PANAMA (it's not just a song) !!

We had been told that Panama is not a country you need to spend a lot of time in.  We heard it is a country that has a less good version of many thing you can see it in other Central American countries and that it was very expensive.  Well WE DISAGREE!! 
We had a blast in Panama and recommend it.  We explored Caribbean islands, hiked mountains, chased waterfalls, explored mountain towns and reached the end of the northern section of the Pan-American Highway.  This blog also discusses the processes of preparing to cross the Darien gap and the stress associated with being on an expedition
like this.

May 11^th – A day of emotions

We were told that to get onto the 7am ferry to Boca del Toro we needed to be in the line up for 5am (which was 4am Costa Rica time).  To say we were tired would be an understatement, we felt almost delirious. 

As we drove to the ferry terminal one of the friends of the locals who had brought us to our camping spot followed us to the ferry terminal telling us that she had saved us a spot in the line up.  We thanked her but told her it wasn’t necessary.  Suddenly the conversation went into a high pressure sales pitch saying that the ferry is busier than normal and that if we don’t use the spot they saved we would probably have to wait until the noon ferry.  Next they told us that there was a fee for saving this spot in the line and that they expected a tip.  Slowly there were more and more red flags.  We had never done this process before and iOverlander was a bit vague on the process, only stating you pay before you get on the ferry.  The “helpers” told us that a man would be walking the line collecting payment and shortly after they left a man we had never seen before approached our vehicle and said it would be $60 USD for the vehicle and two people to be on the ferry.  We paid the amount and he kept walking down the line.

10 minutes later another man walked the line and confirmed that we wanted to go to Boca del Toro then told us that there was room on a ferry at the other port (right beside the port we were at).  We followed him to the other ferry and right before driving on was approached by another man (with a receipt book) saying we had to pay for the ferry.  We explained that we had already and he said, no, you pay just before you drive onto the ferry.   We had been scammed.

Paul was so angry and frustrated that he didn’t pay attention to the red flags or listen to his gut and in his frustration (and sleep deprivation) decided to leave the line, reject the spot on the ferry and find these “helpers” or the man who took our money in the hopes to get it back.  It didn’t take too long until we realized this was a very stupid idea and besides that there was no one to be found on the streets.  The “helpers” had their money and they were smart enough to make themselves scarce.

We now had a more serious issue; we left the line up for the ferry and if we weren’t on the ferry we would have to wait another 4 hours until the next one in the sketchy town. To give you a feeling of how sketchy this place was, we have been in some dangerous situations and some bad areas of different towns and cities in our lives, but this place takes the cake without any doubt for the sketchiest place we have ever had to spend any time.  We rushed back, spoke to every ferry worker we could find hoping to secure something and by some luck someone took pity on us, allowed us back into the line to secure the last small spot on the larger 7am ferry.  We did, obviously need to pay, but thankfully the actual cost of $45 USD.

2 hours later we arrived in Boca del Toro a beautiful island paradise.  The main community on the island felt far safer and had everything we needed (water and food).  We decided to head to the best reviewed spot on the island, Starfish beach a spot which allowed camping for a small fee.  The 20 kilometres drive was pretty uneventful, with us only stopping at the largest (according to Guinness World Records) building made out of plastic bottles.  By 9:30am we had found our camping spot and finally relaxed cooking some breakfast trying to forget the frustrations of the morning.

We spent the rest of the day on Starfish beach with the beautiful crystal clear and clean beach with beautiful turquoise water.  We went snorkelling and swimming and generally relaxed on the beach, a beach that became our favourite beach of the trip thus far.  Slowly, little by little, our raw emotions from the morning faded away and smiles returned to our faces.  We started to truly enjoy our day.   This was paradise!!

As the sun set we returned to our camping spot and celebrated we were in Panama and we’re actually enjoying it.  The day would have ended perfectly if it wasn’t for one issue, we ran out of propane.

 

May 12^th – Making the right decision

Running out of propane is a big deal for us, we cook most of our meals out of the van and often camp where there are no restaurants.  We either needed to get a hotel near the large community on the island (which was quite expensive) or leave the island.  It wasn’t the decision we wanted but we knew the right decision (especially knowing we had to be in Panama City May 17^th for a vehicle inspection).  Not wanting to waste any bit of time on the island we left our campsite relatively early and made it to the other side of the island to see the beaches over there.

The beaches on the east side of the island were more for surfers but that didn’t mean we didn’t find our perfect shade spot to enjoy the morning and have a picnic.  Sadly, all good things come to and end so we left the beach and, very easily without any “helpers”, got on the 3pm ferry. The only person to interact with us in the ferry line was he man selling banana muffins, which we had to buy.

After we returned to the mainland we had a bit of a drive to get to our camping spot, a spot within a cloud forest way in the mountains.  It was sort of surreal to be camping for free in a cloud forest in amongst the clouds when we had to pay $25 USD/person a few days ago to just walk a forest in the clouds in Costa Rica.

 

May 13^th – Making moves

Not every day is glamourous and this is definitely one of those days.  We needed propane, food, gasoline, water, and ideally a shower.  We also had to travel almost 4 hours to the mountain community of Santa Fe. 

We accomplished pretty much all our tasks as we drove to Santa Fe, even our concerns about finding propane were unfounded as it was very easy to get the tank refilled.  Interestingly we could only get it filled with Butane as propane isn’t really used in Central America because they don’t see it as an efficient fuel.  Luckily some quick googling reassured us that butane will work for us and we haven’t had any problems with this as our cooking fuel.

The hardest thing for us to find was actually water, because the water in all the taps here is potable no one really sells water.  We had hoped that by the time we reached Santa Fe we would have seen something but unfortunately we didn’t.  Luckily we did have enough water left for us to drink if we didn’t wash any dishes and who isn’t looking for an excuse not to wash dishes. In case you are wondering, if we are not washing dishes we are also not going to be washing our bodies.

We had planned to camp at a viewpoint within Santa Fe National Park which promised beautiful views, but we aren’t lucky every day, the view was non existent and rainy so we decided to set the van up in table mode so we could eat inside the van.  We spent the rest of the night watching movies and listening to the rain hammer the van. Our current watch list is Polka King (we do not recommend it), El Chapo, Breaking Bad (Kendra hadn’t watched it) and we just started Beef.

 

May 14^th – Following a man with a machete into the Jungle

Santa Fe is known as the land of Mountains and Waterfalls so we thought it best to take advantage of everything this land has to offer.  Our first stop was a hike to Loma Grande Waterfall which was very close to our camping spot.  We made it about 20 meters and turned around.  The hike was straight down a muddy, slippery hill in the pouring rain.  We decided to pass. This was also the first time in a very long time that we had woken up to rain, we knew rainy season was going to find us eventually.

