We awakened in the comfort of our hotel Parque del Lago near the heart of the capital city. We got up, showered and packed out belongings for the last time in Costa Rica. Then we headed down to the restaurant to have our buffet breakfast. They do become rather hum-drum and offer very few surprises, especially when one has been having hotel breakfasts for weeks. But, the fresh fruit is a treat and, from time to time there are waffles or pancakes which are nice. Other than that, the surprise is that there is no surprise. When we finished eating, I stopped by the desk and told the fellow working there that we needed a taxi to the airport. There are city buses that run for a fraction of the tariff that we would be paying to the taxi driver but we did have a couple of hand pieces of luggage and figured it would be easier than trying to do the approximately 30 minute trip with riders in the public buses. I ran across the street and obtained 30,000 Colones which if exchanged for dollars would convert at the rate of 550 to one.
The driver was there at 8:30 sharp and we hopped into the cab and were taken quickly to the airport. Most of the traffic was headed into the city and we were going the opposite direction. The airport is situated at the end of the road so there is little need for a map or GPS unit once one finds the road. We unloaded at the International section of the airport, John paid the driver and we were ready to check in for our flight.
We entered the terminal which was new, organized and clean. We did not share the terminal space with an abundance of folks this morning and, after asking one person, found our AirPanama check-in place. Two men were going through our suitcases and backpacks in a most cursory manner. When completed, they attached the two zipper ends together with a plastic tie and asked us if we had paid our tax. John was of the impression that it might have been included in our ticket purchase price so went to the front desk to inquire. He was told that it was not included so we went to the tax desk where we lined up to finish that task. When we approached, we were told that we could pay in Colones, US dollars or credit or debit cards. If we opted to pay with credit cards, the Costa Rican government would take the money from our accounts in the form of a cash advance. We opted for a debit card because there would be no additional interest charges extracted by our credit card company. The cost for us combined was USD52. I realize that these costs seem steep to those of you who travel mostly in the US but you must remember that when you look at the base fares in the US, they are minuscule compared with the fare you pay when you finally get these taxes added in. For instance, a fare of USD78 round-trip between Phoenix and Chicago suddenly becomes USD158 when the airport taxes, security fees and other charges are combined. We are just not used to paying these fees apart as we often do in other countries.
Once having paid these fees, we passed quickly to the desk of the airline company itself and were given our boarding passes and we also deposited our checked baggage. Then, very quickly through security and into the duty free shopping areas and our eventual waiting area for gate 16. The terminal, as many here in Central America, provided for Wi-Fi gratis so John and I were able to catch up on the news and monitor our bank and credit card accounts. We were at a gate where it was necessary to exit the door on ground level and board a bus which would take us to our waiting plane. Our plane was inbound from David, Panamá and would be turning around to take us back there. We were scheduled to board at 10:45 but it was apparent that there was a delay since there was no stir at the boarding door even after 11:00 that morning. Finally, at around 11:15 there was an announcement first in Spanish and then in very broken English concerning our need to find the door for our exit. We did so and joined perhaps fifteen others on the bus. After a drive of about five minutes, we reached what appeared to me a Fairchild 17 aircraft. The same type as Howard Hughes AirWest used to operate in the western part of the USA. A high-wing plane with the belly extending as a pendulum below with two prop engines. When we boarded, John and I both got front seats and the others found their seats behind us. I looked at the safety card and found that this aircraft was a Dash300. Could have fooled me!
We had about fifty minutes of flying before landing at our destination. During our flight we had a choice of crackers, maybe raisins and a sticky-sweet candy bar together with juices, coffee or tea.
We landed at a very small airport in the western portion of Panamá very near the frontier with Costa Rica and exited the plane and finally entered the terminal. The temperatures were high and the humidity far higher. It was uncomfortable on the tarmac and far more uncomfortable in the stale and unconditioned air inside the terminal. Other than one girl, the two of us were first in line for immigration and customs. We waited for perhaps ten minutes as the one person doing immigration was finishing a telephone conversation. When he did terminate the call, he worked madly trying to sign onto the computer. This took several tries but finally he did manage to connect. He cleared the girl then both of us. He was friendly but just not rushed or in any hurry. We had a good chat, he and I and I even got a nice smile from him. We then walked over and claimed our bags and put them up on a table. The girl had chosen the other table and they were doing a once-over on her bag. She was cleared and we thought the inspector would come over to do ours but, no. He did somebody else. So, we moved our bags over to the other table. He first looked at my bag then asked me to open my backpack. I did and he inspected and passed me through to the terminal area. Then he took leave and left everybody standing. John waited and in about five minutes, he reappeared and John was also cleared.
We checked with Aeroperlas, our next airline for our connecting information on the 1st of March and got confirmation papers. Then we exited the terminal and walked across to Alamo where our wonderful Toyota was awaiting our arrival. We did the paper work and the clerk explained that there was mandatory insurance required in Panamá. We agreed and, with contract in hand, went out the door, jumped into our clean, unblemished car and sped off. John had all of our directions in hand and we followed them for about ten minutes. He told me there was a McDonald's and, without hesitation, we stopped and we both enjoyed our lunch. After that, we continued approximately one hour to our destination for the next three nights in the mountains in the hamlet of New Switzerland. We would be in the mountains, experiencing cool, gorgeous weather and we would be surrounded by absolutely stunning scenery. No more hot and humid here!
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