Las Américas: From Guatemala through Panama:

Bureaucracy and Corruption at Its Best
(2 September – 30 September 2009)

We crossed the border of Mexico into Guatemala at La Mesilla. So far we have traveled 6350 miles (10,219 km) from Powell River, British Columbia. Add another 2500 miles from Deadhorse Alaska (Figure 1) and 2100 miles to Panama City, and it becomes a long way (10,950 mi or 17,622 km). Of course, that includes all side trip mileage. The straight line distance would be closer to 12,000 km.

Figure 1. Our sign for the trip.

Our crossing at La Mesilla was unusual, we had no problems. Everything went smoothly.

We stayed in our house at Antigua, Guatemala for a bit over a week. Everything was great (Figures 2 and 3). But we had to leave if we wanted to get to Argentina by 19 December, our only real deadline.

Figure 2. Central garden at Antigua house.

Figure 3. MB at Casa Veraepacis in Antigua.

On 10 September we packed and headed to Honduras. Gary and Karla left the day before to see the ruins at Copan. Our crossing at El Florido (Guatemala) into Honduras took a big bite out of our time. It is one of the worst for taking time. First we signed out of Guatemala without a hitch. Second, going into Honduras, on the other hand, took over three hours (in the past, it was only a few minutes). While waiting for a clerk to type paperwork for our visas, one of the officials asked about the ladder we have next to our car top carrier. I showed him. He said it was unsafe to travel with the ladder attached to the roof. A few minutes later I checked the roof. The ladder was gone. The official denied he took it. Then he said, “Any way it is illegal the way it was.” Third, Sharon declared Ewok. That brought the Agricultural Inspector out to examine Ewok. He said we would need to get a special permit in the capitol (Tegucigalpa). It would take several days before Ewok could be released. Also, Ewok could not leave the country without the permit. Sharon convinced the inspector that she would get a permit in Tegucigalpa. After a great deal of time and paperwork, he let us go.

We drove into Copan Runinas and met Gary and Karla at Hotel Las Marias. It is a beautiful motel, a converted old coffee finca (Figures 4 and 5). The next day we drove to Gracias, Honduras and Cerro Celaque National Park where we camped for 2 nights (Figures 6 to 9). I cannot believe the changes since I was there in January/February 1998. The road to the Visitor's Center has degraded. It was difficult to drive, even with 4X4. We made it, but the Center has changed. They are putting in flush toilets, showers, and sinks in a concrete building. The office will be concrete with some small rooms with beds. A very nice bridge crosses the river just above the Center. The only problem was the road. Alejandrina (now 78 years old) still makes comidas for guests. We only bought some tortillas from her. Sharon, Karla, and Gary loved her.

Figure 4. Gary, Karla, and Paco at Hotel Casa Marias in Copan Ruinas, Honduras.

Figure 5. Gary, Karla, and Sharon with coffee at Casa Marias.

Figure 6. Group at entrance to Celaque National Park.

Figure 7. Camp at Celaque.

Figure 8. New bridge at Celaque.

Figure 9. Rio Celaque at Visitor's Center.

We left Celaque and drove through Esperanza. It is a nice town in the highlands south of Gracias (Figure 10). Then we drove on to Tegucigalpa. We stopped for gasoline. Gary and Karla passed us and did not stop. Apparently, he did not see us. We will not catch up with them again until the crossing into Costa Rica.

Figure 10. Market at La Esperanza.

We stopped for the night in a hotel in a small town just north of Chinadega, Honduras on CA 1. They let the dog into the hotel. The next morning we crossed into Nicaragua without incident at a small town called Guacasol. Sharon wanted to bypass Managua (good idea) and head for San Juan del Sur. She remembers it as a sleepy little seaside village she visited seven years ago. When arrived it was full of tourists, and no hotel would accept pets. We drove back to Rivas to find the Hotel Nicaragua. They let Ewok stay (Figure 11).

Figure 11. Breakfast at Hotel Nicaragua in Rivas.

We drove from Rivas toward the Costa Rican border. We were stopped by a local policeman who was upset that we drove past his station. They had waved the car ahead through. We thought we could go as well. He was going to give us a ticket we could pay at the Bank in Rivas. Unfortunately, the banks are closed today for “Independence Day”. We paid him instead.

