Blog 15 - Dear Panamanian Highway Authority

A new day, a new country: off to Panama....and on the way, our most entertaining border crossing yet.

You know how in England you get those strange shop combinations like Shoe Repair and Key Cutting, well the Costa Rican border town of (Sixoala) has gone one better. The roadside stall whose main trade is in hats and dresses also acts as a place you can recharge your mobile phone, exchange currency and is where you have to buy your customs papers. 1 randomness point to you, Costa Rica.

The border is marked by a wide river, with mountains upstream and impenetrable jungle either side. The only way across is via a disused railway bridge. 

For us, with our reasonably light bags, and in calm sunny weather this was an amusing novelty. But it’s worth pointing out this is the only way across, short of a 300 mile round trip to the Pacific Coast. So sometimes a teenage backpacker with a bag three times their size will turn up in the middle of howling winds and torrential rain, and they'll be told, ‘Yeah you’ve got to walk across that’. 

Also a reasonable number of the wooden planks are missing or broken, so sometimes a person must be walking across when part of the bridge gives way underneath them!

Fortunately we made it without any such pitfalls, at least until we arrived at the Panama border control office. The man on duty was insisting we needed an exit ticket before we would be allowed in. Now technically he was right, this is a requirement for the entry visa, but it also was for every other Central America country and we’d never been called up on it before. It’s also not entirely unlikely he was after some kind of bribe. Anyway he didn’t get one. For about half an hour we had a conversation which went round in circles, here’s the abbreviated version:

Border Guard: “You need an exit ticket to get in. Why don’t you have one?”

Us: “Because we don’t know when or where we’re going next”

Border Guard: “Then you need to buy an exit ticket now”

Us: “We can’t because we don’t know when or where we’re going yet”

Eventually his supervisor turned up, probably as a result of the queue that was rapidly growing behind us, asked us if we had enough money for our trip, if we had a credit card and decided that was good enough. We were in!

After a short ride in a collectivo mini-van, we got on a water taxi to take us across to Isla Colon, part of the Bocas Del Toro archipelago. The water taxi was definitely an exhilarating, if slightly drenching experience, as the twin-engined speed boat hydroplaned its way over the waves of the Caribbean.

Arriving in Bocas town we had a bit of trouble finding a taxi driver who was prepared to take us up to our destination, ‘Tesoro Escondido’. On the map the journey seemed like a simple 5 mile drive, but the first four drivers we stopped all said no on the basis of the condition of the road. Finally we did find one who was prepared to give it a go, and we soon saw why the others were so reluctant. To summarise the situation I have penned an open letter to the Panamanian Highway Authority.

Dear Panamanian Highway Authority,

While we have come to accept that dirt tracks so heavily potholed that most 4x4 drivers take a sharp intake of breath when considering tackling them, are considered legitimate places to drive in many areas of Central America, I would like to inform you, that usually the beach does not count as a road.  Neither does a river, nor as you appear to believe, in at least one place, does the sea.

Yours Sincerely,

Nick Madge.

As it turns out we were actually rather lucky as at one point during our stay, the hotel, along with the rest of the East side of the island became entirely cut off, as the condition of the road following some stormy weather meant not a single vehicle was prepared to attempt to traverse it for 3 days.

So after an entertaining day of travelling we arrived at our home for the next few weeks. 

Tesoro Escondido is an eco-hotel on the edge of Bluff Beach, one of the best surfing spots in Central America. Scattered around a huge central four story house are a maze of cabinas, bamboo platforms, a yoga hut and two private beaches. 

Just off the main house, is our room, and to the right our outside shower. 

We were a little skeptical of the outside shower at first given the number of bugs wandering around, but having a hot shower surrounded by tropical jungle during a tropical thunderstorm is amazing!

We had arrived just in time for the evening meal, and spent some time getting to know the other workawayers we had joined. Here’s the restaurant where we would be doing most of our workawaying, and the view wasn't so bad either!