Feeling the Schmuck as I Return to Costa Rica

The decision on whether to continue to travel through Panama or return to Costa Rica was based on where Cammi could get a flight back to Nebraska from when using frequent flier miles. Turns out that the winner was San Jose, Costa Rica. Therefore, we booked a shuttle to take us back across the border and to San Jose so that we could go visit Montezuma, a town in the northwest, on the Pacific Coast. We had originally skipped the west coast because we were going based off of my schedule and me wanting to see the Caribbean side. Since I no longer have a job to go back to, we're now going off of Cammi's schedule and where she wants to go.

The guy that we booked the shuttle through was a little on the shady side, but the helpful clerk at our hostel assured us that he was legit and we'd end up in San Jose by nightfall. We were told to meet at the hostel at 11:30 am for a noon boat back to the mainland. Homer, our transportation arranger, arrived at 11:55 am and then took us to another hostel where there were more people waiting to leave for the trip. He told us that everything was delayed and we were now on the 1 pm boat. The boat ride and then shuttle to the Panama/Costa Rica border were fine. It was at the border that we ran into issues.

The people on the Panama side turn you over to people on the CR side and they take you to your final destinations. It turns out that our CR side arranger was the same one that helped us cross when we were heading the other direction a few days earlier (not that he remembered us). When he was talking to the shuttle driver, he mentioned that everyone was going to Puerto Viejo. I told him that that wasn't the case and that we were going to San Jose. This is were the problems started.

Apparently there is only one trip a day that goes from Bocas to San Jose, and it leaves at 8 am, not noon. After we explained that we were told otherwise, they looked at our receipt (always have those handy here) and told us that we'd only paid for Puerto Viejo and not all the way to San Jose. I told them they were wrong. Eventually, all the other passengers and the driver left and the "arranger" went back to the Panama side of the border after telling us that he would be back with our money and that they were going to put us on the standard bus.

The guy disappeared across the dilapidated old train bridge and we waited...and waited...and waited...and a "helpful guy" laughed at us and said he'd wasn't coming back and we were on our own. He also told us he deplored people that take other people's money and other platitudes of that sort. The city bus left at 3 pm and it was now 2:30 pm so we were thinking we should just buy a bus ticket and if the guy came back he would just reimburse us for the tickets since they were putting us on the bus anyways. So I left Cammi at the border to wait for his potential return and I walked to the bus station to get tickets. When I returned, the "arranger" was walking back across the border and the "helpful guy" was looking bashful for having told us he wasn't coming back.

The "arranger" came and told us that he'd arranged a safe ride for us and then I told him I'd bought bus tickets. He asked why I would do that and I explained that the other guy told us he wasn't coming back. I should have waited, but I didn't. We went to the bus station with the "arranger" to try and return the tickets, but they wouldn't refund them. I tried to explain that I thought they were just putting us on the bus anyways and therefore could just pay us back for the tickets. He said that he'd arranged transport. It went back and forth for a few minutes and I felt guiltier by the second.

Eventually, the "arranger" pulled out his wallet, gave us $20 of his own money (he didn't really have any) and walked away looking very sad and under appreciated and betrayed. Cammi and I looked at each other and realized that we were in the wrong for not waiting for him to come back and we felt like the scum on the bottom of your shoe.

We ended up taking the public bus to San Jose. Cammi sat next to a nice local woman that didn't speak any English, gave us weird fruit that I think might have been lychee, and talked to Cammi for a bit in Spanish before realizing Cammi didn't understand her at all. I sat next to a nice local guy that passed out almost instantly once the bus started moving and ended up practically sleeping on me. Guess it was karma for being a jerk.

This was our re-entry into Costa Rica.