We arrived at the Nicaragua/Costa Rica border at about 11:45 hrs on Tuesday 15 September. I started the exit process. What a hassle. After almost an hour of getting into the wrong lines, and told to go to another, I was almost through. A boy by the name of Alfonso came up to me with Gary’s card. He said he helped Gary through the complicated paperwork.

When we arrived on the Costa Rican side, we met up with Gary and Karla. They had arrived about the same time we did. They had used Alfonso, and were now using a young man by the name of Giovanni. We had said that we would never use these “scalpers” (“timadores” in Spanish). We should have stayed with our decision. While we got through the bureaucracy on the CR border, it cost over $140. Giovanni told us we had to pay at every window. We found out later, that we had only to pay for insurance (about $13, he said $20). Oh well, live and learn.

Gary had a bigger problem; he does not have the original title and registration to Paco. The CR officials were not going to let him in. Then, one lady official finally said it was OK. I hope this does not cause any problems in the future.

We got our papers in order and drove on to Golfo Papagyao. We went to Casa Conde del Mar on Panama Beach. It was a great place with white faced and howler monkeys, iguanas, and a variety of birds. We stayed two nights, leaving on the 17th (Figures 12 to 14).

Figure 12. Hotel Conde del Mar.

Figure 13. Magpie jay at Hotel Conde del Mar.

Figure 14. Beach at Hotel Conde del Mar.

Thursday (17 September) we arrived late in San Jose at the Adventure Inn in Los Arcos de Ciudad Cariari between the airport and downtown San Jose. It is a nice, 3 star place. On our way we visited Arenal and La Fortuna. We saw howler monkeys, two troops of coatis, a sloth, and many birds (Figures 15 and 16).

Figure 15. Howler monkey on road to La Fortuna, Costa Rica.

Figure 16. Coati mundis on road to La Fortuna, Costa Rica.

This morning (Friday 18 September) we checked out of the Adventure Inn, and drove to Alajuela to meet Gary and Karla in the Central Park at noon. While waiting a lot of people commented on Ewok. She was a hit with the local people. I took some photos of the tree squirrels (Sciurus varigatoides) that kids were feeding (Figures 17 and 18).

Figure 17. Central Park in Alejueja, Sharon and Ewok.

Figure 18. Squirrels in Central Park, Alejueja.

Gary and Karla arrived at 1200 hrs. They are having trouble with Paco. They had a flat tire, and the starter is not working. They stayed in town to get both fixed, and will meet us at the base of Cerro Chirripo on Sunday or Monday. We left via Highway CA 2 south through Cartago and San Isidro by way of Cerro de la Muerta (the highest elevation on the Pan-American Highway.

We arrived at San Geraldo de Rivas, Hotel El Pelicano, just at dark. It is at the base of Cerro Chirripo, the highest mountain in Costa Rica. We got a nice room, 1 double and two bunk beds(C 70,000 for 2 nights with breakfast). We went to dinner. As we waited, Gary and Karla drove into the hotel. They had the tire fixed, but not the starter. They will try to get that fixed at a local mechanic on Monday. They will stay in our room.

The next morning we had great birding just on the hotel grounds. I saw several humming birds (a coquett, a rufous-tailed, and a?), three emerald tucanets, two woodpeckers (a red crested and a?), black and turkey vultures, clay-colored robins, collared sparrows, great kiskadee, and others. I also saw a Depp squirrel on the ground in the coffee farm (Figures 19 & 20).

Figure 19. Hotel Pelicano in San Geraldo de Rivas near Chirripo.

Figure 20. Emerald tucanet at Hotel Pelicano.

Gary asked the hotel manager about a mechanic. He recommended a local guy who lives about 4 km down the road. In the afternoon Gary, Karla, and Sharon walked to a thermal springs near the hotel. I stayed with Ewok.

The mechanic arrived on Monday (21 September) and took Gary’s starter to the shop. We went on to San Vito for the night to cross into Panama in the morning. We stayed in a nice Hotel Ceibo in San Vito. I walked out to have a beer and saw Gary and Karla at the gas station. The starter was simply cleaned by the mechanic and now works well. They stayed at a finca near a botanical garden.