Oddly, by driving to the other side of the mountain range the rain had disappeared and the skies were blue so all we needed to do was find some waterfall on this side of the mountain.  As this is the land of waterfalls it didn’t take us long to see a sign saying “Cascadas à (Waterfalls)”. 

As we drove towards the sign a friendly looking man said we could park in his driveway and before we knew it, without asking for it, we were following a man with a machete into the jungle.  We are trying to listen to our gut more but for some reason (maybe because of his ultra friendly dog named Rocky) we trusted him.  It turns out he worked on the coffee plantation near the waterfalls and even showed us the coffee plants he harvests and the coffee beans on them.  He brought us to three cute waterfalls that, if we weren’t with our randomly acquired guide we would have swum in.  After the whole experience we learned that the man with a machete was just a genuinely friendly guy wanting to help tourists.  He didn’t want anything in return for his time and even helped us get some water.  This seemed to be such a stark difference from what we experience in Costa Rica and in our first day or two in Panama.  We ended up leaving him a little bit of money, which he eventually accepted thanking us immensely.

Since it was only noon we decided that we would climb to the summit of a mountain, something we hadn’t done in months.  The famous mountain of the area is Cerro Tute a mountain backed into the history of Panama as the start of the liberation of Panama from US influence.  The hike was not what we expected, it was beautiful and worth it (after we were done) but it was brutally steep and wildly windy.  We felt so accomplished once we completed it and the views were incredible, but we definitely didn’t know what we were in for.  In hindsight that was probably for the best.  Rupert did come with us, but gave up walking within the first 40 minutes of the hike, lucky for him (unlucky for Paul) we did have his backpack, so he got a free ride up and down the mountain on Paul’s back.

By the end of the hike, we were exhausted and we stunk, we both knew we needed a shower days ago but were unable to find a shower anywhere.  By our great luck as we drove back to Santa Fe Paul spotted a sign for a Public Bathing spot (a river) so we finished the hike exactly as we needed to, swimming and bathing in the river. 

We decided to try our luck again at the viewpoint we had camped at last night in the hopes of better views; this was the correct decision.  We arrived back to find the most beautiful views of a valley in the national park.  We sat playing games and watching sunset falling in love with Panama.

 

May 15^th – From mud on our body to mud on our face

As it had not rained during the night we decided to once again try attempt the hike to Loma Grande Waterfall and even with an hour of dry weather the hike was brutal.  It was steep and still quite slippery, thankfully not as slippery as yesterday as we were able to actually get to the waterfall.  It was fine but probably not worth the effort needed.   Even if we didn’t want to take a swim we felt it best to swim just to wash off the mud from our bodies.  Obviously being clean was short lived as the hike up was equally brutal requiring Kendra to walk in bare feet for better grip.   By the time we got back to the van, we were all filthy.  Our skin and Rupert’s paws and belly were covered in mud and our clothes were soaked in sweat due to the steepness of the hike and the humidity.  We were glad we did it as we had the fear of missing out but we knew our first stop would be another river to wash off.

We had another long day of driving (around 4 hours) to get to the next mountain town we wanted to visit, Valle de Anton.  This community appears to be the location of some summer homes of millionaires from Panama City built in the crater of an old volcano.  There is even a road known as the Avenue of the Millionaires.  We decided to drive down the Avenue of the Millionaires to admire all the houses we would never be able to afford which brought us to a hot springs/spa which for $8 USD we got to put mud on our face and relax in the hot springs.  If only we had known that this hot spring encourages you to put mud all over your body (for a price) we would have really lathered up during our hike to and from the waterfall.

The hot springs were fine, we mostly enjoyed speaking to all the American’s who were amazed we had driven to Panama.  It really strokes our egos when we talk to people and they can not believe what we are doing. We met one man and his partner and he had driven from Wyoming to Panama while his partner had flown. We were able to share stories and celebrate that we had all made it here.

We decided to camp at a hostel near the middle of town as we were ready to connect to the world so access to wifi became a requirement.  It didn’t hurt that the hostel had all the other amenities you can imagine a hostel would have, which feel luxurious after camping in the areas that could be described as the middle of no where for a week.

 

May 16^th – Preparing for Panama City

Although we had plans to doing some exploring and hiking the cool weather and comfortable feel of the hostel where hard to run away from.  Having a slow relaxing morning is not something we often do but something we always appreciate doing.   Besides that, we had many things to do that required a steady wifi connection, specifically booking Kendra’s flight from Bogota to Cartagena (to meet with Paul once he arrives to Colombia and Kendra returns from Canada).  We also wanted to book a couple hotels/airbnbs in Panama for after the van is loaded into the shipping container as well as one in Colombia before the van is unloaded.

After accomplishing all our tasks we did eventually walk around Valle de Anton, which was a beautiful cute town full of people from Panama (there were some tourists but it still felt like a real local spot).  There were small restaurants and coffee shops all looking out to the peaks of the surrounding the carter. 

We seem to always be celebrating lately so before returning to the campground we picked up a bottle of wine and enjoyed each others company until all the wine was gone.

 

May 17^th – Arrival into Panama City

After a slow start we made our way to Panama City which is a few hours away, made slower by a tree in the middle of the road.  Panama City is a massive modern city reminiscent of Vancouver with its high population density housed in towering skyscrapers by the water and a skytrain system overhead.  Traffic was definitely not our favourite thing about Panama City, especially since we had to drive through the city from its West side to its East side.  We had a couple of errands to do in Panama City, namely go to the company that was shipping our vehicle to Colombia and pay our port fees as well as prepare some other documents.

It was surreal arriving to Overland Embassy, our shipping company, as it was full of overlanders preparing to cross the Darién Gap into Colombia.  We knew that there were other overlanders on the road but so rarely saw any.  After paying our fees and doing some paperwork it was time to find a place to camp.  We could have camped at our shipping company’s campground but it was far from where we needed to go the next day so decided instead to camp beside the Radisson Hotel on the West Side of the city.

Historically this has been the location where all overlanders seemed to camp as it has a view of the ships entering the Panama Canal from the Pacific Ocean, a nice breeze and free unprotected wifi from the hotel, but with the new campground at the Overland Embassy we were surprised to be the only ones there.

 

May 18^th – Nightmares

It was hot during the night with the recorded temperatures being in the mid 20s.  We do have methods to combat the heat with various fans, but we have no ability to cool off the inside of the van.   When we did sleep we both seemed to have various weird to nightmarish dreams about the next few weeks.   The key one that Paul couldn’t shake was to do with the Police Inspection today.

