Border Crossing 101

"We could be so lucky"
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In all of our travels combined we have never spent so much time at a border crossing. We made it to the Panama border on our way back to Costa Rica ... so the first step was to go through the Panamaian customs so they can check your passport and take your departure slip.  We stood in line for 45 mins then we had to unload the luggage from the bus and go through customs ... again a line up of 45 mins. Then once they have checked your luggage you have to load back into the bus. Then the bus drives across the border.  We jumped off then had to walk approxiamety 500 ft to the Costa Rican border.  We went through the same ordeal again 3 hours later after they rumagged through our luggage.  Michael was not happy when the border-guy took a little jackknife to his shoes ... looking for drugs.  I guess they figure gringos are stupid enough to smuggle drugs across. After this check, we got everything loaded back on the bus and we think life is good!  A helper for the bus line came on the bus and checked to ensure we all received our stamps ... well "hello" we just stood in line for over an hour ... do you think we would have left without going through passport control?  So again, we think life is good.  The bus is on the go for about maybe 5 kms then the bus stops again and a police officer gets on the bus and agian checks all of our passports. And you think this story is over well ... guess again! We are travelling for about 2 hours watching some cheezy movie and we pull into another police stop and everyone was asked to get off the bus.  They checked half of the bags - luckily ours were not one of them. We finally arrived 3:30 in the morning and arrived safely to our hotel. 

Mental note - maybe fly next time! 

Mental note - maybe fly next time!

Michael and Shelly