Our cab driver dropped us at the front entrance to Allbrook airport (this airport was once a US facility when the US had control over the Canal Zone). Since we had depleted all of our stash of US dollars, I ran into the airport and used the ATM the final time in Panama to grab some dollars. Went out and paid the driver USD10 and entered the half of the terminal devoted to Air Panama. Our bags were checked first by security and then we were sent to the desk to check-in for our flight. We had a quick check-in and were told to await the call for our final screening just prior to boarding. We waited until just minutes before the scheduled time of departure and responded to the announcement that we could pass through the sensors. We did so and took our places within the small lobby inside security. We had arrived at the airport at about half past seven and we were assigned check-in numbers of 5 and 6 so we were among the early arrivals. We waited another hour and nothing seemed to happen except that the wee lobby began to fill until there were no longer seats for the new-comers. Other flights for the same operator seemed to be operating as there were some who departed and some more who quickly filled their places. Finally, there was an announcement in Spanish that those of us who were bound for David should check our boarding numbers and if they happened to be in the sequence of from one to twenty-four, we should line up after the fine young lady who was standing at the door. We lined up and soon were issued out to a plane whose capacity might have been 35. You see, although not among the 24 individuals who were holding passes indicating that they were the chosen ones, there were three "very important" families with darling wee children who were included in our group. We did not ask and we were not told what special booty they possessed. But, the fact is, we made it on the plane and we were soon airborne and headed for David. And, so were the special three families. Of course they bore smiles.
We were in the air perhaps fifty minutes before we began to circle the airport for landing. Once on the ground in David, we were issued into the airport where we had previously been and had at that time encountered an Officer Willett. This time we had no bags other than our backpacks and we were met by a friendly representative of Air Panama and not Officer Willett who asked for all fliers in transit to San Jose to please follow him. We did and were checked into our continuing flight to San Jose. We paid departure taxes of USD10 each, filled out departure forms and were soon at the window where the passport person stamped our exit from Panama and took our exit immigration forms. Then, the backpack through the sensors and we were waiting once again for the next leg of our flight.
Our flight was announced and those of us awaiting our flight walked out onto the tarmac and boarded our flight. This leg was approximately one and one half hours in duration and our aircraft, as were all of the other ones in the country of Panama, was a propeller-driven craft. On the aircraft, we were given entry immigration papers to complete for our subsequent and penultimate stop in Costa Rica.
We pulled into San Jose without delay and were soon lined up for the immigration and aduana stops. I had marked my entry papers as passenger in transit as we were continuing on another airline from San Jose to our final destination, Guatemala City. It was good that I had thought of that because the tax provisions enacted by Costa Rica declare that users of the airport on all out-bound flights must pay USD26 on every departure to a foreign country. Since we were in transit, that law did not apply to us. We cleared immigration and aduana and exited the secured area of the airport. Our next flight was 6 hours away so we had some time to kill. We had thought at first about taking a city bus to the heart of San Jose but decided against it as we needed to check in to the secure area again and await our flight. It was either this or pay the USD52 between us. We opted to chill out in the airport, watching numerous arriving and departing airplanes from Spain, the United States, Colombia and several of the Central American countries.
We were directed by immigration to the line marked menores (minors) where we were given free passage sans impuestos (taxes) into the departure areas after we had once again passed security. Have I mentioned that every airport in Central America that we have visited has been equipped with wireless internet? There was one exception - the cinder block shed in Kuna autonomous territory. We in the USA could learn from that. Although many of our airports have wireless Internet gratis, many charge unreasonable amounts to connect. We visited the duty free shops and even sat down for a Burger King combo for me and a Schlotsky sandwich for John. Then, because the time was dragging, we found a Cinnabun shop which smelled pretty good where we each enjoyed one of their creations. Even though a bit doughy, it was tasty and we had tea and coffee to chase those delights.
Our flight on Copa was called and we lined up and were soon aboard our first jet aircraft since departing San Jose on our outbound leg. It was clean, the flight crew spoke and understood idiomatic English and we were given a sandwich and drinks. Those who wished had choices of liquor without cost. Our flight lasted for approximately two hours and we soon saw the beautiful and welcoming night lights of the capital city of Guatemala.
As soon as we landed, I called our landlords and friends, the Philippis. They were already waiting for our arrival and within minutes we would be in their SUV. We exited the plane and cleared immigration where John and I yielded our immigration entry forms and were given another stamp of entry for Guatemala which extended our legal time here for another 90 days. That is good because John would have been her more than the original allotted 90 days and he would have had to have made arrangements to extend in another way. We then awaited our luggage. John was lucky as his came first and I waited until nearly the last piece was delivered. Then it came and we headed for the aduana and the exit. We both lined up to enter aduana and were asked for our baggage tags. I found mine quickly and was cleared but John had misplaced his so there was a slight snag. He was asked to produce his passport which he did and he was cleared. Since I had tarried, the bag checker again asked me for mine again and I had to explain to him that he had already pulled it. He was unconvinced but finally he just told us to go. We did and, outside we found Ruth waving to us. It took no more than a minute to find the vehicle and we were on our way to Antigua.
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