For any vehicle to be able to leave Panama (including Panamanian Vehicles moving to a different province or going to a different country) it must be inspected by the police to prove the vehicle matches the paperwork you will be presenting at the border and that there are no fines or liens against the vehicle.  Once the inspection is complete we will receive a certificate stating such; however, the issue for us is that we had heard sometimes the inspector is a bit too diligent and we have two issues that have caused issues at previous borders.
#1 Paul’s middle name is on the registration of the vehicle but not in his passport (the names do not match) and
#2 our VIN on the front windshield is more or less gone due to poor craftmanship when our windshield was replaced. 
Paul couldn’t get the thought out of his mind that they would not be able to get this certificate because of one (or both) of these issues.

One other slight issue we ran into is that Paul seemed to have forgotten our toothpaste and his toothbrush in Valle de Anton and decided he was now also concerned that his bad breath would make our situation worse.  It was a requirement to find a convenience store to pick up some gum before the inspection.

We were required to be at the building where the Police Inspections occurred by 7am which we had been told resided in “the ghetto”, and while we don’t want to describe a neighbourhood like that it definitely was the type of place you wouldn’t want to leave your vehicle overnight.  We parked on one of the side roads and Paul headed into the building to provide the police with all our documents.  Kendra decided to get comfortable in the back of the van with Rupert and play some games on the iPad, but was quasi interrupted by someone scoping out our vehicle, or maybe they were just curious, but when they realized she was in the back they quickly walked away.  After Paul submitted our documents and got his number for when the vehicle would be inspected we decided to move the vehicle to a different location (closer to the other overlander vehicles that were also being inspected). 

The stress about the inspection mounted as Paul watched the Panamanian vehicles get inspected.  The inspector truly was thorough; however, his thoroughness stopped as soon as it was time to inspect an international vehicle.  He barely looked at the vehicles.  Paul’s confidence grew a little bit.

Finally it was our turn and unsurprisingly we were asked about the quasi removed VIN from our windshield and that Paul’s middle name is not in his Passport.  Paul started the process of explaining, but the inspector stopped him, and told him it’s fine and to come back tomorrow.   It seems he just wanted to say issues rather than do anything about them. Even when asked about the chassis number, Paul just said we don’t have one (which is what others had recommended) and there were not further questions asked. We were ecstatic, all the fears were gone and tomorrow we would have our certificate to leave.

So much had already happened but it was only 8:30am!   We decided to go to the area of San Felipe for breakfast, an older part of Panama City with narrow roads and tall historical buildings that looked like a mix of stereotypical pictures of New Orleans and Paris.  We found a café and sat watching the day go by with a coffee in our hands.  After our adrenaline from the inspection was finally gone we decided to actually explore San Filipe and quickly understood why so many had recommended this area of Panama City to us.  Everything was colourful and photographic (even the birds that pooped on Kendra) and always a couple blocks away from the ocean.  However, after about an hour of exploring we were drenched in sweat, Panama City is hot!  We were almost racing back to the van to be able to crank the air conditioning and dry out. 

Our next stop was to visit the historic locks of the Panama Canal, but when we arrived at the Miraflores visitors centre we learned two things; dogs were not welcome (and it was 35 degrees outside), and that boats wouldn’t be crossing the locks for a few hours. We had almost given up on seeing the locks until a few taxi drivers told us they’d be willing to look after Rupert while we went into the visitors’ centre.  We had a plan we just had find something to do for a few hours while we waited for the boats to cross the locks.

We spent the afternoon grocery shopping and tracking down more specialty food for Rupert as well as organizing all our change [so we could get rid of as much of it as possible when paying for our admission to the visitor’s centre].

About an hour before the boats would enter the Miraflores Lock we returned to the visitors centre and left Rupert with a group of Taxi drivers.  We decided to spend the first hour watching an IMAX video narrated by Morgan Freeman about the Panama Canal, it was fascinating to hear the history of the canal.  The most surprising thing for us was learning that Gatun Lake was a man made lake created when a raging river was damned up forever changing the look of the entire country.  After the move we, along with over 100 people, climbed the stairs to the viewpoint platforms where we saw boats crossing the locks.  For some reason we had built this up to be an exciting ordeal but it was just a boat going through narrow passageways slowly.  It was a functional, methodical and professional process that wasn’t very exciting to see, but we were happy to see it nonetheless. It takes approximately 10 minutes for a lock to fill/empty so it is a long process to sit and watch, the time lapse videos you can find on Youtube are significantly more entertaining than seeing everything in real time.

We returned to a happy dog, the taxi drivers let us know Rupert was a good dog and with that we left returning to our camping spot beside the Radisson.  That would have been the end of the day if not for a brewery a 10 minute walk away which offered all you can drink beer for 5 hours for $13 USD.   After doing some math and determining how much we had to drink to make the all you can drink cost effective we chatted for hours until we had technically got one pint for free. We returned to the Raddison where three other overlanding vehicles had joined ours and had a quiet and cooler night.

 

May 19^th – We took a trip to Yaviza

We were told to go to the police station around 10:30am to pick up our certificate, but had also been told by other overlanders that this was the earliest we could potentially get this certificate and that some had to wait 5+ additional hours for the certificate.  With hopes that we would be lucky and get it quickly we arrived around 11am.  Our luck continued and by noon we had the certificate and on our way back to Overland Embassy to provide them with a copy of our certificate so they could finish preparing our shipping paperwork.

We now had a decision to make, we had until May 23^rd to explore Panama as after that date our vehicle would be in a shipping container so we decided to take the 2.5 day return journey to the town of Yaviza Panama, the location of the end of the North American section of the Pan-American highway. 

We left Panama City and drove as far as we could but due to traffic we were only able to drive 100 kilometres before we needed to stop for the night.  We stopped at a little spot beside Lake Bayano for the night and seemed to have the same conversation again and again; tomorrow we would be reaching the end of the road; the natural conclusion of this chapter of our trip.

 

May 20^th – The Terminus of the Panamerican Highway

Our plan was to drive to Yaviza and return to Bayano lake for the night, a 400 kilometer journey.  It seemed relatively easy, but as we traveled we learned that the road in many places was not great and that we would be going through numerous police and military checkpoints each requiring us to explain why we were going to Yaviza and showing our immigration paperwork.  On the 200 kilometre journey to Yaviza we went through 4 checkpoints, two of which we were waved through and one which we spent 10-15 minutes while providing documents and answering questions and one where we had to leave our vehicle and go through a process similar to crossing a border with our passports given to military officer who documented our information onto a spreadsheet.  Sadly, we did not receive a stamp from doing this process.

We did get to see some wildlife during our drive, we saw a sloth in person in the wild.  Something that companies charge 50 USD in Costa Rica for!

Arriving in Yaviza was surreal.  We stopped at the Welcome to Yaviza sign where we attracted a large group of children very curious of us.  We started to realize that very few overlanders made the trek here, this was further highlighted by the spot where a person could put a sticker only having two sticker (ours making three). 

