Costa Rica Border Hell

One of the main reasons I put up this blog was to tell the following story. It sounds unbelievable, it is 100% true. Hopefully the information will be helpful for anyone driving across Central American borders.

In April, 2013, my husband drove solo from Texas to Managua, Nicaragua, where I joined him. He had to deal with the borders of five countries before having me to help. I am normally the one in our relationship who handles paperwork. So, I took over after I reached Nicaragua for the border crossing into Costa Rica and then Panama. I had come prepared, after reading others' recommendations: I brought copies of the car title, registration, driver's licences – all necessary, by the way, but doesn't save you much time since there is always a place to make copies at borders and they invariably want something you don't have, so you have to visit there anyways. And they seem to prefer black and white copies – not color.

Basically, border crossing with a vehicle is a formula. Check yourself in, check your car in. Check your car out, check yourself out.

Checking yourself in is a matter of filling out customs paperwork which shows your name, passport number, what your purpose for being in the country, paying a fee and then getting your passport stamped. Checking your car in mainly involves buying the insurance if required, having the underside sprayed for bugs if required, having an inspector look over the car to verify the paperwork and to check for smuggled items (or people), getting or giving authorities copies of your car title, registration, and drivers licenses; and then, for all your trouble, you get the issuance of formal paperwork showing you are legally able to drive this vehicle in the country for X amount of days.

We crossed into Costa Rica on April 2, 2013. We crossed into Panama on June 29, 2013 – 89 days later. (Your limit is 90 days in country.)  I had gone on-line and printed off a “how to check out of Costa Rica and into Panama” border recommendation by another traveler, so felt pretty confident at my 2^nd border crossing experience. When I filled out the vehicle paperwork to check our car out of Costa Rica, there were three boxes with verbage after each, all in Spanish. Now, I know LIMITED Spanish – mostly conversational type stuff like where I'm from, where I'm going, food items, etc. I looked at the form and THOUGHT it was to terminate our insurance coverage for Costa Rica. The office workers spoke about the same level of English as I Spanish. The boxes had something about three months. Making what I thought was an educated guess, and thinking that it didn't much matter anyways (BIG mistake), I checked the box I felt was most appropriate and we headed our way into Panama.

About one month later, we were heading back to the States from Panama; check out of Panama and head to the Costa Rican border crossing, Paso Canoas to check in. At the Aduana (customs) office, we are told, “You are not in our system.” and after a lot of confusion we learn, “You checked THIS box on your form which says that you intended to not return for three months. Your vehicle must stay in Panama an additional two months before it can return to Costa Rica..” We were astonished and flabbergasted and complained, but the workers behind the desk and just shrugged their shoulders and said, “Nothing I can do......Next in line....” We asked to speak to a supervisor. We sat waiting for hours in chairs in this office not knowing for sure if the workers understood what we wanted, whether the supervisor was busy or gone for the day (as his door was closed), if we needed to take a number, if he even KNEW we wanted to see him, etc. Finally, about 4 hours later, we were motioned into his office. I tried to explain that I had checked the wrong box and that we needed to cross the border in order to drive home. He basically said, “Sorry, there is nothing I can do. We have to follow the rules.” We asked for an interpreter since his English was broken, thinking maybe he didn't understand. An interpreter finally arrived, and the upshot was the same. She did say that we could appeal our situation via a lawyer in the next office over, but that it would need to be written in Spanish and faxed to the appropriate person – and that the lawyer leaves at 4pm and tomorrow is a holiday, so offices are closed. GREAT! We had about 15 mins before closing, so she offered to write the appeal and we got it submitted to the lawyer by three minutes to four; and were told we'd have an answer Friday morning by about 8:30am. We felt it'd be a slam dunk. What did I do wrong? Checked the wrong box on the paperwork. Don't know Spanish. Dumb tourist.

