of the day. Roosevelt is reported to have said of Somoza "He may be a son of a bitch but at least he's our son of a bitch". And even now there is little for the man in the street to look forward to with yesterday's good guys now showing their true colours and the CIA handing out various bribes and everyone outdoing themselves in the corruption stakes; and such lovely people that truly deserve something better.
Anyway, our destination in Costa Rica was Monteverde, the most popular cloud forest park, so naturally they give the route the most awful road they could possibly devise - but we are getting boring with our stories of the roads. A lovely route although very slow and the only event of note was when entering the little town of Tilaran we were stopped by an enterprising young man who sold us a scruffy little map for $4 as we were obviously lost (money to go to school and soccer team - maybe?). When we turned back onto the right road we realized they had simply removed the signs which had up to that point been excellent and were for the rest of the journey

Pineapples forever

!
We reached Monteverde and on to La Colinas Lodge where we could camp in a really lovely spot looking out onto forest and as always surrounded by bird sounds - hotel empty, owners away and some friends sort of looking after affairs which suited us. Monteverde, and I suppose Costa Rica, was a bit of a shock in terms of the rampant tourism and all the signs in English offering innumerable delights and activities; all very jarring after the low key tourism of the other countries we had been through where you hardly ever see English signs. But of course they now have far more tourists and more money so one cannot really complain.
Although Monteverde is NOT a pretty town (as it is given over to tourists) the surrounding forest is magnificent and our first hike was up a vertical road for several kilometres to a peak from which we could look across the cloud forest to Volcano Arenal which is currently active - spellbinding views from beneath a collection of radio towers. The next day we went to the park proper at what we thought was opening time (7am) and in fact were 20mins late so were very cross that no one was there until it was pointed out to us that in fact we should have changed our watches by an hour. Anyway we were the first into the park and declined a guide (I think we were right to do so as if you take a guide you are in a group of at least six people all of whom have to see everything and ask endless questions and generally spoil the mystery of the forest)

Unbelieveable beauty

. And mysterious it certainly was as we were enclosed in cloud most of the time with magnificent trees disappearing up into the gloom; each tree a complete ecosystem in itself covered with other piggy-backing plants, some of which like the strangler fig do what their name implies and end up as the tree. We saw and heard no one for two hours and Sheila especially was transported by the sights and sounds of the jungle. We have now seen the elusive Quetzal three times!
The next day we were off back to Tilaran and then on the scenic route around the man-made Lake Arenal. And it was a lovely drive with the forest coming right up to the road and actually meeting overhead in many places; the only drawback was having to drive through La Fortuna which is one of the worst tourism excesses we have seen. The high point for me was driving over a suspension bridge that looked as though it had been constructed a hundred years ago and received no attention since other than to place loose planks over the holes where the concrete had fallen away; I screamed at Sheila not to look down as I did not think she would agree to cross if she could see how far down we could fall! Clearly bridge testing is done by the user. We finally stopped in the dark and pelting rain in the busy town of Cuidad Quesada where, for the first time, we had to leave our car in the street but as the security guard looked terrifying we thought it would be safe enough - and it was

Volcano Arenal

.
We left very early the next day in absolutely spotless air and straight up into the mountain range to the north of San Jose. We realized that with the onset of the rains everywhere was now very clear and you could see for ever; the lack of industry is wonderful - for us. Also the burning prior to planting which was a feature of the other central American countries is absent here. At the summit our car was at its highest ever, at 3,400m, and it never hesitated.
As usual we negotiated the capital city of the country - San Jose - in the rush hour but not too many problems and on to the east via a little back road from Limon to San Vito; we choose these little roads simply to test our endurance, there can be no other logical reason why we would batter ourselves and our car for hours on end - but as usual lovely country and San Vito (started by Italians only 50years ago) was bustling and quite attractive. Still could not camp but had a very comfortable and quiet night in a little cabana.
The next day we are off to yet another border, into Panama via Paso Canoas, after dropping down vertiginously from San Vito.
The entry into Panama was interesting as it has been the first border where we felt we were being asked for a bribe. It appeared that everything would have to come out of the car so they could "check". Sheila had very sensibly written a list of everything in the car and managed to bore the poor official into a stupor with endless detail and he finally waved us away (our African experience has come in useful).
We are now in a little bit of paradise in Boquete staying with our friends Jane and Barry who left Vancouver over 12 years ago on a similar trip and just never returned. They bought 2.5 hectares of coffee and orange plantation in which they have built some cabins and carved out one of the most beautiful gardens we have ever see, whilst continuing to farm coffee and oranges. They have set an example of real eco-tourism which would be hard to beat. We will be spending at least a week in their gentle care gazing out over their gardens and up to the volcano to the north and as always listening to and observing all the wonderful birds. If you're interested in where we are right now their website is www.coffeeestateinn.com and the photographs around the property are wonderful.
TAKING A CAR ACROSS CENTRAL AMERICAN BORDERS
Some information for prospective travelers contemplating following in our footsteps:
Firstly we have found the border control people to be unfailingly helpful especially if you speak broken Spanish and smile a lot and say gracias and shake everyone's hand after you've dealt with them, the only problem is the lack of signs telling you which office is which and where you should go next....you have to ask a lot. The drill is first to change US$50 into the new local currency with the money changers who throng at the border - ask around until you get the best conversion rate; secondly tell the touts to "*@#****" in your best Spanish and figure the steps out for yourself. You will need copies of passports, driving licenses and car ownership documents (so make plenty of copies in advance), plus the documents for yourself and car that you received when entering the country you are now exiting. You then begin at emigration in the country you are exiting, and you may or may not have to go to a second office where you will relinquish any temporary import papers for the car (very important) or its done at the first office (Leaving Nicaragua this cost us L120, but nowhere else). You then go to immigration at the new country border post where you generally pay a small amount of money to enter the country (Panama requires a tourist card obtained from a separate office at the border), also communicate that you have a car to bring with you; this is followed by another office (may be the same as Adouana or different) in order to prepare the new temporary import permit. NB IN Mexico and Guatemala this cost money, but everywhere else there was no fee for the car permit; also there is no requirement for a carnet in any of the central American countries, in fact they had never heard of a carnet. Lastly you may or may not require a last visit to the Adouana - ask! And it was only Panama that required a list of what we were bringing in and who wanted to unload the car to check everything...no one else was interested, especially when they saw the car piled high with "stuff". With respect to car insurance we bought it ahead for Mexico and separately for the rest of central and south America. The latter policy however excludes any country against which US has embargos and that can change and so has to be checked. Currently it excluded Nicaragua and so we had to buy insurance at the border - US$12 for a month - not bad! Camp sites are not as abundant as we had hoped and so we've had to stay in small hotels too, but have generally found a place for US$10-12 maximum, and given that campsites have been US$10 then our budget is still intact! Security was something we were nervous about before we left, however, we have not been stopped at all by police and have never been in a situation where we felt at all unsafe. However, we don't drive at night, and we don't go into suspect areas of big cities, and also try to avoid heavy touristy areas. The local people have all been delightful and our belief is that the crime is in the cities where there are many tourists. The roads are unquestionably rough if you want to see the real country although you can stay on highways and be on paved roads if you wish...the maps can be misleading too as to the real state of the roads. If anyone wants more information don't hesitate to email us and we'd be happy to supply more details!

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