Finally back on track
Trip Start
Mar 31, 2006
1
31
37
Trip End
Mar 31, 2007
San Jose,
Costa Rica
Thursday, February 1, 2007
We start our embarkation marathon on the 25th January. Every port seems to be completely different in terms of what you need so we were very lucky that travelers we had met, who did the same trip with their car a few months before, gave us detailed instructions for loading in Manta and for getting the car back in Panama. It would have been so much harder if we had not had their experience. The agent, very pleasant but very laid back, spoke good English but somehow his instructions never quite made it into a coherent set of actions. Well we started with a delightful customs lady but of course every form no matter how trivial has to be signed by the chief and he was out until the middle of the afternoon - sit around! We finally got to the port gates to be told that we were missing a last essential bit of paper. Back in the car to return to the office that had failed to give it to us and phone calls from said office got us a little man to meet us at the port gates, who then took us in hand through the narcotics inspection and into the car park. The narcotics inspection delighted Sheila as it was done by a slobbery female golden retriever who wanted nothing more than to play. The policeman was so insistent that she find drugs that I felt she was going to just so she could finish! The kennels at the narcotics centre were full of dogs clamoring to be the ones to come and inspect our car...pick me!! So finally we left our precious car in the middle of a "secure" car park and handed over our key to the little man who said he would personally drive it on; who was he? Not sure but he seemed very genuine.
There were only 2 private cars to be loaded along with some new trucks en route to Vancouver.
Jungle over Golfito
The cars were to be loaded that night and we were very excited to see the enormous blue car carrier slowly come into port at about 6-7 pm. The next morning we went to pay and get our bill of lading; our friendly agent said ours was the last car driven on; it was red, wasn't it? No you idiot it was grey! Oh I am sure I saw a grey one as well. So we leave not knowing whether our car is still sitting in the car park.A bus to Guayaquil and the next day, Saturday, a comfortable flight to Panama City and back into the same hotel where we'd stayed when collecting our car on the southerly leg. They did not recognize us; not surprising when you can book most rooms by the hour here! We wait out the weekend expecting our car to be discharged on the Sunday. Into the agent bright and early on the Monday to be told the boat had been sitting outside the port and our car (if it is onboard) might only be driven off that afternoon; "you can pick it up tomorrow". No, no tomorrow is too late; please, please. Alright do customs and then go to the port and wait at Nico's Café for further instructions. Customs a doddle; we are so lucky that we are in Balboa and not Colon which was dirty and dangerous. Nico's is probably the best fast-food place in the world: infinite variety, cool and inexpensive; and in the four hours we are there we sample a wide variety of what is on offer. We are told to phone the agents at 1pm but of course she is not going to be back until 2pm. At 2pm she says she cannot release the car until Tuesday; after much protestations by Sheila we are then told to call the Colon office; I am not sure what Sheila said on the phone as I was guarding our patch at Nico's but she got a promise that "Tanya" would meet us at the gate at 3pm. At 3pm at the gate there is no Tanya and no one knows who Tanya is. The security guards take pity on us and give us a another security guard to hold our hand and in we go for another two hours of form filling and signing and inspection; we never found Tanya and never found out why anyone from the agents had to release our car. Suddenly at about 5pm our car was magically in front of us completely intact and with nothing missing. We know why: we found a little brass Buddha in the dirt early on in the trip and he sits inside the car and is our talisman and has been working extremely hard.
So back on the road in Panama; the same road but at least we are back into our much delayed trip. We had hoped to have an overnight visit with our friends Jane and Barry in Boquete but the delays sadly made this impossible and we stopped at one of our usual "cheapies" just outside Santiago (Panama).
Landing the fish at Puerto Lopez
At least we managed to meet Barry for coffee in David on Tuesday, as we passed through, as he was in town to do some business. Our destination is San Jose where I am flying out (Friday) for Oz and we need to find somewhere nice for Sheila to stay and a language school. The border was the usual shambles with the added problem of a failed computer system which delayed us an additional two hours. The Panamanians in their usual desultory way tried to get us to pay for various things; they seem to expect people to say no but they try anyway for form's sake. As with the ports it always seems a bit different and there is always a tout trying to hold your hand. But we heard a horrendous story from a young Canadian who used a tout and missed an essential stamp on his passport and when he tried to leave Costa Rica they threw him in jail and confiscated his motorbike etc etc!We broke our trip to San Jose at Golfito on the coast and what a delightful little place it turned out to be. The guide book doesn't do it justice. For us it was like a tropical Tofino (west coast of Vancouver Island); any minute you expected one of Graham Greene's characters in a Panama hat to come strolling by. The jungle presses hard against the town which is strung around a beautiful bay, all higgldey-piggldey. Sadly we only had time for one night. We hadn't previously driven on a chunk of the southern road from the border as we'd taken a high route. It was beautiful dense rain forest with trees laden with bromalids and huge leaved plants dripping in moisture. The drive up to over the 3000m pass, although busy with trucks, was also more beautiful than we had remembered. It's rather nice to have a second visit to these central American countries as we really did rush through on our southerly leg coupled with me being so unwell.
We are now in San Jose a very uninteresting city but with a very interesting street numbering system and way of directing people. Calles and Avenidas start at the centre and go "even" one way and "odd" the other! Coupled with this, the locals do not use street addresses to locate anything, they use landmarks some of which have ceased to exist for many years so they never know street names. If you don't know this, which we did not, you circle the same blocks six times searching for the missing roads! It is vastly more expensive than anywhere else we have been which has Sheila gnashing her teeth. Anyway, having spent one night in an hourly hotel (but they have a secure car park!) we get Sheila into a hostal today where she will have a 2-bed room to herself whilst I'm away.
Comments
Heading home
Hi Sheila and Chris. I have been reading your Travel Logs but have had no time to post, what with Christmas and lots of other things going on. Other things meaning Quinn and Jenn getting married at Christmas, Damon and Sarah moving to Montreal (with my grandson, sigh), and Blake and Paula moving to Vancouver. We are feeling quite empty nested. All the best for your safe journey home. Hope to see when you return. Kathleen