Well last night was an experience to say the least. Our room was nicely equipped with 3 bunkbeds. period. We both took a bottom bunk and after covering the windows with blankets we listened to another 10 chapters of an audio book I have on my computer. That usually puts us to sleep (and then we have to replay the last 3 chapters the next night).
Jo was the first to wake up freezing as it gets cold in San Jose at night. She grabbed an unused blanket and I toughed it out with the sheet which still had three threads to the inch left in it. The next wake up was when someone turned on a light in the hall and it illuminated the whole room. I thought someone had come in but if they did they found it was too cold to spend time robbing us and left to find a warmer room.
We got up just before 6 and skipped the breakfast and headed with our packs to the bus station which the travel guide book said was just three blocks away. Well they got that part right but the bus we needed had moved to a new facility 2 km. away so we cabbed it. Nice new facility and we got our tickets and left promptly at 7:30 after picking up a sandwich and some drinks for the ride. We stopped around 9:30 for a pee break and then hit the road again. The bus wasn't full and because they gave out claim tickets for baggage we'd stowed our packs underneath which gave us some leg room for a change. We stopped again around noon at a nice place and had a pork chop, rice and salad for lunch. We left there after about a half an hour only to stop about 15 minutes down the road. We waited for another 20 minutes while the yahoo who'd missed the bus leaving caught up to us by cab.
The Pan American Highway climbs for the first two hours of the trip out of San Jose through beautiful country with a good highway, pullouts for slower traffic, and many switchbacks and hairpins. It's hard to get pictures while speeding along and invariably there'd be a blurry tree in the middle of every picture. We were on the wrong side of the bus to get pictures of the clouds below us and the river we followed. We went through a cloud forest and dense jungle and on up to where the trees were very low to the ground and scrubby. This was all a protected game reserve which is really nice to see that land has been set aside to be saved as is.
As we neared the border the trucks began piling up beside the road. It also began to thunderstorm very heavily. Fortunately the exit to Costa Rica was under cover and all we had to do was get our passports (which we now know the number to) stamped. I think that cost about $2.00. We then piled back in and headed to the Panamanian side. First we got our passports signed and turned in our lies about not bringing any plant material into the country. Then we went to another wicket to pay the $10.00. Then we retrieved our bags to be inspected. When I picked up our packs there was a guy sitting in the baggage compartment who wanted a dollar. I asked him what that was for and he said for watching our bags. So much for needing a baggage claim check as he didn't know me from his illigetimate kids. I told him to see my business manager who was still getting something stamped. Next we took our bags into an inspection area where he did a less than thorough job like pulling out Jo's emergency toilet paper and dirty laundry. (It's all dirty at this point). Then the guy who showed us how to fill out the entry forms wanted a dollar for not robbing us. Jo's a soft touch and paid them both. I'd have just played dumb and told them I'm American and don't savvy the lingo.
At last we were back on the road after they finished spraying down the bus to kill the Northern roaches, soon to be replaced with Southern ones. The first thing we noticed in Panama was how clean and well kept everything was. It was obvious that they are a lot better off than either the Nics or the Ticos. It took about an hour or so to reach David (that's pronounced Duh veed not David.) That's so they can tell the tourists from the Latinos but we fooled them by practicing earlier on. We caught a cab right away for $1.00 who brought us as close as he could get to the Hotel. It's across from the central park which was blocked off due to a bunch of local garbage trucks who were having a parade with all their equipment. Really! This was accompanied by lots of horn honking and fireworks. After they all left there were some singers and dancers in the park which we watched from the balcony of our hotel. It was quite entertaining and the singers were really good. My favorite was La Bomba and I think Ritchie Valens is alive and well.
We checked out another hotel for tomorrow which is just around the corner and $10 cheaper. This room has two single beds and the one I'm on creaks if you look at it. It's a nice clean room though and has a/c which will probably give Jo a cold again if we leave it on. Her cold by the way has gone thanks to the antihistimine we got in San Jose. We picked up some more before we left just in case. Actually I think it's draino in a tablet form as it sure worked fast on her.
We have hot water in this place so it was a great long shower for both of us. This is a very modern high tech city. The internet in the foyer only requires you to insert a dollar and then your good to go for an hour. Tomorrow we may look for a wireless place. That's it for today. We're looking forward to seeing the downtown core but other than that I don't think there's a heck of a lot else to see so our days here are numbered and then it's on to Boquete which is East of here and higher up and thus cooler.
LINK OF THE DAY
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=29513&l=a981c&id=680056043
Al Cotton
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