Lockers on the Loose World Trip

As I still haven't picked myself up a guidebook on this part of the world, I was lucky to meet a French guy, Eric, while waiting for the boat to take me from Bocas del Toro, on the island of Colon, to mainland Panama. In fact, Eric was the best person I could have met – he was also heading for Puerto Viejo in Costa Rica, where he'd been living for the last 8 months, and was familiar with the border formalities (he has to leave Costa Rica every 3 months to get his visa renewed).

Once on the mainland, we got a collectivo (mini-van) to Changuinola ($1.25) and then jumped in another one to the border (also $1.25). The border was one of the strangest I have seen; an old, rickety wooden bridge, in parts completely lacking in planks, was what separated Panama from Costa Rica. Eric had to make a phone call, so I sat on some steps watching how everyone and thing went across that bridge - huge trucks full of bananas, mothers and children, cyclists, bewildered-looking backpackers, immigration workers, men who looked lost in life. Whilst I was waiting, I also contemplated whether I had hooked up with some crazy guy who may be using me to smuggle drugs or with a potentially new friend who could give me the lowdowns on Costa Rica. ... you never really know, these things can go two ways!

Just when I was thinking I had been deserted in No Man's Land, Eric returned smiling and apologising for taking so long. I released a sigh of relief and we went to get our exit stamp from the office on the Panamanian side before joining every man and his dog to walk across the precarious bridge. As I focused on not stepping in the gaps, I thought about how the border areas are often the most neglected places in a country. The lady in the immigration office on the Costa Rican side told me they had only got air conditioning installed last year. I was absolutely soaked in sweat when she said this so could sympathise with her for having had to work in a sauna box for most of her life.

The same lady asked for my onward flight ticket and I suddenly realised that I had not printed out the latest changes. All I had on me was a piece of paper confirming a flight from Guatemala to Vancouver on May 11^th. Given that it was June 5^th, it was dubious but the lady was nice (maybe my sympathising paid off), said it would do nicely, stamped my passport and waved me on. If that had been Venezuela, I'd probably be writing this from prison now.

Eric lead me to where the buses leave and after a 15 minute wait, we were on one, not heading directly to Puerto Viejo but to somewhere where he said we would be able to get a connecting bus from. The first thing that struck me about Costa Rica was the amount of dust on that bus, covering all the seats and headrests, and the endless banana plantations on either side of us. In fact if countries were allocated colours, Costa Rica's would have to be green as that is just about the only colour I saw during my first hour in the country.

My stomach started to churn on that bus and I concluded that the coffee I'd grabbed at the border must have had some dodgy milk in it (mental note, no more coffees at borders). I prayed that everything would just stay inside me until I got to a bathroom.

I don't know where we were when Eric told me it was time to get off the bus and that we should run to another bus which was just about to pull off. As my rucksacks (front and back) have gradually increased in weight over the past 10 months and I have gained a hand bag too, not to mention the bottle of water I always have in my spare hand, running between buses is getting particularly tricky these days but I'm always aware that the next bus may never come, so run I did and make it we did. It was our fourth bus of the day, cost also just a dollar, so we had managed to change countries and get to where we wanted for about $4 which was satisfying when a taxi driver had asked for $15 just to the border.

Eric advised me on a good hostel and I managed to get a private room, wooden cabin style, for $8. He then said he could be with me in about an hour if I wanted to grab some lunch with him and be taken on a tour of Puerto. Things in Costa Rica were working out very nicely indeed ...