Panama at last! Tuesday & Wednesday, 27th & 28th October

Todays plan was to take the road from Manuel Antonio and cross the border from Costa Rica into Panama. This is the tenth country since starting in June and the last border crossing.

The road to the border was through palm oil plantations and along the shore although there were always trees between the road and the beach so no good shots.

We arrived at the border and had to pay an exit tax. We were directede to the back of a minibus and it looked so dodgy that we walked on by. It turned out that this was a temporary office and would take our $7 and the receipt would prove that we had paid and therefore we could get our exit visa. I handed over my $10 bill and got $2 change so the tax was $7 and a dollar for 'admin' .

Getting into Panama wasn't easy either as we needed to queue for a stamp then complete a customs declaration and the jobs worth official insisted that we complete the form with all the letters inside their respective boxes without any crossings out or mistakes. It took some of us three attempts before our forms passed the test. At last we were on the open road again.

We headed towards the Highlands and Volcan Baru, at 3.475m, Panama's highest point near Boquete in cloud forest and a well known activity centre and a free day.

There was no chance of a lie in the next morning as the local school was practising their band playing and marching ready for independence day at the weekend.

Out hotel was lovely place and I had the day free so I started by taking a few pictures.

The stream at the side of the hotel.  

One of the cabanas on site.

Some members of the group relaxing under a tree.

The activity desk complete with Halloween decorations.

A general view of the hotel and garden.

Communal area.

Not the bat but the communal kitchen with walls made out of bottles recycled as building materials.

A view of the hills around town, partially obscured by clouds.

As Halloween was approaching many of the houses and shops were suitably decorated.

A distinctive bridge in the centre of town. Other than this it was a fairly non descript place, no architectural masterpieces, functional but no old buildings to speak of.

Manuel Antonio, Monday 26th October

I had a free day and had not booked any activities. Most of the group had booked a catamaran tour and snorkelling for the morning so I just lazed around the pool and took a few photos of the hotel. We had a great hotel with a grand entrance.

 Betsy parked up at the entrance with the main hotel in the background.

 The main building.

 Although we had rooms in the cheaper back packers section with its own pool.

 Hotel reception.

 A view of the back packers two storey section over looking the pool.

After lunch at the hostel I went for a walk to the beach and up the hill to an interesting looking restaurant that we had passed the day before on the road to the hotel. The surf on the beach which was actually a few hundred metres away from the hotel itself despite it being called the El Faro Beach Hotel.

The restaurant with its distinctive feature of a plane, a Fairchild C123 for the plane spotters whose sister plane was on charter to the CIA when it was shot down over Nicaragua.

 The bar inside the aircraft.

 The cockpit.

 And it was all too tempting not to take some photos of people being silly.

 Pretending to be a pilot trying to see where to fly.

 A window cleaner.

And next door to the plane bar was the train bar with a train carriage as its feature (owned by the same person as the plane bar).

 Pizza oven with glass bottle surround.

 Inside the train bar.

 And the train itself.

Road from Monteverde to Manuel Antonio National Park, Sunday 25th October

Another view from the terrace as the clouds were blowing in as sometimes the view was obscured completely.

 It was due to be a long day so we were up early for a 4.30am departure. En route we crossed a bridge and it was known to be a place where crocodiles hang out.

 We reached the coast and the road followed the coast until we reached Manuel Antonio.

 Lovely bech.

 Entrance to the park, note the barbed wire to deter poachers and animal smugglers.

We had a great guide who was very knowledgeable and interesting.

 There was loads to see even on the short 2kms walk. A lizard.

 A sloth.

 Fruit bats sheltering under a tree for the day.

 Another lizard.

 A much clearer picture of a sloth.

 A monkey lazing in a tree.

 Another monkey on the beach.

 Beautiful sandy beaches.

 A racoon.

 A poor man's tie Costa Rican style.

 Squirrel monkies.

It was a great tour but it was hot and humid so we lazed about around the pool afterwards.