Border towns are usually the kinds of places you want to get in and out of ASAP. Most are hustle towns with hustle artists offering to “help” you get through the border for a fee. Most are rundown areas, small, with little in the way of food, motels or shops. Paso Canoas is an exception. If you have to be stuck in a border town, it's probably the best one. It's rather large with lots of shopping, motels and restaurants. You can't really tell where the actual border is as they blend together and you can walk freely all around there. We ended up finding a great hotel called the Hotel Real Victoria for $20/night with internet, hot showers, and secure parking. It became our home (or prison!) for the next two weeks.

view from our hotel window of Paso Canoas

 As an aside, when we first crossed into Panama, to see a store that was larger than a 7-11 and was stocked with more than one kind of bread and had items similar to a WalMart – was like Christmas morning when you were a kid. WOW! There's hair conditioner! There's car oil! There's Q-tips! There's AA batteries! All the things you “went without” because you either ran out or things broke, and could not be found in suburban Costa Rica were here in Paso Canoas. Items were maybe two-thirds the price of what they were in CR.  (Costa Rica is relatively expensive -gas was $6/gal; food prices higher than USA; don't know how they manage here on low wages.)

We go back Friday at 8:30am, and of course, have to wait for the lawyer to arrive. Another couple is ahead of us dealing with similar issues. They are bi-lingual and help us by asking the office workers and lawyer in Spanish what the status of our case is and they give us suggestions on what we can do or who we can go to.

Another aside – you are probably thinking, “Why didn't you offer a BRIBE, you dummy!” While that system solves many problems and frankly can be quite workable, we learned that in Paso Canoas, all employees had been fired two years before because of accepting bribes – and jobs are scarce; this is a government job, thus secure; noone wanted to risk being fired. No bribes offered or accepted. They also are extremely lackadaisical in getting anything done because they are on the clock – 8-5pm; paid low wages, and frankly don't give a hoot if you sit in chair waiting for days. Not their problem....

About 11am, we are handed “the decision” (three pages long, all in Spanish). Our plea was denied. We want to know what the papers say tho, so ask for the interpreter. If seems as if the lawyer understood what we wanted and that he asked for her; but we waited several more hours and she never arrived. Around 2:30 I find a bi-lingual tour guide in the area and ask him to read our papers for us. Basically the papers say that the appeal is denied; that we have X number of days to respond otherwise we lose our right to appeal. There is nothing on the paperwork telling us who or where or how we can appeal. We tried to ask the workers again, basically got ignored but finally got the name of a place in San Jose to appeal. Then someone in the office (a non-worker) told us that we could appeal directly to the supervisor's supervisor, a Ms. Ingrid Ramon Sanchez, right here in Paso Canoas. That SHE is the head of the department here, has final say, and is in the office across the street. We try to speak to her directly by going over to her office with someone who is bi-lingual, but are shooed away and told to go back to the other office. We decided to write up a more in-depth appeal (with help) and submit it. Now it's late on Friday – had to hang out until at least Monday for an answer. I get the idea to contact our US Embassy and I send them an email. We get a response from a man named Cesar telling us he would help on our behalf. He tries calling Ms Ramon Sanchez all day Monday – and gets no answer. She wouldn't pick up her phone, I can only presume she knew it was him. I walk over to her office to verify her phone number and get her email address and try to ask why she doesn't answer her phone. I get met with blank stares.  The phone number is correct; Cesar sends an email. He wrote a short, weak-sounding plea for us (two or three sentences?something like,  “I don't want to step on any toes, but would you PLEASE let these people drive through your country for a few days?”). She writes him back saying she'd have an answer later that day. Well, it didn't come Monday, or all day Tuesday but finally Wednesday, we go over to her office to try to get some kind of answer – they refuse to let us talk to her – we get PUSHED to go over to the other office because THEY have the answer (which they don't and tell us, no THEY have the answer – it's a game of ping pong) – and we later learn it is DENIED. We decide to head up to San Jose to talk to the Big-Wigs in Customs. Surely SOMEONE up there speaks English and will listen to our case.

It's no easy task to go up to San Jose – can't drive our car – must take public bus and navigate a city of a million people. We have to find secure storage for the van in Paso and the bus takes 6-7 hours to get to SJ. Our first stop is the US Embassy. We ask to see Cesar. After waiting a good hour, we get up to the “bank teller” window, find out he is gone and have to explain our situation to someone else. Cesar then arrives at his desk and basically tells us he's done all he can and there's nothing else he can do. He refuses to write a letter on our behalf. Ramon Sanchez said No; and the US government has no power over the CR government. Sorry.  Go away.

