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Sent on Jan. 13, 2005 from Hostel Pangea in San Jose, CR.
0. SUMMARY. For this trip, I got just the $325 Lacsa (Teka
Group) flight LAX to San Jose, Costa Rica for 8 days, to
fill in the rest of my own, with the help of Lonely Planet
for Central America. With 2 days left and now in San Jose,
I have spent less than $700 only, including the flight, $45
each way shuttle to/from airport, $50 for bus to/from Panama,
and all else, Panama too. In exchange, I did all I wanted
to do. I took a small backpack with me with shorts, 2
T-shirts, wind breaker, medicine, travel book, toilet
stuff, besides the long pants, shirt, and a heavy shirt on
me. My tri-mode cell phone did not work in either country.
In summary, both countries are tropical, laid-back, and
neat, Panama City hotter than Miami, San Jose cooler due to
the mountains around it. I found Panama City more
interesting, intriguing, and perhaps prettier than San
Jose, for 1: it is on the Pacific, 2) has the Canal, 3) has
Colonial Old Town. As far as the countryside, they are
similar: tropics, more volcanos in Costa Rica. The latter
is more touristy. Get brochures at the hostel in San Jose
before you join a tour. For example, the Arenal Volcano is
rarely visible from the cloud cover. So have other options
just in case. The volcano is near La Fortuna, but you can
start all tours from San Jose.
1. SAN JOSE, Costa Rica. (On Central Standard Time, $=413
Colones at the exchange counter at the exit of airport,
up to 465 outside; Dollars readily accepted for most
transactions, so I exchanged only $25.) This was a red-eye
flight that departed at 11 pm, arrived in Santamaria
Airport in San Jose at 6:40 am, about half-an-hour from the
city. I took the red TUASA bus. The bus station, really
just a bus stop, is right outside the tiny airport. After
you exit, in front of you is a small covered parking
garage. Walk to your left and around the garage to the
street, turn right and walk another 50 yards to the bus
stop on the right side of the street, the total distance
less than 100 meters. Many buses come and go. An
attendant pointed to the right bus for me. I sat and
observed the city emerge. When the bus reached what
looked like a better part of the city, I got out and walked
the rest of what turned out to Avenida 2, going east.
2. Trip Plan. Since I had allocated only 8 days to this
trip, including huge distances by bus, I knew I could see
only selected parts of both Costa Rica and Panama. I
decided to leave Costa Rica for later and decided to take
the TICA bus to Panama to see 1) The Havana-esque OLD TOWN
of Panama City called CASCO ANTIGUO, including a city tour,
and 2) the Canal. (The other recommended place in Panama,
BOCAS del TORO, an archipelago like the Corcovado and
Tortuguero parks in Costa Rica, is some 11-hour bus ride
from Panama City, at a difficult-to-get location bordering
Costa Rica at the Caribbean.) I would then return to San
Jose to, 1) do city tour here, 2) visit the ARENAL Volcano
near the town of LA FORTUNA, an hour northwest of San Jose,
and 3) drive the distance from LA FORTUNA to MONTEVERDE
Cloud Forest, which are among the things Lonely Planet
recommends in Costa Rica. Other recommended places like
the CORCOVADO National Park in the (very) southwestern
Costa Rica, on the Pacific, and TORTUGUERO Park very
northeast, on the Caribbean, especially the latter, are too
distant and too cumbersome to get to. Having seen similar
landscape in other parts of the world (in the Caribbean and
Borneo, for example), I decided to limit myself to the
volcano and the scenic drive, the latter likely in a rental
car. So I decided to allocate 4 days to Panama, including
the 15-hour bus ride (and return), and 4 days to Costa
Rica. So as soon as I arrived in San Jose, I headed for the
International TICA Bus Station to Panama City.
3. Bus to Panama City. There are 2 bus lines that operate
San Jose to Panama City: TICA and PANALINE. So when I got
out of he airport bus, I followed the map in Lonely Planet
and headed for the Tica bus station in the better part of
the city. It turned out I had to walk only about 10 blocks
on Avenida 2, heading east, to reach the station on a
street to my right. The daily 10 pm Tica bus to Panama
City on that day (Jan 7) was full. The person there
recommended that I and another itchy-feet American go to
the Panaline bus station near the COCA COLA bus station in
the not-so-nice western part of the town. We took a taxi
and paid the driver $1.25 each to take us there, a distance
of more than a mile thru winding city streets. We got the
last 2 seats on the bus leaving that day at 1 pm, in about
3 hours after we got the ticket.