Much to the amusement of the children we opened a bottle of sparkling wine and videoed ourself in front of the sign while the kids asked us tons of questions and tried to get Rupert to play with them (he was not interested).   One of the girls in the group asked how old Rupert was, and when we said 13 years old, her next questions was “he isn’t dead yet?”. We had a good laugh about this interaction and after saying goodbye to the children we walked around the community and couldn’t believe how interested people seemed to be in us, it truly felt like they did not see overlanders or tourists very often. 

After eating some lunch we started our drive back to Bayano Lake where we once again drove through all the checkpoints and through the less than optimal road to arrive back to the lake just as the sun was about to set and a storm was rolling in.  We watched the storm celebrating our accomplishment and talked about how excited we were for South America.

 

May 21^st - The start of rainy season

The last few nights have been marked with high nighttime temperatures but last night was cool with the rain.  We had thought a few times that rainy season had started before but this time we were almost positive as the rain during the drive back to Panama City was torrential.  We would have stopped and waited for it to let up a bit but when we did stop we ended up seeing a crocodile right beside the road.

We had run out of data on our SIM card so made a stop at a mall hoping to buy a new SIM card, the only issue was the mall was massive so Paul ended up wandering for quite awhile while Kendra enjoyed watching the rain with Rupert.  Paul did eventually find a phone store meaning we could actually navigate Panama City.

We did one more stop at a grocery store and ended our day at Overlander Embassy’s campground to start our first of two free nights where we chatted with a few other overlanders before heading to bed.

 

May 22^nd – Cleaning Day

We didn’t leave the campground as we thought it best to prepare our vehicle for shipment meaning we took everything out of our vehicle and cleaned everything inside and out.  This included some areas we have neglected since the beginning of our trip, namely the trunk of our vehicle, an area we refer to as “the garage” and the location of our battery and controller for our solar system.

This process took hours with us only stopping to say hello to new overlanders who arrived at the campground and to hide from rain.  By sunset we were all done and the vehicle was more or less ready to be shipped.

We spent the evening playing card games with the other overlanders in the campground and speaking to Alejandro, the owner of Overland Embassy.  We were really glad we decided to stay at this campground as we truly felt like we were part of the overlanding community here. We even made friends with a pet chicken named Monique

 

May 23^rd – Packing Day

Once again our day was filled with preparation, but this time more specific to ourselves.  We walked to a laundromat nearby and washed our clothes before returning to camp and packing our bags for our respective trips.  It was nerve wrecking thinking that after 8am tomorrow we would no longer have access to our vehicle so making sure we grabbed the right things was very important.  This task seemed to take all day and even as the sunset we weren’t 100% sure we had packed the correct things.

Nearing sunset Alejandro, the owner of Overland Embassy, visited the campground to conduct a preloading meeting and to answer any questions anyone had.  It seems small, but we were quite proud when our little van was chosen as the location for the meeting, especially since the other vehicles were either far larger or owned by influencers.

After the meeting ended we sort of assumed that the night would turn into a night of celebration, excitement and boardgames, but the weather had other plans.  Rainy season is upon us and when it rains, it pours.  Everyone ran to their respective vehicles and that is where they stayed until the next morning.  That is what we would have liked to do, but because of the location of our kitchen Paul ended up standing in the rain and because of the location of the van Paul ended up standing in a river.  At least the food was good!

 

May 24^th -Loading Day

At long last today is the day our van gets loaded into a shipping container and the trip will go through an odd pause.  We set the alarm for 6am, but awoke before the alarm and immediately started the last bits of preparations.  Tensions ran a bit high with a bit of confusion associated with the meeting point and when exactly we would be leaving that meeting point but before we knew it Paul was driving the van towards Colon, the location the van would be shipped.

Due to the dog Kendra decided to stay at Overland Embassy and make some reels for Instagram, among other things.  This was a, theoretically, required decision but at the end of the day it was probably the wrong decision as Kendra sat outside in the heat with Rupert and his new dog friend Leki while Paul didn’t have anyone to celebrate this accomplishment with.

The trip to Colon should have only taken 50 minutes or so, but ended up taking almost 2 hours due to mechanical issues, thankfully not with our van.  Almost immediately after getting on the highway the sprinter ahead of Paul lost all power as the turbo connector blew apart (this part had been serviced just the day before).  There was some hope we would be able to fix it on the road, but after “fixing it”, it blew apart again after a few more minutes.  After lots of zip ties, and a far slower journey we did make it to the shipping yard.

There were four vehicles being loaded into two shipping containers, with the first two to be loaded being the sprinter and the YouTube influencers.  The excitement to start the process was palatable as the sprinter drove up on the back of a flat bed tow truck and then raised to drive into the shipping container, it was a tight squeeze.  Next was the youtube influencers with pictures and video’s being taken by everyone. 

 We were a hard act to follow so even as Paul loaded the van onto the tow truck and drove it into the shipping container the videos and excitement about the youtube influencers never really ended.  It was at this moment we realized that we had made a mistake and that this was really a moment that Paul and Kendra should have shared together.   Thankfully we were able to get someone to video some of the moment, but videos don’t truly do it justice.  In a moment it was over, and Alejandro was handing out beers to celebrate. 

It was oddly sad to see the van being locked into the shipping container and knowing that our house on wheels will not be accessible to us for almost two weeks.  Worse still was that Paul was alone as the doors closed.

The drive back to Panama City was enjoyable, the conversations were entirely in Spanish meaning Paul got to practice his Spanish.  After returning we all went our separate ways and we jumped into an Uber and drove into the heart of Panama City.  We had a lot to celebrate but didn’t end up celebrating.  The night ended sharing a bottle of wine and watching made for TV movies on the TV in the hotel. 

 

May 25th – No Celebration (complaining even though it may not be justified)

Tensions get high sometimes when you spend over 300 days living in a Dodge Grand Caravan with high emotions, both good and bad. We write a lot of the good things and excitement we see during our trip and hint about the other side. Although today was Kendra’s last day in Panama everything seemed to come to a head resulting in each of us having a lot of individual and personal time. It may seem that we have chosen to leave our work and responsibilities for an endless vacation full of unlimited trips and destinations but every day we have to work through what we consider to be the most stressful parts of vacation planning. We very rarely sleep in the same place twice in a row meaning each day we wake up needing to make two big decisions. #1: Where will we sleep? And #2 What will we do today?

The first question can be the biggest challenge. There are few and limited “real” campgrounds in Central America meaning we are wild camping or boondocking. As our safety is our top concern we take a lot of time trying to get a “good” spot. Often we have to make multiple additional plans just in case our “preferred spot” is not an option. This can happen for many reasons such as inaccessible roads, being warned that it isn’t safe, or us getting a bad feeling about it. Further we have learned that the trip is far more enjoyable when we actually enjoy the locations where we camp, meaning finding a “bad” camping spot feels more consequential.

