Day 7 in Costa Rica
9:00 am-
We got up and packed up all of our things. We got our final latte :( and said our goodbyes to the new people we befriended.
9:30 am-
We went in search of a bank to break $100 bills. We have learned our lesson on bringing big bills, always bring small change no matter what. Hundreds are hard to get rid of. The third bank was a charm, Banco Nacional, they finally gave Ben change. We went ahead and got gas while we were in town. They pump the gas for you, so it was a little weird for Ben (lol).
10:15 am-
We headed back to Boquete to return the rental car and to catch a bus to the border. Once we returned the car we caught a taxi to the bus terminal.
11:15 am-
We had to find a bus to Changuinola, Panama. It was a 5 hour bus ride to Changuinola, and we were cramped in a small bus right near the driver. We were lucky we didn't get split up. It seemed like it took forever. We had a small road block we were stuck at for 30 minutes. The kids got antsy at the end. They were starving and hot, not a good mixture for kids.
4:15 pm-
We arrived in Changuinola and took a taxi to the border, about a fifteen minute ride. When we arrived we had to find immigration office, she checked our passports and gave us an exiting ticket. We then had to go back accross the street and have our passport stamped as an exiting process.
4:45 pm-
We then entered the bridge and the guard ask for our exiting ticket. We then were alike to pass over the border, it was about a 6-8 minute walk. There we had to go to the Costa Rica customs office. We had to fill out each person a sheet of information. Once again we had to have the address of where we were staying, at least this time we were prepared. Once we got our passport stamped, we left the area by taxi in search of our house in Puerto Viejo.
5:30 pm-
We arrived at the house in the jungle. Mosquitos were everywhere, we instantly sprayed with bug repellent. The house was cute, it's a small two bedroom with three hammocks on the porch. There is no ac which was a little hard to deal with at first but it was nice listening to the noises while u sleep.
6:00 pm-
We walked into town, around 15 minutes, and found a nice little place for dinner. We had Caribbean food. The kids had breaded chicken and French fries (Brandt was very happy). We had shrimp, rice with beans and plantains. The shrimp were great, mine were grilled and Ben had garlic. The rice was different, very flavorful with coconut.
7:15 pm-
We walked to a little grocery store and got some food for the 2 days we are here. We bought some stuff for grilled cheese, cereal, coffee, and fruit.
8:00 pm-
We walked back to our house in the dark, the kids didn't not like that. They were scared of jaguars or monkeys. We all got situated for bed and listened to nature as we drifted off to sleep. Very peaceful.
We will be going to the Playa Negra (Black Beach) tomorrow. The kids are excited to finally make it to a beach. Lots of exploring tomorrow.