Once we got out of San Jose, we followed the famous PAN
AMERICAN HIGHWAY (also called Interamerican Highway) for
the rest of the trip thru typically tropical landscape, on
what would be a secondary and tertiary road in USA, but
much better than the fields, etc. I had ridden at night
from Santa Cruz, Bolivia to Salta, Argentina a year
earlier. (The Pan American Highway is marked as Route 1
north of San Jose, as Route 2 south of it in Costa Rica,
Route 1 in Panama. The paved section ends about 60 km
after Panama City, the road continuing as dirt road to
about 60 km before the border with Columbia where it ends;
this is to say, there is NO road connection between Panama
and Columbia.) 15 hours later, including 2 stops and
1-hour border crossing formalities, we arrived at the
CARIBE Hotel (single $27 per night) in Panama City, in a
section said to be dangerous especially at night. Thru the
trip, the rest stations were neat, the restaurants serving
nice buffet menus; restrooms were spotless.
4. Border Crossing Costa Rica to Panama. We did this at
about 1 am. First you get in line to get the exit stamp
from Costa Rica, then you walk about 200 meters across the
border to Panama. There you get your entry stamp to Panama
at a hole-in-the-wall counter that you would not find if
not for the help of the bus driver and his assistant. Then
you walk to another counter to get a Tourist Card; then
you walk back to a table next to where you got the entry
stamp to get a stamp on the Tourist Card, where you pay $5
for that; then you walk back to where you got the visa for
the luggage inspection, but not carry-ons; then you get
back on the bus. You are in Panama. The next stop is
about 4 hours later, 3 hours after that you reach Panama
City. We arrived at about 6am, Panama being an hour ahead
of Costa Rica, on USA EST. Panaline bus line stops in
front of the Caribe hotel, in the northeastern section of
the city. Everything in Panama is priced in Dollars.
5. The Canal. Instead of checking into the hotel at this
early hour (and paying for the night before), 2 elderly
American ladies and I waited about 3 hours for our tour of
the Canal. While I was having coffee elsewhere, a taxi
driver convinced the ladies that in exchange for $50 he
would give them 3 hours of his time, including the drive to
the lock, and return thru the Old Town (CASCO ANTIGUE or
VIEJO), then west along BALBOA Ave. to the Monument of
Balboa, then the New City with many high-rises, which the
ladies found very reasonable. Since my share would be only
about $17, thus in the ball-park, I joined them, though we
overpaid probably by about $20. But they had already
agreed on the price.
The Panama Canal has 3 locks. The one near the city is the
Miraflores Lock about 5 miles out, passing first thru a
ghetto called Curundu, then very elite parts of ANCON and
BALBOA that were formerly occupied by Americans taking care
of the canal. We saw several fenced enclaves with perhaps
100 huge elaborate buildings on them, all neatly
maintained, now all empty. The Miraflores Lock is to the
northeast of the city, the canal running 80 km roughly
southwest to northeast. You pay $8 to get in and take the
elevator to the 4th floor to the observation deck. Just as
we arrived, a huge Japanese ship loaded with containers
entered the dock, the ponderous gates closed behind the
ship, and water began elevating the ship to the next level,
all literally in front of your eyes. The views before and
after the lock are also splendid, the second GATUN lock
visible to the right. (The last lock is on the Caribbean
side at the city of COLON, some 80 km north (NOT east), the
Pacific Ocean being in the south (NOT west), the way Panama
is situated geographically. Indeed, the bus I took from
Costa Rica drove almost directly to the east to reach
Panama, less to south.) There is also an exquisite museum
on the 1st floor, and you see a 10-min movie in English
about the canal. The recommended hours to see the canal
are from 9 to 11 am in the morning, and late in the
afternoon.
There is also a train that leaves from COROZAL station near
the Miraflores Lock at about 7 in the morning. Alas, the
train does not operate on weekends, so I could not take it
in the time I allocated to Panama. The trip costs $25 and
takes about an hour to cover the 80-km distance to Colon,
which is said to be a dangerous area. Lonely Planet
recommends that you get off in the town of SABANITA, just
before Colon, and take the bus back to Panama City, instead
of waiting till 5:30pm for the train to return.
6. The OLD Panama City. The Old City is very much in
neglect, probably like the scenes on TV of the Old Havana
in Cuba. (Indeed, Lonely Planets says they look alike.)
Yet there were pockets of incredible quaintness, some in
terms of renovated buildings, some converted to hotels,
some as tiny parks with fantastic views of the Pacific.
The Old City is about 5 km from the New City further west,
along the waterfront drag Balboa Avenue. (I liked this
part so much that the next day I took the bus to the Old
Town and walked the CENTRAL Ave. (that crosses Panama City)
to PLAZA CINKO de MAYO, turned back south to the ocean and
completed my walk in about 5 hours, taking ample photos,
also of the Balboa Monument positioned about halfway
between the 2 parts of the city.)