The second question should not be that big of an issue, as we can choose to do nothing but the fear of missing out can be a real issue for us. We fully understand that this is a once in a lifetime trip meaning we try to maximize each day but that is hard to sustain and burnout happens often. Everything is further compounded when issues arise that require help from external parties (mechanics, police, repair people) and once again it seems like an issue had arisen.

Paul’s phone had been giving the “moisture in charging port” error for two whole days and while Kendra’s phone dried out, Paul’s never did. With Kendra leaving the next morning, Paul’s phone’s charging port had broken meaning he would have no way to communicate, navigate, or retrieve any information- like the information about where in the world our van is. His phone was dead and if it wasn’t fixed ASAP he would have no device for the foreseeable future. Although Kendra tries to help in any situations that arise, she does not speak any practical Spanish meaning it becomes Paul’s responsibility to deal with anything that arises, which are often stressful or unusual situations requiring Paul to learn niche words associated with the task. This is often compounded by Paul’s pride to not use Google Translate to help him during the actual conversation. So after Kendra found a phone repair shop, Paul ventured out alone to figure out what was going on with his phone while Kendra organized her items to get ready to fly back to Canada.

Now we are not complaining, but not every day is an amazing day with cool things happening and this was a less than average day.  Hopefully what we have successfully communicated is that not every day is perfect and issues can compound. There are no easy days, but every day is “worth it”. We don’t feel like we are on a vacation, rather we feel we are on an expedition. There are many risks and stresses but the rewards are huge. We just don’t realize those rewards every day.

We spoke a lot today and a day that should have been full of fun and celebration turned into another stressful day of Paul working to get things fixed and hoping the repair wouldn’t be too expensive. Paul did get his phoned fixed (thankfully) but it took half the day walking back and forth from a phone store a kilometer away from the hotel in the Panama heat. Once he got his phone back the charging port worked but now his screen had green lines running down it, was his screen damaged during the repair? After completely charging his phone the lines disappeared and the weight of the phone issue was lifted off our shoulders.

The night ended once again sharing a bottle of wine, and us feeling that a break from the van and each other was probably exactly what we need at this point in our journey before beginning our trip to in South America.

…

Morning arrived at 4am as Kendra’s flight left at 7am. Paul and Rupert accompanied Kendra to the lobby, hugged her and watched the taxi drive away before returning back to the room.

Costa Rica (or as we like to call it Cara Rica)

There are two countries in Central America that people talk about as expensive, these are Belize and Costa Rica.  We thought we would be ready for the sticker shock but found ourselves frustrated at times by what felt like the constant "Pay to Play" mentality of the country.  If we wanted to go for a hike, we had to pay, if we wanted to see a free thing, well the parking was eye-wateringly expensive.  The country is nice and we would recommend it as a great vacation spot but for us it seemed to be more of a highlight reel of many other Central American touristy spots at higher costs.  Due to our shipping date we could only spend a week in Costa Rica, which originally we were saddened about, but in the end felt that we probably would have left pretty quickly anyway.  If you are wondering why we called it Cara Rica, in spanish cara means expensive and rica means rich.
During our time in Cara Rica we explored the beaches on each coast in between line ups in the capital city completing paperwork required to import Rupert into Panama.  We drove into cloud forests in the mountains and saw Costa Rican wildlife, namely Sloths!

May 3^rd – WHERE IS TECHNICA!?!!!

We woke up early as we had read that leaving Nicaragua can take hours. The moment we got to the border we were confused.  The border was massive a spread out over multiple locations.  As usual, there we many “fixers” also known as “helpers” who for a cost will help you cross the border.  The issue, they can be a bit scamming and purposely deceptive to confuse you if you are not paying for their “service”.  After reading and rereading instructions that past travelers and written in iOverlander we made our way to the gates of the border area where we were handed a declaration paper for customs where we declared the dog and the vehicle.  After parking a customs agent explained our process (for customs).  He will inspect our vehicle, a police officer will inspect our vehicle, we will go to ISPA for our dog then we will go to Technica.  We had almost memorized the instructions from iOverlander and we had never heard of Technica, we felt like were in the dark.

After a quasi thorough inspection Paul left to find a police officer to sign off on our inspection.  They were no where to be found.  Paul walked back and forth through immigration (without completing the immigration process) looking, even hoping to attract the attention of a police officer by walking in directions where signs said not to walk. 

After 30 minutes Paul gave up as we could complete the exportation process of Rupert by going to IPSA.  After 10 minutes of walking we found IPSA and after a painful process where the IPSA officer seemed to do everything Cetrex had done the day before we were back on the hunt for a police officer, but this time there was one with the customs officer who had previously inspected our vehicle.  Happily, Paul ran up to him, but was then informed that the process that we were literally just told about was wrong, he had to go to Technica before the police would sign off on the vehicle.  Paul asked everyone “Where is Technica” and was given directions like “over there” “in that building [the biggest building at the border]” or general pointing (once in the wrong direction).

We gave up on the search for Technica and decided to do immigration, after waiting in line and paying an exit tax we were officially not legal to be in Nicaragua.  By this time Paul had attracted the attention of a woman taking fees for the municipal government who took pity on him and tried to get to the bottom of the location of Technica.  After a few more minutes we finally found a little window beside Customs on the Entrance to Nicaragua side of the immigration building.  He looked at the declaration form and stamped it.  THAT WAS IT!?!  I was told it was because I had declared the dog and his job was to check that I had the stamp from ISPA (as if the stamp from IPSA wasn’t proof enough!?!).

After that point, the process flew by, the police inspected our vehicle, and we were waved across the border to Costa Rica.

Immigration into Costa Rica was easy and modern.  After a few quick questions we had new stamps in our passport.  Next was the dog, which thanks to the proper export of Rupert from Nicaragua only required a stamp and the equivalent of $20 CAD which could be paid at a bank at the border (meaning we could also take out local currency for future purchases!)  The van was also easy to import as we got to fill in our own form meaning we could quickly answer all the questions on the form without the back and forth that we had become used to with Custom agents. While Paul filled in the form Kendra got some photocopies done of our proof of cancelling our TIP all on her own (which is a hug accomplishment for her). Our only issue was due to the amount of time it took us to leave Nicaragua the vehicle insurance office was on lunch meaning we had to wait for almost an hour until they were open again before we could legally drive in Costa Rica. WE had read they go on lunch from 12-1, but today lunch was from 10:45-11:30, give or take 20 minutes.