We head to the ICT Tourist Board, thinking that since we are tourists, getting this knowledge out to American citizens will be BAD FOR TOURISM. Maybe THEY can do something. The woman, Lauren, speaks English. She basically tells us that the Tourism Board has little power over customs, and she doesn't think it'll make a difference, but offers to make a call to the Customs office (of course, there's another holiday the following day, Friday, so she can't do anything until Monday). She says she'll get back to us with their answer on Monday. She never does.

We head to the main customs building in downtown San Jose called the Llacuna Building. We try to see someone of importance there, but talk to Victor Manuel, a worker there who speaks little English and laughs at our plight. LAUGHS. I get pissed. He tells us that they have no authority there; that the authority is back with Ms. Ramon Sanchez (ping pong again)….............. We leave, frustrated, go have lunch in a downpour, decide to go back and go higher up. We FINALLY talk to the Director of the Aduana Dept, and she LISTENS to us (she gets an interpreter from another department). She makes some calls and comes back and tells us that she's sorry, but there's nothing she can do. They also insist that we were in country 90 days – the max – and that we have no time left, despite our passports showing 89 days. Our only alternative is to SHIP the car out by boat or to TOW it across country. We cannot drive it in the country. She gives us the name of a towing company in Paso Canoas that will tow the vehicle for around $300. The interpreter mentions to us that police checks aren't made at night.........

We leave feeling that at least we have been heard, and figuring that $300 is not bad if it gets us out of here. We get back to Paso, try to find this towing company and find out it doesn't exist.

Frustrated by all that has transpired, we decide to drive to Pavones late at night. Bob had ordered a custom surfboard; it was ready and we needed to go pick it up. We figure we'll escape the police checks – isn't that what the interpreter was telling us?

We make it to Pavones without incident, where we pick up the surfboard. In explaining our story to his Costa Rican wife, she makes it clear that if we are stopped/ checked, our car will be impounded and we could face jailtime. She herself had their car impounded when she didn't have proper paperwork when they first bought it; she said they are ruthless. She knew someone with a tow truck. We decide to take the safe route and have the car towed the following day. $850.

being towed across the whole country

You would think the story would end at this point – but the nightmare was far from over!!

We meet up with the tow company, load the van, and we climb into the van for the 7+ hr ride to the northern border. Costa Rican roads are not wide, have a few inches of shoulder, large potholes and drivers are not very cautious when passing (we've seen buses pass several big rigs). This guy was no exception. He stopped in one town to pick up his girlfriend for the ride. Being on the top of a flatbed swaying around was not an experience I'd like to repeat.

Finally, we arrive at the northern border around 2:00pm, unload the car, and FORTUNATELY I take a few pictures of the car while loaded to commemorate our experience. We are thrilled to almost be out of Costa Rica. We check ourselves out, drive to where we check the car out and get stopped. Where is the paperwork on your vehicle? I explain the towing option. Where is the OKAY to have your vehicle towed? I AM LIVID. We just spent $850 TOWING THIS G... D....... CAR BECAUSE YOU WOULDN'T LET US DRIVE IT the 8 hours it takes to cross the country and now you want a piece of paper saying that's okay?????? We get ushered to a border supervisor, Geraldo, who is actually quite helpful. I show him pictures to prove the car was towed here. He makes some phone calls to verify my paperwork, but noone is available on a Sunday afternoon. He says that we need what's called a DUT. Stands for something. Must have this paper; can get it from the building 5 miles down the road, but of course, since it is Sunday, they aren't open until Monday. He offers to help us in the morning since we can't drive there, as we can't drive in CR.. Meet him at 9:30am tomorrow and he'll take us to get the DUT. Tired and hungry, there are no restaurants except the border station has a cafeteria with bins of white rice and old fried food. No hotels at this border. But we're told it's okay for us to sleep in our van in the truck waiting area with about 80 big rigs. GREAT.

Your choices at the Costa Rica border cafe.....

