From Panamá City to Costa Rica: Paso Canoas Border

Liliana Alcobia
27 de abr. de 2017
2 min de leitura

After 3 nights scouting cockroaches in Panama City, we have decided that we would sleep much better in a "refrigerator" bus heading to Costa Rica. It seems like people here like to feel the winter through the air conditioning, as they have summer all year. The air conditioning of the buses is so cold that people don't bring the duvet from their beds because it seems wrong. :)

Since it is not possible to buy or book the tickets to Costa Rica online, we went the day before to Albrook Station to buy it. To buy the tickets (40 $ - fixed price, it doesn't vary according to the stop you get out) it is necessary to bring the passport and vaccines card. We had such a good timing that we bought the last tickets available, so buying it on the day of the trip is not my advice.

There are several bus companies doing this trip. We chose TicaBus which makes the following route:

- Cidade do Panamá, Rio Hato, Penonomé, Divisa, Coronado, David, Frontera | Palmar Norte, Uvita, Dominical, Quepos, Jaco y San José.

We arrived at the border in the morning. The border time is from 7am to 11pm. Between queues to stamp passports, bus and bag checks, it took us more than two hours to get out of here. Such a thing that made me think: “Jesus, they really do this on a serious way.”

First they put us all in line inside this "huge" building and made us open all the suitcases, at the same time as a puppy sniffed it (yes, it was a puppy! eheh).

I opened my backpack thinking I would have to take it all out and put it all back in again. They took my flip flops out, looked at my pajamas, and told me to close and go. “After all they do not make it that serious!”, I thought. Ahahah.

After stamping the exit of Panama and the entrance in Costa Rica we all went inside a kind of a cage and they made us open the suitcases again. I thought: "Okay, they do this seriously after all, now they're really going to review the backpacks seriously. After all I can have a gun under my pajamas!"

I opened the backpack again and the lady (a traditional grandmother) pulled out my flip flops, looked at my pajamas, put the flip flops back inside and told me that I could pass to Costa Rica. "Very professional!"

I think this photo speaks for itself :)

We traveled to Sierpe (red sign in the Map), that is in the middle of nowhere, where there was only one restaurant. After asking to call us a taxi, came the "Manuel, the taxi driver", as he calls himself.