After such a stressful day we were finally driving south again.  Our first stop was Walmart for some food and it was just like any Walmart we had seen in Mexico, the US or Canada.  It was surreal to be in a store so westernized after driving through the developing nations of Central America.   Our next stop was for our own lunch, even though it was almost dinner by this point. Lastly we stopped and picked up some local wine known as Vino de Coyol (which reminded us a lot of Makgeolli [Korean rice wine])

We would have liked to find a nice place to camp after grabbing some food but our priority for Costa Rica had to be Rupert and getting that process done quickly which can only be done in San Jose, hundreds of kilometers from the border.  We ended up driving for hours skipping a few highly recommended locations in Costa Rica to end up on a beach in an ocean bay.  It was a long day, but at least we had a great camping spot close-ish to San Jose to start the export process for Rupert to get to Panama.

 

May 4^th – The Dog Days of Costa Rica (Part 1)

Panama requires dogs to have a Certificate of Exportation, signed off by both a registered vet and a governmental body responsible for vets or animal welfare.  This alone would be a painful process, but this certificate must then be apostilled by the Embassy of Panama or their designate.  We had read that some vets will complete this whole process for us but the cost would be around $300 usd and will take around a week if we were in San Jose or longer if we were not in San Jose, hence why we planned to be in San Jose today.

Thanks to iOverlander we had read that there is a very good vet in the community of Atenas, a bedroom community of San Jose who speaks English and has some friends in SENASA (the governmental body responsible for animal welfare).  From our understanding he would be able to help us get 2/3 of the requirements for our export document.

Once again we had an early morning so that we could get to Atenas as early as possible.  Our research paid off and the vet was just as helpful as everyone had told us he would be, the only issue is it would take a few hours to prepare the documents, so we had some time to kill.

Atenas is small but cute with lots of restaurants and cafes, so we spent a couple hours spending a small fortune on coffee and sandwiches and a local coffee beer.  This is probably the first time it truly hit us how expensive Costa Rica was, for a couple coffees and sandwiches it was over $40 CAD.  Regardless, we were happy to pay it as it was one of the first time in a long time we were less concerned about getting the dog into Costa Rica; for the first time in a long time, we felt like we had a plan and it was possible to complete our plan within our “crazy” one week timeline.

The final task we completed while waiting for the dog’s paperwork was a car wash for the van.  Our van was filthy from all the dirt roads we had driven on in the past 10 months (we had the outside hand washed by some street vendors in exchange for parking but they are not super thorough), but we forgot one key thing about Central American car washes, they don’t just wash the outside of your vehicle, they clean the inside too.  Because we didn’t think of this our clothes, specifically dirty underwear was in the doorways of the van.  Our garbage from the last few days and nights was in a bag tucked under the bed.  The inside of the van looked very “lived in” and definitely not in a good way.  We could only look in slight horror and embarrassment as these poor employees cleaned our very dirty vehicle inside and out.  We didn’t even mind when they charged us appropriately ($35) for our filth.

At 6:30pm we got the call that our paperwork for Rupert was complete and we were told that the best way to ensure the paperwork is completed by Friday was to drive to San Jose tonight and go to SENASA tomorrow morning when it opened (7:30am) then go to Casa Amarilla (the Yellow House) to get the document apostilled.  We felt very fortunate that the vet confirmed which SENASA office we needed to go to, since previously people have been able to go to the airport but now you need to go into the city to the head office. Thank goodness he has friends who knew what we needed to do and he could share this knowledge with us. The vet felt that, with a little luck, it may be possible to get the document complete for a successful, and legal export of Rupert, within a few days.

Sunset had started when we left Atenas meaning it was pitch black when we arrived in San Jose, meaning we were breaking the cardinal rule of overlanding; do not drive at night.  We convinced ourselves this was fine as this was for a special reason and Paul had decided to book a hotel relatively close to SENASA.  Unfortunately, when we arrived to San Jose and the hotel Paul had booked we learned that in his haste to book something affordable he had selected the wrong days and the hotel was completely full. 

Thanks to iOverlander we found a quiet safe spot to camp in an industrial area of San Jose and for the first time in months we stealth camped in a major city.

 

May 5^th – The Conclusion of the Dog Days

We woke up early to arrive at SENASA before they opened.  The security guard hadn’t even gotten to his post yet so after we parked we were asked to move to the actual visitor parking lot.  He was very apologetic and even offered us a bathroom and water!  Exactly what people who literally slept on the street (in a van) need in the morning!

The process to get SENASA to sign off on Rupert’s exportation to Panama went pretty fast, other then a little bit of confusion.  Paul thought they told him to find Colleague 6-12 to pay for the export so ended up wandering around the SENASA building aimlessly for a few minutes until someone helped him.  What they had actually told was to return to their Colleague he had already met and quote C-12, the code that their colleague will put into the computer so Paul can be charged and pay correctly for the export.

Our next step was the Yellow House, also known as the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (and Worship), but we encountered an issue.  To get a document apostilled we had to have an appointment and there were not appointments available for over a week.  Paul tried to reason with the Security guard at the door to make an exception or if there was another way but in the end Paul was turned away.

There was some small hope, Paul was given a phone number of someone who may be able to help the situation, but we didn’t have any phones with minutes so we needed to purchase another SIM card.  We also thought we could skip this whole process and get approval right from the Embassy of Panama.  We had read that is the process that most people follow if they are going to Panama from Canada or the United States and right before leaving the SENASA office, the SENASA officers told him that the next step was to go to the Embassy of Panama.  We raced to the Embassy of Panama (partly because we hadn’t paid for parking and had parked in a zone requiring payment much to the anger of a parking enforcement person) but were told that the only way to get to document finalized in Costa Rica was to get it apostilled at the Yellow House.   We still had the phone number to try to call and book an appointment so we went to a Claro store (one of the main phone companies in Central America) and purchased a Costa Rica SIM card with some minutes and called the number.  By some unbelievable luck the man on the other end of the phone took pity on us and our situation and told us to return at 2:50pm for an emergency appointment.  We were ecstatic! 

We had a few errands to do between the time we called the Yellow House and 3pm which we filled with an oil change and getting our vehicle looked at.  Since the thorough washing of our van the tailgate sensor started to stop working or work excessively- however it was working; it wasn’t working right.  Even when the tailgate was latched, the van would tell us it was not, giving us an annoying DING and keeping the dome light on.   We also had a recurring issue with our airbag sensor (something we first noticed July 6^th!!)  If we have a power inverter plugged into the cigarette lighter (which we learned is officially called the Auxiliary Power Outlet) it would periodically (and rarely) cause the airbag sensor light to come on- if you Google what to do when your airbag sensor is on Google (and our mechanically inclined family) say not to drive and have it looked at immediately.  We had seen that there was a Dodge dealership in San Jose so hoped that the manufacturer could help us, but unfortunately they did not. We were told that they would have to seek permission from Dodge Central America to look at our Dodge Canada/North American model vehicle; a process that could take 4 days or so.  We decided to start the process to get permission for them hoping that by Monday (today being Friday) they would be able to look at the van.