We had no problem (except time) crossing into Panama at Rio Serrano. It seems that any border crossing will take about 1.5 hours even when everything goes well. We drove through to Volcán, a nice, cool, highland town in northern Panama. We continued on to Boquete, also a cool, highland town. It is much more developed than Volcán. We stayed two nights at Pension Topas. Gary and Karla camped at the same (Figures 21 to 23).

Figure 21. Gary and Sharon at Pension Topas in Boquete, Panama.

Figure 22. Breakfast at Pension Topas, Boquete.

Figure 23. Black squirrel in tree at Pension Topas, Boquete.

The Pan-American Highway is very good through Panama. Sharon found a pet friendly hotel at Hotel Costa Inn in Panama City. Immediately, I emailed Evelyn Batista of Wilhelmsen Shipping Agency (Barwil Agencies) to expect us Friday morning. We will ship our cars to Colombia with this agency. She said OK. Gary emailed us that he was at the Amador parking lot that evening.

Gary, Karla, and I met with Evelyn on Friday morning, 25 September. She started our paper work to ship the cars to Cartagena, Colombia. We then had to go to the Police Station to have our cars inspected and get the export permit. As usual not everything goes well. While we did get the inspection, we did not get the permits. Two problems: 1) the computers were down; and, 2) the Inspector General was not in his office to sign the permits. This is Friday, all offices are closed on Saturday, so our police inspector told us we could pick up the signed permits at 0800 hrs on Monday (you bet!!!).

Sharon started to look for airlines that would take the pets to Cartagena. We will try to get the pet clearances and air flights. Sharon and I drove to Aires, the Colombian airlines, to get tickets and inquire about the pets. Our tickets cost $404.00 Panama to Cartagena. Ewok will cost $4/kg. We then bought a carrier kennel for Ewok ($172.00). Now we have to get the veterinarian certificates for both Ewok and Amadeus.

On our way back to the hotel, we found a very nice Italian restaurant, Rino’s. We made reservations for Sunday evening for four (Figure 24).

Figure 24. Lunch at Rino’s Restaurant, Panama City, Panama.

On Sunday Gary and Karla returned. They had not gone to Gamboa. Instead, they had gone to El Valle. A mistake they enjoyed, cool at Canopy Tower Inn. They had good birding there. We all went to Rino’s Restaurant for dinner.

Monday, Gary and I spent most of the day finishing the Police Report on our cars (Figures 25). They did have them ready by 0930 hrs. Then we took a taxi back to Barwil Agencies, and talked with Evelyn (Figure 26). She told us what was needed tomorrow in Colón. She gave us the contacts in Cartagena. We paid $950.00 each for a 40 ft, super high container to transport the vehicles. We were finished before noon. Gary and Karla needed to go to Aires to get their ticket and confirmation number. We finished the afternoon by having the cars washed. It looks like some things do go well, but see below.

Figure 25. Waiting for car exit permit in Panama City (I am not sure why but I can not rotate the photo).

Figure 26. Jack with Evelyn after we finish shipping paperwork (Again, I can not rotate the photo).

Tuesday we were to leave by 0730 hrs. However, Gary was a bit slow. We left by 0820 hrs. We need to be in Colón before 1000hrs to get the Aduana to release our cars. We took the autopista (about $5.00) to Colón. We missed the turn-off because there were no signs. On our return there was a sign (go figure!). In any event, we got to the Aduana after overshooting by one port entry. Luckily, we met a person who worked for customs. He took us to the office. We arrived just after 1000 hrs. The person who does the paperwork was in a meeting. After a wait of 1.5 hours, we had our exit permit. While there we met a guy from Washington State and a Brazilian who were on a trip to SA also. Nino was the Brazilian and Jason the Washingtonian. They said they were with the same shipping company. We will coordinate with them to get the vehicles out without using a broker as Evelyn suggested (saves us $50.00).

