Corcovado National Park

Goodbye Panama, Hello Costa Rica - Pura Vida!

From Boquete to Puerto Jiménez

I actually didn't want to leave my comfortable accommodation at Holly's in Boquete. It was so beautiful here, but I didn't come to stay, I wanted to move on. And on that morning, I was about to say goodbye to Panama. There were more new adventures waiting for me in nearby Costa Rica.

So I set off again on foot down to the main road. Only 10 steps separated me from it, and lo and behold, a white local/chicken bus was already rolling up. I loaded my big backpack into the luggage compartment and made myself comfortable inside. The ride back to David was very pleasant, with all the open windows and the good breeze, I could enjoy the ride.

When I arrived in David, I quickly used the restroom, and when I came back, right where I had gotten off, my next minibus to Frontera, a town on the border with Costa Rica, was waiting. It went so smoothly again today, couldn't have been better organized. It was only a short distance, on the Pan Americana which was really well developed here in Panama, an hour to the border.

My fears about crossing the border were unfounded, I quickly got my exit stamp. I simply walked along the road, passing restaurants and stalls, towards Costa Rica. You might have thought, okay, that's it, I'm in Costa Rica, nobody stopped me, I could have just kept going.

But there was one little important thing missing, the entry stamp. And lo and behold, somewhere rather inconspicuous, I found the registration building. They only wanted my digital QR code for the corona vaccination and my exit ticket, and the officer stamped my passport for entry.

Afterwards, I wandered around for 5 minutes to find the bus terminal for my onward journey. When I arrived there, they just told me that my bus leaves at 2 o'clock. But when the time came, nothing happened. I remembered that Costa Rica is one hour behind Panama, so I adjusted my watch and waited another hour in the shade of the well-ventilated bus terminal.

Then I spent the next 90 minutes driving to Golfito, where I got off at the ferry pier. It was rather confusing there, as they told me that the ferry doesn't run anymore today, but I would get a ticket for the collective boat. Then they said the ferry would come later. Eventually, people boarded this collective boat, and I was asked to come along. As the last one, I got a ticket for the very last seat. The ride took 25 minutes, and I never saw a ferry in the following days.

Corcovado National Park

Puerto Jiménez was a relaxed little town, where life moved at a slower pace. There were a few supermarkets, a few cheap local restaurants called sodas, a few more exclusive restaurants, a handful of tour operators, kayak rentals, and a small beach to linger. There was also a runway for a few propeller planes to and from San José.

I went on another beautiful canoe trip to the mangroves, where I spotted many beautiful wild birds. I also tried to book a three-day tour to Corcovado National Park, which turned out to be difficult. After a long back and forth, I simply booked a day tour from my accommodation.

We set off the next morning at 5:30 a.m., picked up by our guide at the accommodation. The drive to Carate, the entrance to the park, took about 2 hours on a dirt road. Sometimes we stopped to see some animals that had already been spotted. From Carate, we started walking very leisurely through the forest, always parallel to the beach. Our guide kept discovering animals that I had never seen in my life.

Among the many scarlet macaws high up in the treetops and the occasional wandering white-nosed coati, he showed us, for example, bats, howler monkeys, or a well-camouflaged lizard. The highlight was a small, perfectly camouflaged snake, whose name I unfortunately didn't remember, only that it was the 6th most venomous in the world. And it was lying exactly one meter next to our path at a stream bed.

The whole hike was 11 km, and on the way back, we followed the beach directly, barefoot through the cool water. Unfortunately, swimming was not allowed here due to strong currents. At the destination, there was a fresh coconut and delicious mango and pineapple.

In the evening, there was another little highlight, I walked from the soda back to the accommodation, and suddenly I felt a sense of excitement, and lo and behold, right above the road, there was a sloth with a baby in its backpack.

After another day, which I mostly spent on the beach, I took the bus to Ojochal at 5 o'clock in the morning.