Left Thursday morning, 4/27. Checking all of the airline schedules, figured
the cost of a ticket from Detroit to Bocas would run around $850 if I
traveled strictly by air, plus the cost of a hotel room in Panama City and
the additional hassle/cost of ground transport there. I decided to fly into
San Jose and take a bus to Bocas del Toro, the airfare would be at least
$300 cheaper and I would get a chance to see the Costa Rican countryside.
Arrived in San Jose early afternoon, ran into first hitch. Had contacted a
service in Costa Rica that would transport you from the airport into San
Jose, provide a room for the night and bus tickets to Bocas and a ride
between accommodations in San Jose and the bus terminal, the price was $99,
which seemed reasonable based on my calculations. The guide (Lonely Planet)
advised that ground navigation by a novice in San Jose could be confusing as
the streets aren't marked-great idea-so I contacted the outfit in CR, they
asked for my flight # and indicated that they would pick me up at the
airport after I arrived. When I got to the exit I expected to see someone
holding a hand lettered sign with my name, there were quite a few of them
there along with a swarm of cab drivers looking for fares. Surprise! No sign
with my name on it. Stepped out of the terminal, was immediately accosted by
a swarm of cabbies, tried to fend them off by telling them that I had
transportation. No luck, no pre-arranged ride appeared. I got into a
discussion with the first cabbie that solicited me, told him I would wait
for the ride to show, etc. He was very helpful, asking me if I wanted a
woman, etc. We were engaged for an extended period, he indicated that he
could take me to a nice hotel in S.J. for $12, he originally quoted $15.
What the hell, even though he wasn't driving one of the "official" orange
airport taxis, I decided to take a chance, took him up on his offer. He gave
me a running commentary during the ride into town, realized my second
mistake, didn't bring an umbrella. Fortunately, the rain stopped by the time
we got to the hotel-was told it rains every day in the early afternoon-and I
found myself at a reasonably priced-$39-and clean hotel that offered a free
breakfast with the room, the only drawback being that the hotel was in the
notorious Coca-Cola district, the guide advised that the area was unsafe
after dark, but it was only several blocks off the Avenida Central, it
looked like a good choice, though I still needed to figure out how to find
the bus terminal for the ride to Bocas. Employees at the registration desk
claimed that the terminal was only several blocks away, so I dropped my bags
in the room, taking my camera bag with me, decided to do a little walking
tour of the area. I hadn't changed any currency at the airport-not
advisable, according to the guide, but I had noticed a ScotiaBank branch on
the Avenida Central, and I knew it was only a short distance from the hotel,
so I walked there first. One thing I noticed early on, there are a LOT of
armed security guards in S.J., including the one standing outside the
ScotiaBank. Walk into the bank, it was almost empty, instead of trying to
struggle with my practically non-existent Spanish, I decided to try the ATM.
Surprise! It accepted my ATM card, giving me my cash in colones, from what
I've seen from statements at a reasonable exchange rate. Money in hand, I'm
ready to find something to eat and locate the terminal. Good, cheap eats-80
cents-at a place on Avenida 1, buy a pack of Marlboro Reds for a buck, walk
past the hotel to find the bus terminal, passing another armed security
guard-short-barreled shotgun with a folding stock, and locate the bus
terminal several blocks away, only have to cross the street once. CR drivers
are lunatics. If you're crossing the street, they will blow their horn at
you, but they don't slow down, and the guide has warning about this. When a
driver approaches an intersection he slows down A LITTLE, most of the
intersections on these side streets did not have stop signs. Found the bus
terminal without getting run over, but this is not the terminal I want, it's
the Panaline terminal to Panama City, doesn't go anywhere near where I have
to go, stop at a bar and have a couple of beers-Imperial-and go back to the
hotel. They have a little kiosk off the lobby with the tourist adverts and
one of them has a good size map of the city and it shows the location of the
MEPE terminal, my bus to Bocas, problem solved. This info was in the guide
but it had a miniature map, you practically need a magnifying glass to read
it and I was suspect of the information it provided, my city map confirmed
that my bus to Sixaola and the border left from this terminal. Another brief
walk down to Avenida 1 for another sandwich-very good-back to the hotel room
as it's starting to get dark and I'm wiped out anyways. Early to bed, even
though the hotel is in the heart of the city it's pretty quiet I'm up, at
the crack of dawn to the sound of the birds. Good breakfast, scrambled eggs,
rice, fresh fruit, coffee. Talk for a with an expat named Dave, he gives me
some helpful advice on CR travel, advising that the bus is a good,
inexpensive choice, tells me the exchange rate is around 500 colones to the
dollar, more or less. Have the desk call me a cab, fare to the terminal is a
couple fo bucks, the driver guides me to the ticket windows, which are
marked with the destinations. The man at the Sixaola window sells me a
ticket to the 1000 bus-only 4700 colones!- I've arrived late for the 0900
bus. Didn't notice it at the time, but you are assigned a seat, I didn't get
a window seat. Fortunately, the bus was only 3/4 full and I was able to snag
