Back In Boquete
I'm back from San Jose and am taking a day of shades shut and indiscriminate surfing and sleeping. Traveling takes its toll when you eschew fancy hotels for the 'extra' beds of your friends. On the drive up we encountered sufficient rain in the mountains that I was stressfully anticipating the windshield wipers to malfunction, as they did on each of the previous two days. They held up though, and we didn't drive off a cliff as a result.
The car did make one last trip to a mechanic in San Jose before it officially went on the block, as two bolts had gone missing: one from an exhaust header, and one from a bracket connecting three different linkages concerning the fuel injection system (Note: it's mechanical, not electronic, and one of the connections assists the transmission in deciding when to shift. I found this out the day after my arrival when the car decided it really liked second gear more than any of the other ones.)
My special suggestion for crossing the Panamanian/Costa Rican border: don't do it after dark. My girlfriend had the same trouble a few months ago that I ran into last night. After dark they start enforcing the crossing requirements. Technically you're supposed to have a round trip ticket 'and' cash or other equivalent totaling at least $500. Last night I had neither.
During the day Americans and Costa Ricans are typically waived through, as Panama has figured out that neither one will be a drag on the economy. We come to buy and spend. I figure the reasoning is that anyone trying to cross after dark is trying to hide something so the extra scrutiny helps to expose that. I managed to bullshit my way through last night but my girlfriend (on that previous crossing) had to wait overnight at the border for the bus terminal to open and buy a return ticket.
So really, now, I'm here for good, or until they throw me out, and the labor starts tomorrow on my personal Panama Canal. I'm hoping I can avoid the dengue or malaria that accompanied building the original. Of course the day laborer I hired to work while I was gone didn't show up, so I get to fire him and take back the machete. It's all good.
