Ooof! What a horrible border crossing from Costa Rica to Panama. Why did I imagine that it could be better than all the other Central American crossings? With the USA influence, it may be a little more streamlined and organised and coordinated? Not!
In fact, it took over 3 hours. But our all time record is 24 hours from Nicaragua to Costa Rica where we got stuck at the border in no mans land on a Sunday and hate to wait til Monday morning for a lawyer to turn up at his office. But that is another story. We made the most of that predicament and had a nice supper with the local truckies. We even received a fresh pineapple from a truck driver who was kept waiting so long that his consignment of pineapples were going off. Poor chap! It made us feel a lot better about our situation - there is always someone worse off than you.
Getting out of Costa Rica was a cinch. Entering Panama was tricky. All these CA countries are paranoid that you are going to import a foreign vehicle and then sell it in the country and not pay import taxes. And we had two vehicles. So, they make you run the gauntlet of visiting different kiosks with different bits of paper and having things stamped, once, twice, three times and more and the whole thing goes on for ever and no one is coordinating with each other. It seems the more 'corrupt' a country is, the more silly stamps and bits of paper you need, resulting in absolutely no accountability by anyone.
No one wears uniforms so you cant distinguish between an 'official' and a border urchin so you have to have your wits about you. You can use an urchin to 'help you' for a small fee but we never do. Its best to learn the drill yourself. And even so, the paper-pushers still cant seem to copy a 7 digit number plate correctly from one sheet of paper to another. So you have to double check all their work.
You have to keep a tight lid on your frustration and fatigue as becoming irrate has no effect whatsoever. I do feel a bit sorry for these administrators as it cannot be a rewarding job; but they signed up for it.
Despite our best efforts we did have a problem: we left the border and drove into Panama and congratulated each other on making it over. Then a few miles down the road at the first check point we were turned back. We had to return and have yet another stamp and signature on a another piece of paper - see what I mean about lack of coordination between the workers? That cost us an hour and gallon of petrol. The guy wanted a 'soda' for calling us back and stamping various bits of paper. He said he 'saved us 500US$' I wanted to give him an earful for being an incompetent ninnie and wasting our time and petrol. Instead I smiled sweetly and said I was very tired of being at the frontera for over 3 hours and was looking forward to enjoying his country. He did not recive a soda.
In fact, it took over 3 hours. But our all time record is 24 hours from Nicaragua to Costa Rica where we got stuck at the border in no mans land on a Sunday and hate to wait til Monday morning for a lawyer to turn up at his office. But that is another story. We made the most of that predicament and had a nice supper with the local truckies. We even received a fresh pineapple from a truck driver who was kept waiting so long that his consignment of pineapples were going off. Poor chap! It made us feel a lot better about our situation - there is always someone worse off than you.
Getting out of Costa Rica was a cinch. Entering Panama was tricky. All these CA countries are paranoid that you are going to import a foreign vehicle and then sell it in the country and not pay import taxes. And we had two vehicles. So, they make you run the gauntlet of visiting different kiosks with different bits of paper and having things stamped, once, twice, three times and more and the whole thing goes on for ever and no one is coordinating with each other. It seems the more 'corrupt' a country is, the more silly stamps and bits of paper you need, resulting in absolutely no accountability by anyone.
No one wears uniforms so you cant distinguish between an 'official' and a border urchin so you have to have your wits about you. You can use an urchin to 'help you' for a small fee but we never do. Its best to learn the drill yourself. And even so, the paper-pushers still cant seem to copy a 7 digit number plate correctly from one sheet of paper to another. So you have to double check all their work.
You have to keep a tight lid on your frustration and fatigue as becoming irrate has no effect whatsoever. I do feel a bit sorry for these administrators as it cannot be a rewarding job; but they signed up for it.
Despite our best efforts we did have a problem: we left the border and drove into Panama and congratulated each other on making it over. Then a few miles down the road at the first check point we were turned back. We had to return and have yet another stamp and signature on a another piece of paper - see what I mean about lack of coordination between the workers? That cost us an hour and gallon of petrol. The guy wanted a 'soda' for calling us back and stamping various bits of paper. He said he 'saved us 500US$' I wanted to give him an earful for being an incompetent ninnie and wasting our time and petrol. Instead I smiled sweetly and said I was very tired of being at the frontera for over 3 hours and was looking forward to enjoying his country. He did not recive a soda.
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