a window seat, we left promptly at 1000. The ride was all that I expected,
though the clouds were so low in the mountains it was impossible to see any
of the volcanoes that were fairly close by and difficult to take picks as
the vegetation in most places was extremely dense. This is advertised as a 6
hour ride, and it was. Plenty of backups on the two lane highway, which was
crowded with trucks, and unfortunately none of the pauses for
traffic/construction/accidents were at scenic vistas. At the first stop for
construction, vendors boarded the bus to sell their wares. One rest stop
along the way, at Limon, a roadside cafeteria for a 10 minute cigarette/beer
break, change drivers. The driver really go that bus flying, but we didn't
end up in a ditch so I would say he was rather skilled considering the speed
we traveled. The drive from Limon/Sixaola was awful, road was washed out in
quite a few places, we had to basically crawl for extended periods, even
though the distance between Sixaola/Limon is only about a quarter the
distance of the whole ride it took two hours to reach Sixaola, and only took
four hours to travel between San Jose/Limon, even with all of the traffic
backups. Finally get to Sixaola, step off the bus and are immediately
accosted by the taxi drivers, again the guide recommends ignoring these guys
and going by bus. Get through customs/immigration, get in the cab. A
local-light blue passport-translates for me, claims that I can't get a water
taxi to Bocas from Changuinola as it's too late, Panama being one hour ahead
of CR. The ride to Almirante will cost me $20!!!!!! Aaaaaaargh. What am I
gonna do? It's getting late, don't feel like getting stuck in some fly
bitten little Panamanian hamlet, so I pile into the cab-an extended cab
Japanese pickup truck, 3 adults and a schoolkid squeezed in the back-I made
him ride shotgun, the translator, a big guy, sitting up front. The other
passengers exit at Changuinola, the translator assures me that we will get
to Almirante, and leaves. Jump up front with the driver, Victor, who speaks
no English-or claims he doesn't. He drives like an absolute lunatic, though
the roads are considerably better, and the Panamanians are actually
repairing the washed out sections of the road, unlike the folks in CR.
Finally get to Almirante, as run down a place as I've ever encountered, very
poverty stricken. Dropped off at the water taxi, get into an exchange with
Victor, he now wants $25!!!! The ****, I say, the man told me twenty, which
I give him and walk to the desk and get my ticket. It is the last ferry that
day to Bocas, Almirante in definitely not the place where you want to spend
the night, in conversation with a South African kid who took the BUS from
Sixaola/Guabito, I find out that the bus fare is only $1.90. I'm furious
until I discover that he had taken the 0900 bus from San Juan, and that I
wouldn't have made the last ferry from either Changuinola or Almirante if I
had gone by bus, indeed, another couple from the San Jose bus taking another
cab to Changuinola couldn't get on the last water taxi there as it was sold
out, they were stunned to find me in Almirante. Water taxi to Bocas
uneventful, $2.00 IIRC, though we get there after dark and I'm not sure
where the marina is. Get off the taxi, noticing several marinas just before
we land. Walk about a 1/4 mile through town, bump into another expat and ask
him if I'm going in the right direction. No, you can't get to the marina by
land, you need to take another taxi! Back to the dock, he points me to a
boat driver, drive to the marina. as I'm approaching, it occurs to me that
the boats here look pretty fancy, not a typical Kretschmer marina, and I had
noticed another marina as we were approaching the Bocas dock. Get off the
taxi, have to pay the driver $5 as he has no change-ride is only $2. Walk to
the gazebo/bar, look for the dockmaster, who informs me that he doesn't have
a boat there named "Quetzal" AAARGH. The water taxi is gone, but the
dockmaster is kind enough to call another water taxi for me, he arrives in
several minutes. As we approach the other marina I see Quetzal immediately,
but it's dark, no one aboard. Climb up from the taxi, drop my bags in the
cockpit, the driver wants $2 but of course all I have is a twenty and there
is now way in hell I'm going to give him a twenty for a two dollar ride. I
tell him I'll go to the marina office, the owner's house, as it turns out,
and get change. I finally get someone to come down from the second story,
get change from the owners wife, race back to the dock just in time to watch
the driver speed off. What the hell, figure John and the others are in town
eating, will just wait for them to get back, pop below, deposit my bags, and
grab a beer out of the fridge. Part 2 of 2- The sail to Providencia/FLL.

And it will be shorter than this one, scout's honor.

http://community.webshots.com/album/550217006IlbCVs

John Cairns

Let me guess...your first sentence of Part 2 is going to be "And the
taxi driver stole my luggage from the cockpit....

"katy" wrote in message
...
Let me guess...your first sentence of Part 2 is going to be "And the taxi
driver stole my luggage from the cockpit....

No, with the exception of a CG boarding SW of the keys and a destroyed genoa
the rest of the trip was uneventful.

John Cairns

I'm waiting to hear about the 3000 colones a nite women. I've seen the
pictures.

1.00 pack of smoke, 80 cent dinner, you could like like a king or
queen on 20 bucks a day.

Capt. Suzy
35s5
NY

"John Cairns" wrote

[snipped]

And it will be shorter than this one, scout's honor.

That's not saying much!
Scout