OK! Here comes the fun part. We go to Barwil Agency in Colón. We pick up the paper work, seven identical pages. We are told to go to the Aduana next door, pay $5 and get the pages stamped. On our way, the guard said we are to use a man to help. Gary asked how much it would cost. The guard said $00.00. So we did it. The man took us top the Aduana and the window to pay (we could have done that). Then he takes us to the Port Inspection facility. We enter; he gives our papers to a man at a window, and then says we are to wait for the inspection. He wants $10.00 each for this. Gary says no, only half because he did not work for both of us. I only wanted to give $2.00 because he worked less than a half hour. We did pay $5.00 each. Then we waited.

Finally, after about 30 minutes, a man comes to take photos of the vehicles. He says the dogs will be here soon. After 20 minutes, the dogs show up with their guard. It takes about 20 minutes to inspect the car (Figure 27). One dog was for drugs, another for munitions. Then we waited about 20 minutes. We asked the man who had taken the photos what is too happen next. He said men from the port authority who load the containers were coming in about 20 minutes. After 30 minutes no one had showed. We asked again. He said just a little longer (ahora!). About 20 minutes later that he returns and says the men are here to take the cars (by this time Nino and Jason have caught up with us in the process). We say no way. We are to drive the cars to the containers. At this point, the port workers say we need passes to get into the area. We have to go back to the Aduana to get passes. The lady at the Aduana is confused. It is highly unusual for anyone to drive their own car to the containers. We said that Barwil said it was OK. She calls Barwil. It is OK, so after some delay we get the passes. By this time it is pushing 1430 hrs. The docks close at 1600 hrs. We rush back, drive the cars to the container area, and wait (Figures 28 to 32). The port workers cannot open the containers; they need a police officer to do it. We wait. The police officer comes and takes the seal off of the containers (two containers, one for Gary and me, the other for Nino and Jason). The port worker has to drive the cars into the containers. But they do not have the ramps with them to get into the containers, we wait. The ramps come. They drive my car first into a container. Now we have to wait, why? It was because they forgot the straps to secure the cars. We wait; the straps come, but not enough. They have to go back for more, but no one starts to secure my car. They wait until all the straps are there. OK, all four cars are in the containers. But they do not have the wheel blocks to secure the cars. We wait. They come but only with 12, not 16 wheel blocks. They go back for more. Now we are home free. Not quite! They forgot the nails to secure the blocks to the floor. A worker goes to get the nails. But they are not the right size. He goes to get others, now we are home free, not quite! The blocks are secured, but we need customs to come check the containers that they have what they are supposed to have. We wait. The customs woman comes to take pictures of the containers and asks us if the containers have what they are supposed to have in them. We say yes. She accepts what we say. We are home free, not quite! We now need a police officer to lock the containers. He shows up a little while later. We start to close the doors but are not able to so. The weight of the cars has put the floor out of line with the doors. One worker has to go to get a special machine to lift the container. He cannot find it, so he brings a pry bar. One of the men tries to use the pry bar, but it is obvious he does not know how to use a simple machine. Gary shows him. The doors are closed. A lock is on our container, but he cannot find the other lock. The policeman has a uniform with at least 10 pockets. He finally finds the lock in one of the pockets (#10, I believe). We are home free, not quite! We are driven back to the Port Inspection facility. We need paperwork to say we have put the cars in the containers. We wait 45 minutes, and finally at 1630 hrs, we are home free.

Figure 27. Dogs check for drugs and munitions in Colón.

Figure 28. On the doc waiting to load vehicles into containers.

Figure 29. Empty container.

Figure 30. Loading the Mercedes into the container.

Figure 31. Mercedes in the container.

Figure 32. Gary waiting for the final papers.

Gary, Karla, and I decide to take the Transcanal Train back to Panama City by 1830 hrs and the hotel by 1900 hrs. We had dinner at the hotel Restaurant.

This morning, 30 September, we pack and get ready to check out of the hotel. Ewok will ride in the kennel in the hold of the plane. Amadeus will go on the plane with us. We have no problem at the airport with the pets. The attendant says we will need to show papers only in Colombia. Our plane leaves at 1319 hrs, Aries flight 033 (Figures 33).

Figure 33. The final wait at the airport to leave Panama.