Journey to Panama

We had decided to stay at the same noisy hostel as the night before because it was just too much work to try to move to a different place but we made sure that Lars moved to the room behind us so that we could ensure the fan would not be turned on. We got to sleep in a bit as our boat left at 8:45 but unfortunately I was not feeling very well when I woke up. We packed up, grabbed some fruit and coffee and headed to the boat. It was already full when we got there so Alyssa sat in the back so I could have the front seat and hopefully get some air flow to prevent me from getting motion sickness.

It was only an hour boat ride across the Golfito Bay to Golfito, but once we got there we had to find out which bus was going to the border. Luckily, we had over heard a few other Spanish speaking people who were also going to the border so we waited at the bus stop until they got onto the correct bus.

Once on the bus, we had a few hour drive to the Costa Rica/Panama border at a city called "Paso Canoas".

This border was much better than our experience at the Nicaraguan border and everything seemed to be working smoothly. However, we had not realized that you needed to have $500 cash or a bank statement showing how much money you had to enter the country. I only had $200 with me but after looking very confused and asking if they had wifi so we could pull up our bank statements, the guy said it was no problem and let us through. It will never cease to amaze me what problems we can sweep under the rug simply by smiling a lot and being overly friendly/mildly flirtatious. I normally frown on women using this tactic but at a border crossing I am totally fine with it; it is so stressful, use any means necessary!
We got across the border and immediately a guy was asking us if we needed the bus to David. We did so we jumped on just as it was pulling out of the station. It was a bit of a whirlwind, but I like fast travel, the quicker the transition the better! We had no idea where we needed to get off but we knew it took over an hour to get to David so we kept a lookout for bus stations. Luckily, one of the couples in the bus had been on our shuttle earlier from Costa Rica so since we recognized them, we asked if they knew where the bus station was and how to get to Bocas del Toro. They spoke Spanish but understood us well enough and inquired with the bus driver on what we should do. In the end, that bus ride only cost $2.25, which was a great deal for a bus with a/c!
We got to the bus terminal, found the bus to Bocas and purchased a ticket for $6. They give change in both US currency and Panama currency which I find funny, though it is 1=1 so I guess it doesn't matter. The bus was completely full but Alyssa and I got seats in the back which gave us a little more space. They played the latest Fast and Furious movie on a little screen in front which kept me entertained until I was able to pass out for about an hour. We hadn't eaten lunch but I wasn't hungry since I wasn't feeling well and Alyssa had some fruit and snacks to hold her over.
It was a three hour drive from David to Almirante, which was the town that we would need to get the boat taxi in to go to Bocas del Toro. We knew the last boat taxi was at 6:00 and we had planned the trip accordingly. What we didn't know was that there is a time change between Costa Rica and Panama which put us an hour behind schedule. When we arrived in Almirante, we knew we had missed the boat by 15 minutes so we were prepared to get a hostel for the night. But there were taxi drivers waiting outside our bus asking if we were headed to Bocas. We said yes and they assured us that there was another boat that we could take for $5 that would be leaving in 10 minutes. We took the taxi to the dock and there was no boat. The taxi driver assured us that if we waited a little while, a boat would come by that we could take. Of course, a boat never came. Instead, there were a bunch of local guys hanging out by the docks that were trying to convince us to let them drive us there in their boat for $50. We of course said no and then they insisted that it would be cheaper to take their boat than stay the night in Almirante since there were only two hotels in town and each cost more than $50/night. We of course knew this had to be bullshit. These men hounded us for about a half hour before finally another cab drove by the deserted docks which we were able to hail. The men who had been talking to us ran to the cab to speak to the driver first telling the guy where to take us. Luckily the driver was nice and when we asked I'm if there were more than two hotels in town he said, "of course, there are tons". He took us to a nice, reasonably priced hotel in the middle of town which had a/c and hot water for $25/night. We tried to find a restaurant nearby so that we wouldn't have to walk very far. The town was extremely unsafe and all of the roads were dark. The man who ran our hotel pointed out a restaurant right down the street from the hotel so we went there, no questions asked. Chicken, rice and salad for $3.50- pretty damn cheap. Unfortunately by this point I was feeling so lousy I could barely eat. We went straight back to the hotel and I tried to get some sleep. Unfortunately I didn't sleep at all. I was either freezing or on fire and spent the whole night awake and miserable. Panama is not off to a good start.

Posted with Blogsy