New adventures: Costa Rica & Panama

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Happy after finally receiving the right stamp

Just when I was about to leave Leon in Nicaragua I met a guy from the U.S. He liked my plan of taking the local buses to Costa Rica. So he decided to join me. We had to change bus several times before we got to the border with Costa Rica. At the Nicaraguan side we got the exit stamp and on the Costa Rican side we received the stamp to enter Costa Rica, at least that is what we thought. From the border we took a bus in the direction of the town Liberia. On our way the bus was stopped and some policemen went inside to check peoples identification. When he looked in my passport he said I had to leave the bus. I had no idea what was wrong and I had to go inside the policepost. After a while I understood that I had the wrong stamp in my passport. The American guy with whom I was travelling with was so kind to exit the bus as well and they found out he also had the wrong stamp. At the border we were definitely standing in the entrance line, but the immigration officer just made a mistake. The busdriver lost his patience and slowly drove off. So now I was standing there in the middle of nowhere at this police checkpoint with fully armed policemen, my American friend and dozens of mosquitos and other bugs flying around us. It was already dark and we had to get back to the border again. But how? There was no bus going in that direction at the moment and only a few cars passed by. My American friend had difficulty not to lose his patience. But eventually he managed.

After twenty minutes suddenly a minivan passed by and luckily he stopped. So we could get a ride back to the border, ofcourse we had to pay him for it. So being back at the border we eventually got our right stamp and wanted to continue our journey. Unfortunately there were no buses going anymore, because the last one was at five in the afternoon and it was now already eight. We had to take a taxi and shared it with some local people which made it somewhat cheaper. After arriving at the place were I was going to stay I crashed on my bed and thought: this was really an adventure today and it feels so good to arrive at your destination when it was a struggle to get there.

And on to the capital San Jose

The next morning we had breakfast and afterwards we both decided to go in another direction. I took a bus to San Jose, the capital of Costa Rica. From the busstation I decided to walk towards my hostel. It suddenly poored with rain and I had to hide somewhere. The people asked me in and I don’t know what the place was all about. An internetcafe? Just a social meeting place or hangout? Just strange, but the people were very friendly. When I stopped I continued my walk in quite a fast pace and found the hostel. It was a nice place to meet people. Especially during their free pancake breakfast. I really enjoyed it there. What was funny was that there were a lot of people staying here who were recovering from broken bones, lung infections etcetera. Maybe for me it was a bit to recover as well from my adventures and to load my battery again with new fresh energy. The city of San Jose is not that special and like most of the capitals of Central America a bit unsafe after dark.

At one day I went to Granada. It is a town near San Jose. There was a church that was destroyed by an earthquake and they made an garden inside the ruins. I really liked that place. It had a square in front and because it was Sunday, people were hanging around there chatting with eachother. I walked around the city and found another nice church. It was completely white with lots of tasteful decorations inside. It had really an harmonious interior. I visit a lot of churches here in Central America because I like the atmosphere of them and it is just like the breath history. Besides of that it is also a nice way to escape the busy streets for a while, especially when you are in a city.

And on to Panama

So with a full battery again I made a fifteen hour nightly busride to Panama city. The procedures at the border on both sides were so slow that it took five hours. Waiting, and waiting and waiting, for what? Nobody knows exactly… But at least I could see the sunrise at five in the morning while standing in that line in front of the immigration. And eventually I got my stamps and the bus continued it’s journey. That is the advantage of an international bus, that he just waits for everybody. And while waiting in line I made new friends with an English couple. With the guy I had something in common because he had been living in Den Haag in a street only thirty meters from where I lived. They were travelling at this moment and planning to migrate to New Zealand afterwards. Both found a job in Auckland and their plan is to live there for at least three years. We shared a taxi to a hostel in the old part of the city and made some macaroni with cheese which tasted delicious.

Staying in that old part of town was quite special. Almost fifty percent of the buildings are ruins. Only the cascade of the buildings are standing upright. The Spanish eventually replaced the center of the city to somewhere else because this part of the city was hard to defend from intruders. But it has so much atmosphere. History just drips down the walls of the city. But you really have to watch out where you walk because of the many putholes and strange curbstones. But overall it is safe also because of constantly patrolling police in that area. On my first day I went to the Panama Canal, which was the main reason for me to visit Panama in the first place. And because it is cheaper to fly from here to my next destination, which you will hear from me later. It was nice to see the canal and to visualise how big the effort must have been to build it almost hundred years ago. I saw one big cargo ship going through the locks of Miraflores. There is a nice visitors center with explanations about transporting routs all around the world and the functioning of the Panama Canal. Afterwards I went back to the old city and continued my walk around the ruins. It is one big museum you are walking through.

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Photos

Ruins of a church in Cartago
They made this park inside of the ruins of the church after it collapsed during an earthquake. It is said there is a ghost living here. He only appears during the night. So be aware.

Casco Viejo in Panama city
Half of the buildings are ruins. This is the oldest part of the city.