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We spend the night in Colon, a place so dangerous that the police thinks it is best to escort us to our hotel. Hmhmhmmm… It's not really encouraging. The next morning we put to trial the Panamean efficiency… Extremely disappointing… 12h of formalities to get our cars back…
It all started with the payment at the bank: 2h queueing just to pay!!! And then at the customs office: 3h to write a letter that needed about... 3 minutes. Back to Seaboard marine office and formalities with the port customs office and the port authority to localize the container. 1/2h to open the container, under the fumigation (7USD for a malfunctionning light shower of pesticide…). A unique blend of sorryful events, just the time to liaise with employees of the port who regret themselves the lack of organisation and here we are, reunited with our cars. Wait a minute, no; a stamp is missing. Back to the dock. 19.45, we eventually victoriously cross the gates of the port. A few km away we stop exhausted in a hotel located in a previous American army base. The owner is particularly heplful and full of interesting facts: McCain was born just 5km from here, th team of the last James Bond film stayed in this room, etc.. Determined to help us in our adventure he offers us a major discount! Many thanks Juan-Carlos!
The next morning, we leave our germanophon friends who we will meet on our way further North. A last visit to the canal of Panama and we are off to the West, towards the Pacific beaches. We camp at Santa Clara on the beach. The following day on our way to Bocas del Toro, the cable of the accelerator breaks. As I cannot fix it we have to drive with the accelerator blocked; what an adventure! Eventually a garagist, probably an ex-member of the A-team manages to fix it and we reach Almirante just on time for the night. Because of our delay and of the weather we decide not to go and visit the islands so we have plenty of time to cross the border this morning. The road is impressive: an old railway bridge links the 2 countries. Once the formalities done, the car carefully jumps between the rails. Welcome to Costa Rica!
The weather is rally bad and so we choose not to waste too much time and head straight to San Jose wher we will spend 3 nights whilst waiting for Mema's mum, on her way to a bridge tournament in Cuba!
She books a room in a coffee finca just 50km outside of the capital. We spend 3 nights there in company of this energetic woman and make the most of it to visit the Poas volcan and an eco-park: frogs, colourful birds, butterflies, monkeys and waterfalls! What we see is inspiring.
We take the road back towards the southen beaches. The rivers inflated by the recent rains are barring the road: I measure the depth but eventually wisely decide to use another road. 1 night under the stars.The next morning, we reach another beach where there is a turtle protection centre. We won't have the chance to see any: human activity in this beautiful area has left no room for the endangered specy due to its imminent extinction.
After a night at Liberia, we visit another natural reserve a eventually reach a wonderful deserted beach: the rangers help us in our adventure and let us in for free. The sunset is amazing. We don't stay long, Nicaragua, our next destination, is waiting for us.
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