The next morning, precisely at 9:30am we are waiting.....and waiting.... Around 10:30am, he tells us we don't need the DUT after all; that we will get a police escort to cross into Nicaragua. Follow him. We get to the crossing in our car, relieved that it is finally over, but NO. Border officials say that because our passport was stamped yesterday as exiting the country and today is a new day, we must GO BACK and get our passport RE-STAMPED. We leave our car right there and walk back; wait in line for about a half hour at immigration. She looks at our passport and says, “You need to get me a copy of this passport page.” Of course, there was a copier RIGHT BEHIND HER, but she wouldn't use that, NO, we had to leave the area, walk about a quarter mile to the copy place, get our copy, and get back in line – now over an HOUR wait, since a busload of tourists had just pulled up and needed THEIR passports stamped. We finally get stamped, sprint back to the car and LEAVE COSTA RICA. YEAH!!!!!! Total border crossing time – 7.5 hrs not including overnight. Onto Nicaragua.

You'd think Nicaragua, one of the poorest nations in Central America, would have the worst facilities. No. Their customs forms are written in both English and Spanish; they have English-speaking employees who personally walked us from place to place – which everything you need is within a stone's throw. We and our vehicle were checked into the country in about 1.15 hours. A record.

I wish I could say that the rest of the border crossings were uneventful – but no. Leaving Nicaragua was easy. Entering Honduras was fairly quick (we went through the mountainous northern border), tho they wanted multiple copies of everything imaginable. I kept having to run to make another copy of something or other. Leaving Honduras was easy. Entering El Salvador COULD have been so fast (we were there early and about first in line), but the immigration office (remote where the vehicles are checked in), had trouble with their computer/printer connection, and it took about two hours before the document we needed finally printed. El Salvador, for some reason, only gave us 36 hours to get thru their country otherwise we would have severe fines (like $800). I don't know why the pressure. Into Guatemala was another nightmare. This time, Bob had checked the wrong box. He said that we would be RETURNING within three months, and since it was now five months plus, they wouldn't allow the vehicle in. We found a “helper” there who found a loophole (Bob had come in solo – now I was there, so I could be the one checking the vehicle out and that was okay – WITH the payment of a fine (BRIBE) of $250). Then the helper tried to ream us out of more money, another story – but we figured out his game.

Out of Guatemala was easy. Then Mexico --------------- another story. Here, we had heard online that you get 180 days once you check in before you must check out of Mexico. So when Bob checked in, he assumed we had 180 days. He did not bother to check out on his way out of Mexico into Nicargua, because why go through the hassle twice? We'd surely be checking back out of Mexico before 180 days were up. Well, in examining the paperwork, it said he was granted 30 days, not 180. We had an expired permit. We had to drive to a special aduana location (50 miles away) in order to get the proper paperwork. Fortunately, they allowed us to DRIVE there, even tho technically you shouldn't be driving until you have permission to drive in the country. (At first we were told we'd have to bus it there and back.) We get there, it is relatively easy – must repay all the fees, pay fines, lost the first deposit put on the car for failing to leave the country within that 30 days – but we get done after paying about $250 in fees. Met a guy who ends up abandoning a van in the parking lot because a friend gave it to him and he doesn't have the title to it.

We get to the US border in Nogales (VERY clean, very quick) and about kiss the ground. YEAH! BACK IN THE USA! REAL toilets; toilets with TOILET PAPER; bathrooms with not only SOAP but PAPER TOWELS! No water restrictions so they actually FLUSH! Roads with shoulders wider than 6 inches. Roads that don't have foot deep potholes. Roads that don't have people, animals and parked cars in one of the lanes. YEAH!

That's the story. Thanks for reading.

Lessons learned:

1. Assume every piece of paper and every question you must fill out is important. If you don't understand something, find someone who will help you to understand
2. Take your time; have plenty of patience. A short border crossing is about 1.5hrs, but they can go much longer. (This is with a vehicle. Without one can be much quicker.)
3. Think twice before driving a vehicle down to Central America. Yes, it has it's benefits, but these mistakes added at least $1600 in extra costs to our trip. Each country had fees too for entering.
4. Ask for the maximum visitation days. You never know if you'll need them.
5. Don't hand your original title, passport or anything original over to authorities unless you are right there. SHOW it, but keep your mitts on it.
6. Keep the documents they give you while checking in (even something written on a small scrap of paper, as we found out), because there are border checks after the border and they will check to be sure you have the proper docs.
7. Remember the basic formula – check yourself in, check your car in, then check your car out, check yourself out. The first two and last two can be in reverse order, but it all boils down to those four things.
8. You don't need “helpers”. Instead, ask the officials that work there what the next step is or where you go next. They don't try to rip you off or get a fee. They are straight shooters and most speak English. Except Paso Canoas......
9. Recognize that you are in a foreign country and have to play by their rules - even tho even the countrymen may not know what they are or they sound too stupid to be true.  Forgot to mention that NOONE could tell us exactly what rule we broke or why we were being held back taking our vehicle into CR.  Mentioned were the 90 days that we'd already been in country (when in fact it was 89), and the fact that we had checked the box saying we wouldn't return for 3 months; but in the ruling, and in talking to the head Aduana in San Jose, noone could point out a legal passage.  It's like it was at the whim of Ingrid Ramon Sanchez and she decided to put the screws to us for some reason.  
10. 90 days in country means the TOTAL time you are allowed in Costa Rica.  I thought you had 90 days each direction since we spent a month in Panama.  No, you have 90 days TOTAL.  Of course, in our case, the officials couldn't count.  Do yourself a favor and give yourself a few days leeway.
11. One hand doesn't know what the other is doing.  Even tho we don't speak Spanish, it became obvious that the system is broken and that communication is lacking.  Noone knew the rules tho they would appear they did.  Rules were made up to suit the situation.

And one other aside:  Costa Rica has a stiff sales tax on owning a vehicle in country.  Many people do not own vehicles for this reason - so the public transport system is excellent.  The sales tax is 52.29% for vehicles 3yrs old or less - that's on top of the purchase price!  Insane!  Many people escape this by never registering their vehicle in CR; keep one vehicle in Panama and one in CR and then just switch them every three months.  This might have played some role in our treatment as perhaps she thought we were playing this game.   Hard to know for sure because we obviously were tourists heading back to the USA - but of course, she never took the time to actually MEET us.

You read in all the books to not drive at night. I always thought it was because of banditos. No, I think the real reason is the condition of the roads. In Honduras, you drive along these narrow mountain cliff roads and suddenly you see a section of road that's gone.....it fell down the cliff. No asphalt. No markers. No warnings. No flags. No lights at night. Nothing. Just ….no road. You move over to the other side and hope noone is coming from the other direction. Scary.  

Next blog will be on rating Central America vs. Baja.

and a Wee bit more.....

Must say that I've never heard the word "Wee" used more than here.  The Scots use this word in just about every sentence.  We laugh and smile among us whenever we hear it.  Everything is Wee.

So, in the spirit of the Scottish, here are a few more wee pictures.

Along the River Ness

Catholic church in Inverness

 He looked at us - "What???"

Scottish countryside

The heather in bloom - it's everywhere covering the hills

Our drive in the Cairngorms mountains

In the highlands

One of my favorite shots of Scotland so far

On "The Road to the Isles"

Loved the rays and green hills mixed with heather

More green hills and heather

Eilean Donan castle

And there you are - more photos of the trip.  It's been just amazing here, with just a few wee days before we leave.

Scotland!

 Stirling castle

 Typical Scottish village

Just wanted to write in a little more detail of our trip so far to Scotland – and my thoughts about it here.

I haven't been able to write much because much of the time, the internet is sketchy or non-existent, or I simply don't have time. We've been so busy going from here to there – and since I'm the one who planned everything, it's up to me to know the schedule, the directions to where we are going and what's on for the next day. It can be a bit overwhelming.

We've had great weather – well, great for Scotland. We haven't seen much sunshine; it's been cloudy every day, but there has been very little time in the rain. The temperatures have been cool; I wear practically everything I brought.....but that's okay as I'll be shedding most after we hit Italy.