Our taxi tour ended at about 12. Instead of returning to
the Caribe Hotel, we asked the driver to take us to the
VOYAGER Inter. HOSTEL off via ESPANYA (continuation of
Central Ave. in New City), located among the high-rises.
This is one the nicer hostels anywhere. The single rooms
go for $17, dorm rooms (for 8) $8, double rooms for $24.
Aside from its nice location, the hostel part occupies the
3rd and 8th floors, with balconies on both, and with
fantastic view of the New City. (I enjoyed the same view
from my bunk-bed on the 8th floor too.) As an added bonus,
the ANGIE'S Restaurant near the hostel stays open 24 hours,
serving very nice dishes as buffet selections. MacDonald's
sign is visible a bit further, as also the bus station for
bus CALLE 12 to old town. (The city buses are old American
school buses painted in lively colors and designs inside
and out.) When you exit the hostel, turn right to reach all
of them, also a 24'hour supermarket.
7. 18.5 hours back to San Jose. Since I could not enter
Panama without a return ticket out of the country, I had
purchased the bus ticket round-trip, paying $50 for
round-trip. The daily Panaline bus left Panama City at
11:30am, in front of the Caribe Hotel, stopped at the main
bus station again until 12 noon. Since coming to Panama we
had covered the distance in Panama mostly in the dark, now
I saw these parts in daylight hours, foremost the bridge
over the Panama Canal right at the outset. The trip was as
arduous as coming this way--but, but due to several stops,
still much better than the 16-hour flight LAX to China or
Australia, or 60 hours by bus Perth to Darwin, Australia.
However, on the Costa Rica side, they check all luggage,
also for drugs, which took some time. Anyway, the return
trip took 18.5 hours, also due to long wait on account of
an accident. The last stop was in San Isidro, about 3
hours from San Jose. From there it is an almost continuous
climb over the mountains--the tallest part CERRO de la
MUERTE, 3500 meters--that surround San Jose.
8. La Fortuna & the ARENAL Volcano. La Fortuna is a quaint
little touristic village, about 4.5 hours northeast by bus
from San Jose, about 6km from the volcano. As soon as I
got off the bus from Panama, I asked for the bus to La
Fortuna: "walk one block up, turn left and walk 2 blocks,
you will see it. Indeed, 30 minutes after I arrived I was
on my way to La Fortuna. This is also the area of
Monteverde and Santa Elena cloud forest. So, as expected,
there were clouds, a drizzle, and the volcano was not
visible. After we got there, one tour agent told me that
only about 10 percent of the visitors who come for the
Arenal Volcano get to see it. And having already seen
ample cloud forests south of San Jose (on the way to/from
Panama), and coming to La Fortuna, I decided I would rather
return to San Jose and be in the city. I spent a night at
the COLINAS Hotel for $15/night single. By location it is
the nicest hotel in town, off the main street, and right
across from the bus stop, a few steps from the 24-hour
restaurant & coffee shop, steps from the supermarket. I
recommend it . On return, I took a different route thru
San
Ramon--coming this way it was thru San Carlos. Someone told
me the road is an hour shorter. Not so! It is about the
same distance, and still takes about 4.5 hours. And on the
latter we passed thru the SAN LORENZO cloud forest--read
"cloud forest" as "rain forest," as this is what happens
often in them.
9. Back in San Jose. Upon arrival I paid a taxi $1 to
take me to the TRANQUILO Hostel in a relatively nicer
section of the city. They were fully booked; so they
showed me directions to the PANGEA Hostel
(www.hostelpangea.com, email@hostelpangea.com) right around
the corner. I highly recommend both: the latter is $9 for
a 4-bed spotless dorm-room, includes free Internet, and a
free 10-min call to the States--Internet was also free at
the Voyager Hostel in Panama City, and both fast connection
too, and here also free coffee. Both the Voyager in Panama
City and Pangea in San Jose are COED hostels; men and
womenshare same rooms and baths. The hostel is situated in
the nicer EASTERN part of the city. 6 blocks up from
Pangea, along Calle 5, right at PLAZA de la CULTURE, there
is the pedestrian mall of several blocks. It seems this is
the liveliest spot in the city. I saw the place tonight;
tomorrow I will see the Zoological Garden, various city
parks, and the National Museum. My flight back to LA is in
the eve of the 14th; I will take the bus back to the
airport, or share a ride on the airport shuttle for $12 in
toto, for my flight at 6:30 pm.
By the way, the exit tax from Costa Rica is $26. The
sandwiches on Lacsa Air cost $4 or as meal $6. Dont get
it; mine was tasteless. On the 18th I am off to another
trip.
Sirman