Today was rather uneventful. I boarded the bus to Costa Rica at 11 pm last night. At two in the morning, they stopped for dinner - of course, everybody had to leave the bus for this, hungry or no. At four and six in the morning, still in Panama, we passed two police checkpoints who insisted on seeing everybody's passports. So much for a relaxing night!
Then, at about seven, we finally arrived at the border. This was by far the slowest border crossing I have ever experienced. Even the notoriously thorough and slow crossings from Argentina to Chile were lightning fast compared to this. In total, getting two stamps in my passport took more than three hours - of mostly standing outside in the sweltering heat. Add to that that they didn't even look at my customs form where I'd stated that I had pharmaceuticals and fresh food with me. Unbelievable!
In the evening, I went to explore my first Costa Rican supermarket. To my delight, this was the best stocked supermarket I'd seen on my entire trip. I guess this is an effect of Costa Rica being relatively rich and having big sea ports both on the Atlantic and the Pacific. Needless to say, I was in heaven!
Then, at about seven, we finally arrived at the border. This was by far the slowest border crossing I have ever experienced. Even the notoriously thorough and slow crossings from Argentina to Chile were lightning fast compared to this. In total, getting two stamps in my passport took more than three hours - of mostly standing outside in the sweltering heat. Add to that that they didn't even look at my customs form where I'd stated that I had pharmaceuticals and fresh food with me. Unbelievable!
In the evening, I went to explore my first Costa Rican supermarket. To my delight, this was the best stocked supermarket I'd seen on my entire trip. I guess this is an effect of Costa Rica being relatively rich and having big sea ports both on the Atlantic and the Pacific. Needless to say, I was in heaven!