We flew into Glasgow, tired, after having been flying all night long and arriving early in the morning Scotland time. Took a bus to the train station and then a train to Edinburgh, then a cab to the B&B. We rested up by the next day and took the bus into town to tour the Edinburgh castle. Wow! The buildings were all SO beautiful – stone, stone, stone and ornate. I was amazed at the condition of the buildings and how clean the city was. The castle was the first I've ever toured and we toured many areas in it; saw lots of historical displays of weapons and grand views of the city. We walked the Royal Mile. The next day, we headed to Stirling by train – but ended up on the wrong train. We didn't find out until the conductor came thru to collect our tickets. The train we were supposed to board was on the same track but ahead of the train we boarded and wasn't well marked – so we made a mistake. We ended up getting off at one of the next stops and taking a cab all the way to Stirling. I-yi-yi.

We picked up our rental car and Bob had an interesting time learning to drive on the opposite side of the road, plus dealing with a stickshift. He picked it up pretty fast, tho the traffic circles (of which there are many) make driving a bit tricky still.

After eating – we headed to Stirling Castle and toured it. The best part was getting a guided tour from this very thin Scottish man with a long nose, grey hair tied up in a ponytail sporting a thick Scottish accent. He was funny and concise and gave a great synopsis of the history of Scotland and this castle. From there was stayed at this B&B out in the country – much farther out of Stirling than I had thought, but the drive was beautiful, out in the countryside with cows and sheep on the hillsides.

We decided to head back into Stirling the next morning to finish up the things we had planned to do the previous day – going to the William Wallace monument and to the Bannockburn battlefield. Both were wonderful to see and unique. At Bannockburn, we got involved in this 3D battlefield game, where Bob was Robert the Bruce and had to strategically plan the battle; I was an officer on the English side and could place my archers in certain places, etc. It was pretty unique. We left there and drove 3 hrs up to Inverness, seeing more of the Scottish countryside. Our B&B there was right on the River Ness across the bridge from the center of town – so that made it easy to get around and find restaurants and walk the town. The following day, we all needed a day of rest – and basically just took walks around town and along the river; I went into various old churches and buildings, and we ate at a good Italian restaurant of all places! Sidenote: We've all had a sample of the “Scottish Breakfast”, which consists of eggs, baked beans, black pudding, bacon, haggis, and a potato pancake of sorts. Its....well...interesting to say the least.

Saturday morning was the day we took off fairly early (9am) for a 2.5hr drive to the Braemar Gathering in Braemar. The small town is in the middle of a National Park. The drive was just incredible – through green rolling hills, high mountains, steep roads, sheep covering the hillsides, small rock bridges; just amazing territory. We happened to see one of those Hairy Coos laying down by a fence and we stopped and took some pictures of him. He got up and looked at me and started scratching his head on a fence post. Wow – what a big head he had – and horns out about two to three feet! But cute...

It began to drizzle as we got closer to the games, but just lightly. Entering the field – it was smaller than a high school football field with stadium benches practically all around it – you could see several events going on at the same time. Things like throwing the caber (a 20' long pole), throwing weighted stones, throwing the hammer (a 56' weight thrown up over a high horizontal pole up to 16' off the ground). People would cheer on the contestants and yell when they either made it or “awwww” when they didn't. Another event was the sword dance competitions which young children dressed in traditional Scottish dress would dance over a sword. Bob's mom said she knew that dance as a young girl, so it was fun for her to see this. About 15 mins after we got our seats, it started to rain hard – then POUR. It poured for what seemed like an hour, then lightened up a bit before coming down hard again. All the while the games continued. Every half hour, a bagpipe team would enter the arena and play a song or two – another competition. It was chilly, but fortunately we had our umbrellas and wore a decent amount of clothes – so were okay. Around 3pm, the Queen of England arrived in a car – a couple cars came on the field and drove right past us. She got out and walked up to a special area they had for the royalty there. I hadn't realized it until the end, but Prince Charles was also there. (Saw him in a vehicle when they left.) The funny thing was, we'd had all this rain and clouds and drizzle – and the exact moment the Queen arrived, the sun came out and it was just beautiful and warm for the next hour or so. The games ended around 4:30 and we walked back to our car – and as we did, the rain began again and wind started to howl. Perfect timing, Scotland! Our drive back was also quite beautiful, going back the same way, but seeing it the opposite direction.

