Panama

Once I made it to the Panamanian border, my plan was to find a customs agent who spoke English and learn the definitive implications of leaving Vandrew in Panama and flying home.  I've read many scenarios online, and I was losing sleep thinking that I may not be able to get out of the country.  I arrived early, there wasn't a big line at the border, everything was going well....

...except nobody at the border spoke English.  Nobody.  In fact, one woman was vis.ibly annoyed that I didn't speak Spanish very well at all.  I got my temporary import permit and left. We'll go with plan "B", ask forgiveness, not permission.

I stopped at a couple of nondescript places on my way down to Panama City, a resturant parking lot and somebody's back yard to be precise, but I was excited to get to the city.  I wanted to be done with finding places to park.  Done with not being able to go to the bathroom in the middle of the night if I needed to.  Done with being hot and needing to wait until midnight before Vandrew was cool enough to sleep in.

I was just done.

So I drove to the Panama Canal.

My Pilgrimage is over.

Near Golfito, Costa Rica

After leaving Jaco, I wanted to stay close to the Panamanian border, so I could cross early in the morning and talk to a customs person about how to get rid of Vandrew in Panama.  I found a nice little place near Golfito, just off the Pan-American highway, and settled in for the night.  It was a really nice spot, with spider monkeys frolicing in the trees, and what I think may have been a baby tapier wandering across the lawns.  I was in the pool at night to cool off, and there were no lights around the pool area.  After 15 minutes or so, I turned on my flashlight, and there were 8 large frogs on the side of the pool, watching me.  Once I got out of the pool, they all got in.  Very strange.

No pictures of the wildlife.  Look them up online if you want...

Jaco, Costa Rica

The border crossing into Costa Rica took a long time, but was fairly painless.  There was a long line of people, but it only took about an hour and a half to get through to get my passport stamped.  Then the paperwork for Vandrew involved a lot of walking/driving back an forth along the road, from one checkpoint to another, to get forms filled out and insurance and inspections done.  The whole process took about three hours, but I was prepared for it, so it wasn't that bad.

I drove immediately halfway down Costa Rica and stopped at the tourist town of Jaco.  Many tourists.  Many Americans.  I'm ashamed to say though, I did enjoy that almost everyone in the service industry spoke English.  I'm so ready to come home!

Jaco had a campsite half a block from the beach, in the middle of town, where I stayed for five days.  There were good restaurants with great sushi, salads, and burgers.  There was also a cinema, and I watched Star Wars: Rogue One for the second time, because it was the only film that was subtitled instead of dubbed.

There were also casinos in Jaco, and I played a fair bit of roulette.  After my five days, I figure I was down about $40US.  No bad for hours of entertainment.  Prostitution is not illegal in Costa Rica, and one of the casinos that I went to was apparently a hub for the sex tourism industry...lots of women playing the slot machines and winking and blowing kisses.  I stayed in the roulette room.

Playa Gigante, Nicaragua

Somebody's pet bird, and James, a man on the lam from the law

After stopping briefly at Masaya, I drove through to where I was planning to spend Christmas and New Year, Playa Gigante, on the southern Pacific coast of Nicaragua.

There was a hostel that I read about, where you could park in their parking lot and use their facilities (shower, wifi, toilet, hammock) for $5/night.  Gigante is a surf beach, and there were lots of pretty young people wearing very little and partying all the time.  The downside was there was music playing for 20 hours of the day.  The upside was there was a restaurant on site and I could get a pizza for $4.

I met James, a guy who within the first 5 minutes of meeting him told me that he was in Nicaragua because "it doesn't have an extradition policy with the US".  Apparently he was growing weed when he wasn't supposed to.

I met two guys from Holland who dropped acid for the first time while they were there, and were extolling it's virtues.

I met Laura, from Ottawa, who had been there for 7 months and, along with her boyfriend, had just started a business to do fishing tours for tourists.

The people I met most, though, were the bartenders.  I spent almost two weeks in a hammock reading, with a beer by my side and a smile on my face.

I decided that I would leave on New Year's Day, and try and avoid the rush across the border.  Unfortunately, I slept in a bit, and when I tried to drive down to one road that lead out of the village, I saw this:

You can't really tell here, but the big school bus is blocking the entire road.  Not even motorcycles can get past.  The driver is M.I.A., and there are a number of busses and cargo vans also abandoned in the road.  The two vehicles in front of me took at least 4 hours to get past.  I gave up and went back to the hostel for another night.

Gotta be flexible in Central America!