Flying into San Jose, Costa Rica

Why Costa Rica instead of Panama? Well to pick up this dream machine. . . 

Our 1974 VW bus

       Before I delve into our new sweet ride, I want to assure our dog lovers out there that Penny and Bubby made it safely into Costa Rica without any conveyor belt mishaps or stops at the border.  It was remarkably easy, once again, to travel internationally with the dogs, even with one having an incision and noticeably shaved leg.  I had two health certificates this time.  One, a USA health certificate and two, a "required per the internet" Costa Rican health certificate.  The latter was in translated into Spanish and had a very official looking Cost Rican emblem on it.  The Spanish speaking only customs guy barely glanced at my Costa Rican health certificate and wanted only to see the English written USA health certificate.  He wrote a few things down in a notebook, glanced at the kennels and told me to enjoy my stay in his country.  I had a feeling that this was going to happen.  Most things you read on the internet are much more stressful and complicated sounding than they actually turn out to be.  Let me tell you, if you want to travel with your pets through out Central America: Do It! It is surprisingly easy to do by boat, plane, and VW bus.  Yes, you need to do a little research and  complete some paperwork ahead of time but it is truly not that difficult.  People, in general, smile when they see animals in the airport, including most officials.  People come over and want to say hi and give some love to the dogs and hear their story.  Once we were outside the San Jose airport with all our bags, the kennels and the dogs we had one official that just hung out with us.  He offered us use of his personal cell phone while he petted the dogs.  He asked questions about our travels and seemed impressed that the dogs had traveled so much.  To his excitement and surprise, we offered him our kennels before we left.  We don't have any place to store them and I'm sure this guys dogs will love them as much as our dogs have.  

Just riding the elevator like any other passenger to get to our gate

A less steep,much safer looking conveyor belt

Ready to roll.
Penny is looking extra comfortable with her cone on so she wont lick her incision during the flight.

       Ok, so why the VW bus?  Well, for a few reasons.  Our main one being that we intend on hanging out in Panama for awhile and we thought that another means of transportation might be useful and a fun, different way to see the country.  We plan on doing some roads trips to check out surf spots on the Pacific side of Panama and Costa Rica and doing this in a VW bus seemed like a fun and economic way to accomplish our "plan within a plan" so to speak.  The overall, big picture plan still being to sail around the world.  We have just decided to take a much different approach to that goal than we originally planned.  A slower, more methodical, hopefully more enriching, spiritual, and healthy approach.  The VW bus, aside from giving us a new hip status in the traveling community, gives us a lot more freedom, especially traveling with our hairy, four legged friends that can't go on buses or stay in a majority of hostels.

      This bus is sweet.  The backseat lays down into a bed, there is plenty of room to carry around a full supply of camping equipment, it handles the mountain roads impressively well, its awesome on gas, and its painted orange creamsicle colors.  Come on, what more could we ask for?!?  We know owning a VW bus is a bit cliche which made us hesitate when we saw it online as the only car in our price range, but all those feelings of is traveling in a VW bus too "already been done" vanished as soon as we took her for a spin.  There is a reason these cars are/were so popular.  They are awesome.  The bench seat in the front, the tons of room in the back, the simplicity of the engine, and the mellow, friendly energy she gives off is perfect for travelers! We love our new ride.   And in case upon meeting new friends I didn't immediately get put in the "dirty hippie" category having a head full of dreads, I now have the VW bus vouching for my status.

       After we got our exit permit and border crossing papers, we took our time getting to Panama.  We cruised around Costa Rica, checking out future surf spots and beach camping sites we want to check out and just getting a good feel for the bus and how she handles the mountain roads.  We drove through the towns of Jaco, Quepos, Manuel Antonio, Dominical, Punta Uvita and San Vito before we crossed the border and headed to Boquete, Panama to settle down for a bit.  Life with a VW bus is good.  
M.

Graffiti for our boy, Mikey Tilson

Pen and Bubs finding their spots in the bus

Bubby helping navigate

Stopping on the side of the highway to check out views of the Pacific

Beach at Uvita

 Uvita, a future camp and surf spot for us

Tree heavy with star fruit, Con and Penny relaxing in the grass

Impatiens grow wild along the mountain roads of Costa Rica and Panama

Back in the land of cheap tall boys

At our place in San Vito we dragged the bed outside to enjoy the cooler weather and the sound of the river running beneath us.
In the morning, I got up to use the bathroom and this is what I came back to.

Trying to capture how high up the mountains we are and how beautiful the view is

Conor waiting patiently while I take photos

The roads were one hairpin turn after another, Conor and our new ride handled them beautifully