After crossing into Panama at Sixaola, you can imagine my excitement to try the border crossing at Paso Canoas.  I wasn’t able to find out much information about it in advance.  Mostly what I read about Paso Canoas mentioned that both sides of this border can be a bit dodgy after dark.  I decided to leave early in the morning so I wouldn’t get stuck at the border or San Jose at night.  

I left David at 7:30 in the morning via a small, air conditioned van (collectivo).  These buses leave about every 7 minutes and cost $2.25 for two people.  We made it to the border in one hour despite the bus making many stops.  When we got off the bus, we didn’t see any signs directing us to where the immigration office was.  But people were very friendly here and directed us to a grey concrete building.  If you’re walking towards Mall Jerusaleem, you’re going the wrong way.  There’s a lot of stores in this area to buy food or snacks.  There’s even a Subway in the Mall Jerusalem if you’re into that.

The line to exit Panama was very short, although I wonder if this gets busier later in the day or in different seasons.  There was no paperwork to fill out.  No discussions.  No arguments.  No fake tax to argue about.  I’ll admit, I was very surprised.

We continued walking down the road towards the Costa Rican border.  A couple of taxi drivers hollered at us, but it’s a two minute walk at the most. There was no line at the Costa Rica Arrivals window, so I walked up to the counter and got a form to fill out.  If there happens to be a line when you arrive, you can just bypass the line and walk up to the window and ask for a form.  Nobody considered it rude and it will make the line go faster for everyone.  The form asks for a transportation exit “number”.  But my friend just wrote “NA” and I wrote “public bus”.  Again, there was no discussion and no arguments.

We began looking for a bus to take to San Jose.  The Ticabus was charging $20.  They might have a bathroom on board or other amenities.  I’m not really sure.  But we decided to save a couple of dollars and take the Tracoba bus which was only $15.  There’s a ticket office for Tracoba more towards the Panamenian side of the border crossing.  But we had already walked passed it.  The bus driver didn’t seem to mind us paying cash as we boarded.  The Tracoba bus was comfortable, spacious, and not many people on it for most of the ride.  There is also another bus terminal about 20minutes from the frontera.  So if you’re hoping to head in a direction besides San Jose, you can likely transfer there.

Half-way to San Jose, we stopped at bus stop heaven.  Everything was so clean, shiny, and bright.  I kept rubbing my eyes in case it was a mirage.  The cafeteria food was delicious, and the Wi-Fi was free to use.  The bathroom was free as well, but still magically had soap, toilet paper, and paper towels.  It’s the little things in life that make me happy.

I didn’t see any other gringos or extranjeros while I was at this border crossing.  I don’t think this is a popular border crossing for tourists, but I recommend it to anybody who has already spent time in Puerto Viejo and isn’t looking to revisit it.  Traveling is always fun but it can be rather stressful sometimes.   It was such a pleasant, stressfree travel day. I didn’t have to deal with anybody trying to hustle me once all day.  It’s such a relief.  I just eased on into a cozy bus ride.  I didn’t have to try to shake off any bad energy from arguing with anybody at the border.  It was just a pleasant ride, in a pleasant bus, with pleasant company, pleasant scenery, and stress free.  My rougher border experiences made me really appreciate today!