Michael: Getting There

The blended edges
Of white foam and blue water
Surge towards the shore.

Monday, December 19, 2016

This past weekend was our second foray into Costa Rica for a North Face Ecogreen trail race. The last trip was a 50/50 swirl of successes and failures. This time out we were much more prepared, and though we made a few goofs, the trip went much smoother.

Much of the ease of the trip involved Kimme guiding us through the immigration process which first involves a visit to the Panamanian Immigration office in Paso Canoes to exit Panama, then a walk down the street to the Costa Rican office to enter Costa Rica.

The only unusual part of that process is that for some reason,  even though we each had a bag, neither country asked to check our luggage. When we got to the Alamo rental car office, we asked the clerk there and she said that people driving across or were taking a bus over are far more likely to have their bags inspected. Makes little sense to me, but it sure did speed up the process.

We were stopped shortly down the road at a customs checkpoint where we were asked for our passports, but again our luggage wasn’t looked at.

I was a bit reluctant about driving, both because I haven’t driven in months and because I haven’t driven in a foreign country in years. But it was a piece of cake. The roads in Costa Rica are great, even though some of the drivers are as crazy as they are in Panama; passing on blind turns even, at times,  with fog thrown in as a bonus challenge.

They also have similar lane paintings as in the states with a dashed line next to a solid line I presume indicating a safe passing zone, though I did notice that two solid lines rarely inhibited people from passing. Next time out we’ll have to ask whether those solid lines are more like a strong recommendation not to pass or whether passing through those zones would be a ticket worthy offense.

Because we had to buy the additional collision insurance the two day total for our Toyota Yaris was approximately $110 not including gas. Since our drive was measured in kilometers and the gas is filled in liters, I’m not sure what our mpg was but for a long two day drive we spent an additional $45 for gas. So the rental experience was well worth it and something we‘ll do again if we intend to travel off the main bus routes. This time, with excursions to the packet pick up and a very early morning drive to the race start, taxi arrangements would’ve been a hassle and probably just as, if not more, expensive.

Now that we’ve knocked that one out on our own for the first time, I’m sure that’ll ease the stress of going through customs and renting a car next time we cross over to race in Costa Rica.