Day 87 - Happy 40th Birthday Neil

---

As we mentioned, it was always going to be a short visit to Costa Rica, little more than a transit stop, but we had a whole day in San Jose before leaving on the 10pm bus to Panama. Our first task was to buy our bus tickets but when we got to the office they told us there were no seats free until Friday (i.e. the day after tomorrow). This was not an option since we HAVE to be in Panama City before then if we are going to get on a trip through the canal.

Our problem was shortly resolved when we managed to get seats with a different firm, but on their 1 pm bus. This barely gave us enough time to track down some postcards and, most importantly, this week’s ‘The Economist’. But we made it to the bus station on time, avoided the tramp attempting to sell a rather odd 1983 almanac, and settled into our child-sized seats for the 16 hour trip to Panama City.

The dinner stop was amazing, without doubt the best service station food ever. Whilst this title may sound a little like “the world's tallest dwarf” (think about it…), it deserved a mention and a recommendation. So, for anyone driving down the Pan Americana, you’d be crazy not to stop at the ‘Flora de Saba’ truck stop in Buenos Aires, Costa Rica.

Then we had some fun and games at the border, where the border guards had concocted a special levy of $12pp for any English-speaking travelers without $500 in cash. We had about $400, including travelers cheques, admittedly only between us, but since we had a flight ticket proving we were staying for only 3 nights we though it was worth making sure they accepted this. Luckily they did, probably because our border guard was itching to get back to his boozing (Gemma kept giggling at his hiccups), but some others weren’t as fortunate. Still, it’s all an entertaining part of the experience.

---

Comments

[Just Jen]

Great Pic!
I posted one of this statue on my blog last week. Glad someone else liked it too! JustJen