Bocas del Torro Panama to San Jose Costa Rica

I decided not to do an individual post for each of these places as we quickly went through them. Bocas del Torro is in Panama and situated close to the borders of Costa Rica. For travelers going north, this is the usual travel route. Bocas is a cluster of island reached my small boats called planchas. The main island to stay on is called Isla De Colon and it has its very own mini airport that flies directly to Panama City. Otherwise you can bus from Panama City, this takes around 9 hours.

Due to Michael being ill we did not manage to do much but there is many tours to do and most people go diving here. The island itself is pleasant with an African Caribbean feel. There are plenty of restaurants and bars so a good night out can definitely be had.

For the next stop we took the local bus to Puerto Viejo for $25.00. Puerto Viejo is another seaside town but in Costa Rica. There is beach there called Playa Negro because of the black sand. This place is much like Boccas, with nice restaurants and bars, albeit has a more relaxed feel. Costa Rica is very expensive which deters a lot of back backpackers. Its even been crowned the name of ´Costly Rica´ by travelers and rightly so as it is very, very expensive. The main currency taken is dollars so the prices are high, although they still take their own currency of colons, most prices are charged with dollars.

With this in mind we moved swiftly along this country, the next place we went to was the Capital, San Jose. Like most of the Central America cities this one was also not much to be desired. We stayed in a hostel that was way over prices and even the corner shop charged us $10.00 for 2 hot chocolates and a bottle of water. Quick to get to Nicaragua, the country we heard was very cheap, we cross the border. We did this the cheapest way as the main luxury bus was shaping up to be a lot more expensive. We took a bus to Penna Blancas from a bus station that soley runs buses for the border. Ask the taxi to take you to the bus station for Pennasand they will take you to the right one. Penna Blancas is the last stop before the Nicaraguan Border, from there you can get your exit stamp for Costa Rica then walk over to the Immigration Office for Nicaragua. We were charged $12.00 each entrance here but we had heard other not being charge, double check this before you get your stamp.

From here you can get to the seaside town of San Juan del Sur which is an hour by car. There are buses but the transport is limited, I would advise you to ask around at the border if anyone is heading the same way and share a taxi. Taxis should be no more than $5.00 each when shared with 3 or 4 people. Once in San Juan, stay at either Casa Oro or Pachamama as they do a great breakfast.