Crossing the Panamanian Border - Part 1

In all of my posts, my goal is to leave you with a lot of information you can use for as a reference later—some of that information does involve costs. I do want to point out, however, that prices seem to do only one thing—rise. The costs related to this trip are accurate as of March 2017. The more time passes, the more expensive the trip will be for you. Case in point, I read on someone's blog that they paid $25 for a taxi from the Costa Rica border at Paso Canoas to San Vito, Costa Rico. Today, we paid $50 (we haggled, originally the cab driver wanted to charge us $60). The blog post I was reading was written in 2010 so in about seven years, the cost more than doubled. I digress—let's start at the beginning.

When my husband and I decided we wanted to make the trip across the border, I did some research and found that we had a choice of border crossings—Paso Canoas or Rio Sereno. Our needs for this trip were somewhat complex, we did not want to be on a bus with an unpredictable three-year-old for more than three hours, and we wanted to explore the possibility of driving across the border.

Paso Canoas vs. Rio Sereno

According to my research and conversation with people in town, the Paso Canoas border was busier than the Rio Sereno border. Bloggers promised a hassle-free experience, and I like hassle-free. That, along with the description of a beautiful ride through Volcan, convinced me. The next step was to figure out we were going to stay in Costa Rica. I did what most people do these days; I told my Facebook friends I wanted to stay someplace nice and located within 30km of the border. A few people recommended Cascata Del Bosco Cabanas in San Vito. I read some reviews and decided to take their suggestion—I figured they would have to see me in town at some point so they must stand behind their recommendation. I went to booking.com and booked a three-day stay.

According to our research, we would be able to take a bus directly from David, Panama to Rio Sereno. I could not find anyone who could tell me how long the bus ride would be, however, according to some sources, the Rio Sereno border was a 45-minute drive from Volcan. Since Volcan is 45 minutes from my location, I surmised it was likely a one and a half hour drive and probably a three-hour bus ride. I could not find a single post about the costs. My research into traveling from Rio Sereno to San Vito was not as fruitful as I would have liked. I found someone who took a picture of the bus stop and a sign that clearly indicates there is a bus from Rio Sereno to San Vito, but I couldn't find any information about how long this bus would take or how much it would cost. A couple of people did drive from Rio Sereno to San Vito and said it was a straight road, so you did not have to worry about getting lost.

Despite those assurances, I decided it was best to take the bus. The plan:

1. Two days before our trip, go to the David bus station and find out what time the bus to Rio Sereno leaves the station, how often, how long of a ride and how much per person.
2. Two days before the trip arrange to have a taxi pick us up the day of the journey to go to the David bus station to catch the bus.
3. Take the bus from David, Panama to Rio Sereno, Panama, get our Passports stamped for exit at the Panama immigration office, take our Passports to the Costa Rica immigration office for entrance. In hand, as advised we would have 2 copies of our passports, verification of income to support ourselves while in Costa Rica (I read they accept either a bank statement or ATM receipt demonstrating you have at least $500 available to you), and verification of our return to your country of origin (in other words something that shows Costa Rica you will not be staying in the country for more than 5 months as a tourist).
4. Start the trip at 7:30 am, arrive in Rio Sereno by 10:30 am and San Vito, Costa Rico by 12:30 pm. Check into the hotel and spend the afternoon exploring San Vito.

That was the plan. The saying goes if you fail to prepare, the prepare to fail. In real life, sometimes you prepare but fail anyway.

In Part 2 of our Journey to San Vito, Costa Rica, I will share with you what actually happened. Just to give you a sense of how the journey went, when we arrived at the Panamanian immigration office at the Rio Sereno border they told us we could not cross because they could not process our passports—they had been without electricity for three days and could not let anyone pass. Read on...