Wednesday, February 29, 2012

Crossing the border

Yesterday I arrived to my hostel in San Jose late. very late and tired. I had taken the overnight Expreso Panama, from Panama City to San Jose Costa Rica, normally a 16 hour, overnight ride.

The first half of the ride was uneventful. We left Albrook Mall Gran Terminal at 11:00 pm. I fell asleep on the bus right away, despite freezing because of the strong air conditioner. I woke up at least 3x on the first half of the ride due to shivering. But I slept for the most part.

At around 6:00 am we reached the costa rican border, earlier than expected, and too early for processing. The border does not open that early. So we slept longer, the bus driver eating breakfast.

About a half hour before the border was to open we were ushered to get in line for processing, so we could beat the other buses and crossers. No problem. But. At 8 (or 7, Panama and Costa Rica have an hour time difference) the border did not open. And did not open. The road was getting filled with crossers and semis. Apparently the power was out, and no one was going to cross either direction until it came back on.

So we waited, ate cookies, drank coffee, talked among ourselves. I spoke to a nice German backpacking couple and a local Tica university student from the Caribbean.

Finally we crossed. On the costa rican side, after processing we lined up our bags for a drug dog smell. At first, no problems. But then the dog honed in on the German couples bags. In full public display, for 1 hour, the couple's bags were ripped apart, underwear examined, magazines examined, no inch not scrutinized.

Since there was no findings or arrest, the whole bus had to wait and watch. For another hour. The result was the German's souvenir coffee was confiscated, and they were released to get back on the bus.

We watched 2 American movies in Spanish - Cowboys and Aliens, and Flyboys.
and now I am at La Cuesta, the best value in San Jose.


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Location:Eladio Prado Saenz,San Jose,Costa Rica

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