We arrived back to the Yellow House at 2:30 and anxiously waited until our appointment time.  Ten minutes before Paul made his way to the lobby where a new security guard told him that his name was not on the list and he was not told about any emergency 3:00pm appointment.  Once again Paul pleaded, explained the situation and how we were supposedly given an emergency appointment.  The Security Guard left to see what he could find out and after what seemed like an eternity returned allowing Paul inside the lobby.  Within 10 minutes Paul walked out with a massive smile on his face.  We had done the impossible! We had properly prepared the export paperwork for Rupert a process that takes many people 10 days and costs triple what it costed us in just over 24 stressful hours.

We decided to return to the beach side camping spot we had stayed at our first night in Costa Rica to maximize our potential options for the next day meaning we had a 2.5 hour drive.  This drive was exhausting and made worse that the stress and worry about getting the dog into Panama was all but gone.  When we did arrive it took us barely anytime to fall asleep.

May 6^th – The Beach or the Mountains

We had to make a decision and both options seemed pretty good.  Option 1, head north into the mountains of Monteverde known for its lush green forest, mountain towns and it’s cloud forest.  Option 2, head south to the Nicoya Peninsula and explore beaches where we would likely have the entire beach to ourselves.  Both seemed like great options but in the end we choose option 1 due to the heat.  At 9am it was already 32 degrees.

The road up to the mountains was fine, it wasn’t in great or bad condition and wasn’t as extreme or memorable as the Guatemalan mountain roads.  Within a couple hours we were in the community of Monteverde and parked in the parking lot to visit the official Monteverde Reserve to walk amongst the clouds in the forest.  We were a bit shocked at the price, $25 usd to go on a hike, but realized our fear of missing out was greater than our frugality.  The place boasted it’s “extensive” 13 kilometres of trails, so after looking at the map we plotted our journey and began our ascent up into the clouds/forest. 

The first path ended at viewpoint where clouds slowly blow into the forest with a few spots where it felt we were walking through a cloud forest.  We decided to return through a couple other pathways but none had views or the experiences we had hoped for.  We even decided to take the most difficult trail that would take us to the highest point on the trail system in hopes of an amazing view, but surprisingly their was no viewpoint and very few clouds. We did get to see a lot of trees and hear the birds.  What was there were giant flies with stingers for a mouth that refused to leave us alone.  At some points it felt like we were running as if we stopped we got stung.  There was a waterfall in the reserve as well but it was nothing compared to other waterfalls on our trip; even when compared to the wateralls with little to no water.  In the end we did 10 kilometers of its 13 kilometers and felt disappointed we had spent $50 usd on this experience.

Monteverde was not what we had expected, it was a modern community where everything was pay to play.  If we wanted to do anything we had to pay for it, so we decided to go to a brewery and pay for some beers while we researched and prioritize our next activities.  After a lot of discussion, we decided to we would leave the area and prioritize our time elsewhere.  We left the brewery and made our way to a potential camping spot, unfortunately iOverlander was a bit out of date and everywhere on the app was no longer available or inaccessible to a 2 wheel drive vehicle.  We had to make a new plan.

We started to drive towards quieter less touristy mountain towns in hopes of finding something, and we did find something, another brewery.  We decided to once again stop and do a better job of looking at camping options in the area and in the end found one almost an hour away which had amazing views of the valley and mountains.  The reviews were correct, and after watching some locals do a motorcycle photoshoot we were happy to set up the van in the cool mountain temperatures hoping for a great night sleep.

 

May 7^th – What a view!!

The reviews of our campsite mentioned that the spot can be a bit windy.  Well there is windy and then there is wind that rocks the entire van effortlessly which woke us up periodically.  We still believe the views and the temperatures were worth a bit of wind.

We made our way to the less touristy community of Tilaran, which although cute did not provide us a lot to do.  What we did experience is poverty, something we didn’t think we would see very much of in Costa Rica. In the short time we have been here we have been asked for money multiple times a day, most of it being the same story that they need medication and can’t afford it, and when we say or show them we don’t have money they continue to ask and we unfortunately have to walk away. Most of the time this happens we are away from the van and taking Rupert for a walk, so we literally have no money  on us to give.   After grabbing a few groceries, we continued forward to Lake Arenal.   We had hoped to find a café to enjoy a coffee at while admiring the views but could only find the “Tourist Café” of Café Macadamia.  We weren’t too sure what to expect with tourist buses outside and English speakers everywhere but they did have delicious coffees and a good cinnamon bun.  The prices were a little eye watering but we did get to enjoy a great view of the lake.

Kendra had found a campground at a hot springs with what many described as one of the best views in Costa Rica.  They were not kidding, we set up our van in the shadow of Volcan Arenal and enjoyed the views while playing a few board games.  As the day got cooler we switched into our bathing suits and spent the rest of the night moving from pool to pool warming up and cooling off. 

After such an enjoyable evening we made sure to have a shower as the hot springs closed quite late and most people were drinking beer and not leaving the pools (yuck).  Although we were relaxed we did feel rather unclean.  Our regret was that we didn’t shower with our bathing suits as they had a unique odour to them that only got worse as we travelled.

 

May 8^th – Being true rebels

Our campground had wifi meaning we could see everything we could do in the La Fortuna area and were once again surprised at the cost of things.  If we wanted to see a waterfall it would be $25 usd, if we wanted to hike up the volcano it would be another $30 usd.  If we want to look at tress that may have sloths in them, well that is $50 usd.  We could go on, but in general everything seemed to cost money and we were unsure what would be worth it.   Slightly out of frustration we decided to hike to a waterfall recommended on iOverlander.  Theoretically if you get to it, it is free, but we would have to pass through private property to get to it.  We made a number of excuses to ourselves as to why we were going to trespass and made our way to the trailhead.

As we had guessed there was a massive gate at the trailhead clearly stating private property; however, beside the gate was a massive hole that could allow a small crowd to walk through.  Once again we justified our decision as it appeared many people walk through this property to get to this waterfall.

The hike itself was beautiful and well defined.  The only tricky part was a river crossing near the end of the trail which required us to carry Rupert over and resulted in our shorts getting soaked. *Paul’s shorts got soaked as he tried to take the most direct route across the river while Kendra hiked her shorts up and encouraged Paul to find a less deep area to cross at.

The waterfall was quite beautiful, the waterfall ended in a pool surrounded by a natural amphitheatre.  We decided to continue our rebellious way and go for a swim sin ropa.  It did feel quite freeing and refreshing.

