Panama: Part 1

Finally across the border into Panama, it takes another hour to get to David. However, we have to stop once or twice more for police and guards to check our passports and documents — the ones they checked at the actual border. Gotta be sure those innocent looking Americans aren't up to anything like smuggling an unclaimed duffel bag of greater than $10,000 into Panama, right?

From David we catch a Boquete-bound bus from the other side of the same central bus station at which we were left by the Tracopa bus. It's only $1.40 per person — they use dollars and balboas — for an hour-long ride into the mountains on probably the longest and straightest two-lane road we'll ever see. Something interesting we notice here is that, possibly because we're out in the countryside, but possibly because we're out of Costa Rica, the houses are not connected, there are no 8-foot fences with gates, and they actually have property — large front lawns with grass. Even in David.


Riding this bus takes me back to elementary school. It's an old yellow school bus that was converted to a commuter bus by installing a rear door and hand rails in the ceiling. It feels, sounds and smells like an old Blue Bird school bus back home.

We ask the driver where to get off just in time for our stop near the roadside Mexican restaurant. Our hostel, Valle Primavera, is just down the street in a quiet part of town about an 8-minute walk to downtown.


It gets dark at around 6 p.m., so when we get to our room the geckos are out. They're all over the porch light cover and a few are in the room and on the bed. We have seen only a few types of gecko in Costa Rica and Panama — nearly 1,200 species of gecko exist in the world.


A cozy bed and a cute critter are a nice welcome to Panama after 9 hours on a bus.