We got back to the van with no issues, even passing another person on the trail. 

By saving a bit of money we decided to pay to see one of the most famous Volcano’s of Costa Rica, Volcan Poas.  Paul was conflicted about going as it was a 2 hour detour and there was no guarantee we would see anything due to potential cloud cover; however, Kendra vetoed Paul’s decision to skip it.

We arrived at the volcano and were immediately turned away, although nothing online said so, Dogs were not welcome anywhere in the area of the Volcano.  Not even in the parking lot (although a few years ago they were, now they are not- maybe due to the poisonous gases and the fact that this volcano was active in 2017 and closed to the public for a few years).  Thankfully the woman at the entrance gate allowed us to park on the road in front of the No Parking Sign meaning we continued our rebellious ways and didn’t have to pay for parking.  We did our quick hike up to the top of the Volcano and we were happy to see clear skies.  We truly lucked out especially after reading so many reviews of people paying money to see no more than 6 feet in front of their face.

It was time to find a spot to camp for the night and once again we struggled.  After stopping for some mountain strawberries and cream (aka sweetened condensed milk) and a tipico platter for dinner we hit the road again. We found a few potential locations, but with rain in the forecast and signage stating that the areas were prone to flooding we thought it best to seek a spot on higher ground, which we thankfully found right before sunset.

 

May 9^th – SLOTHS!!

Our time in Costa Rica was quickly coming to an end meaning we had a big day of driving.  We left the community of La Virgen destined for the coast, and after almost 4 hours we saw the turquoise waters of the Caribbean.

Our first stop was a sloth sanctuary as we decided that seeing sloths at a not for profit organization trying to help them was better than all the for profit places we had passed.  We even lucked out with our timing as tours were every hour on the hour and it was almost noon. We parked outside of the sanctuary because online it states that dogs are not allowed, and dogs are not allowed in vehicles in their parking lot. Most of the sloths we saw were permanent residents, disfigured or blind due to negative human or dog interactions (maybe the reason why dogs are not allowed in the vicinity).  However, they still seemed to be living their best lives.  We learned that there are two types of sloths, a two finger sloth and a three finger sloth.  The three fingered sloths were the sloths we were used to who appear to wear a mask on their face, while the two fingered look closer to small bears. All sloths have 3 toes.

We did learn some interesting facts about sloths, the two variants can not (and do not) breed with each.  When sloths breed they are 100% effective.  Sloths can actually move quite fast (as fast a monkeys) when in danger.  And finally, they only use the facilities (or facili-trees) once a week, where they defecate a kilogram of poo and release a litre of pee.

Our final stop in Costa Rica was Puerto Viejo which felt so different than any other community in Costa Rica we had been to.  It had a very Rasta feel with beautiful black sand beaches and an island feel.   We wandered the streets watching people come and go and looked in a few shops for potential souvenirs. We realized that how we wanted to spend our final night in Costa Rica was on the black sand beach so after a quick stop at a local brewery we found a spot, set up our table and chairs and watched sunset and talked late into the night.

 

May 10^th – Our final border in North America

We had hoped to get to the Panama border first thing in the morning but the laundry we had dropped off yesterday was not ready and we had had a bit of a late night.  We spent our final morning doing what we had gotten used to doing in Costa Rica, sitting in a restaurant and enjoying a drink (coffee this time) and enjoying the views and ambience.    We had originally hoped to cross the border and get on the noon ferry to the Island of Boca del Toro but before we knew it that became an impossibility.

Around noon our laundry was done (it would have taken longer but thankfully Paul started to help the owner of the Laundromat fold our clothes) so we drove the short 40 minutes to the border prepared with our paperwork and more importantly the dogs paperwork.

Leaving Costa Rica was relatively easy, pay a departure tax, get a passport exit stamp and check the vehicle out of the country.  Within 30 minutes we were driving across a river into Panama where a border guard gave us a laundry list of tasks to complete.  First of which was to get fumigated and get our passport stamped. 

Most borders have “fixers” or “helpers” but usually they leave you alone as soon as you say you don’t want their help.  Panama helpers were relentless and the most aggressive we have encountered.  They really put us on edge and tried to confuse us.  I think the thought is that if we are confused that we are more likely to pay them for their services.  Without their help we were able to find immigration which was far easier than we thought it would be.  Some people told us that they had to prove they had at least $500 USD and proof of onward travel, but we were relatively quickly stamped in. Usually Paul does all the talking and goes first, but Kendra went first and Paul didn’t have to say anything to the border guard.

Next was paying for insurance for the vehicle and getting the temporary import permit.  This process took the bulk of our time at the border as the Customs agent had never seen British Columbian car registration and didn’t believe me that a 8.5 x 11 inch piece of paper could be the registration.  It took a lot of discussion and some research on their side to finally believe us.

Lastly was the point in the process we were most concerned about but most prepared for, the importation of Rupert into Panama.  There are horror stories about this process, mostly originating from the largest border between Costa Rica and Panama and a price for importation close to $140 USD, but ours went incredibly smoothly.  For reasons we don’t really understand the animal inspector only changed us $25 USD, the least anyone we know has been charged.  Frustratingly, the animal inspector didn’t care about our Apostilled Document meaning we probably could have got through the border without all our running around in San Jose.    However, I know we both slept far better knowing that we had done the process properly.

The government of Canada states that Panama is the safest country (outside of Canada and the USA) on the Pan-American Highway, so we had a vision of what Panama was going to look like.  Well our first few hours were nothing like we had envisioned, it was sketchy.  It’s hard to describe why exactly it was sketchy but everything seemed to be in a state of disrepair with lots of poverty.  This feeling was made worse when, as setting up to camp for the night, we were approached by some locals recommending us to camp at a different location.  We were told that one of two things will happen if we stay where we are, either we will be robbed or the police will move us so we don’t get robbed.  They didn’t have to tell us twice, we left the area. 

The local had recommended the nearby mountains as a great spot to camp, but the bridge was closed for some reason meaning that we couldn’t access that area.  We hopelessly looked and asked for somewhere to camp but found nothing and before we knew it we had arrived in Zegla, a community the local refer to as The Ghetto.  We were running out of options; hotels were not really an option with reviews of rats and bedbugs leaving the best option to camp in the line up for the 7am ferry tomorrow morning.  We had read overlanders doing this as there is a security guard that ensure no one breaks into the vehicles.

Right before getting into line a few locals came up to us stating that if we wanted we could camp in their friends yard where they said we would be safe as they yard is fully fenced.  We decided to trust them and, just before it got dark pulled into what appeared to be a very safe parking lot behind a house.  It was a rough start to Panama but we had hope that tomorrow would be better.