The following day, we checked out of Inverness and stopped at the Loch Ness exhibit, having driven all along Loch Ness. Quite a beautiful loch. Didn't see the monster tho. But the exhibit was informative, showed how people can err in identifying things, but also left it up to you whether there is some kind of animal in there still. They sure have spent tons of money trying to prove it's existence! We then took the Road to the Isles – one of the famed drives in Scotland. It was just amazing. We saw mountains and rocks and sheep and clouds with the sun peeking through – it was gorgeous. We stopped at the Eilean Donan castle for a tour as well. It used to be a MacKenzie castle back in the 1200s, so that was neat to do. It was one that had a moat and stone bridge to go across to it. We also drove the main road up through Portree on the Isle of Skye, staying in Uig for the night.

This morning we drove the Trotternish Peninsula on the Isle of Skye – a 50 mile or so loop that had – again – spectacular scenery. You could see islands in the distance, sharp steep cliffs, and green, green grass – and of course, SHEEP. We then came back to Uig, boarded a ferry and took it to the Isle of Lewis, where Bob's mom's grandparents lived and married. Tonight she met with a distant relative who has lived on this island and intimately knows her family's history – and we are meeting more relatives tomorrow evening at their house, after going up to the church they married in and seeing the houses they lived in.

It's been an amazing trip so far. Scotland is very clean, very green, and did I say, full of sheep? Scott has had fun interviewing as many Scots as he can as to whether they want to be independent from England or not. The vote is coming up September 18. As it is here in Scotland, he had gotten a pretty much equal vote Yes and No.

Sorry this is so out of order but it's all the time I have for now!

William Wallace monument

Edinburgh castle

Travelin the East Cape

After a few weeks here and a less than favorable review of Baja Norte, I think I can finally answer the question I wondered about during our first week here: Why do people come to Baja year after year for several months at a time?

If you've been along the coast of the Sea of Cortez, it gets easier all the time to figure it out. Here's a few reasons:

• the hundreds of miles of clear, turquoise waters with shallow bays
• the empty beaches (okay, maybe a fisherman or two) 
• the sea life - while you are gazing out at the Sea and marveling at its beauty, you see a puff of spray in the distance – wow! Whales? Or flapping in the sea – what? Manta Rays? Or schools of dolphins or jumping fish
• the multitude of sports available – such as swimming, diving, windsurfing, surfing, birding, hiking, kayaking, fishing
• the excellent restaurants serving fish cooked to perfection for about 2/3rds what you'd pay in the USA
• the climate -- never rains, highs in the 80s, lows in the 60s; beautiful sunny, clear days.  Cabo San Lucas has 360 days a year of sun.  Get that?
• the friendliness of the Mexican people -- ready to help you out, ready to spend time with you, ready to serve whatever dish you'd like even if its not on the menu; ready to put a smile on your face.
• the influence of the gringos -- both good and bad – the good being gringo-friendly stores to make shopping for supplies easier (like having WalMarts); the acceptance of the US Dollar most every place; the cleanliness standards higher; and most people speaking even a little English; the bad being some authenticity lost and higher prices than you might expect from “Mexico”.

What a wonderful surprise. This area starts getting into your blood. 

You never stop getting a thrill from seeing whales out in the ocean. The other day, I see two puffs of spray – maybe 100yds apart. One small spray; one quite a bit larger. I determine it must be a baby whale and it's mom. After a bit, I notice the mama whale flapping her flipper and staying in one spot – waiting for baby to catch up and alerting it to her location. It was like she was saying, “Swim a bit faster, baby” or “I'm right here” ---- amazing.

After our sailboating trip, we headed to Los Barriles – a famed windsurfing area at the north end of what's known as the East Cape. Driving into the town, I thought we were back in California again. Newer shopping strip malls, restaurants, small stores – the major give-away being the dirt roads and the topes announcing the entrance to town. But obviously, gringos have brought wealth to the area. We found the camping at Los Barriles Norte campground to our liking – shaded spots, clean bathrooms, showers, WIFI, parking right on the beach. Kitesurfing championships are held here in January. After talking to some fellow divers, we explored Punta Pescadora the next day, which is a rock point north of Los Barriles. To get involved driving on a pretty poor dirt road along the edge of a mountain. The point was gorgeous tho, so we jumped in and did some diving. Unfortunately, we were plagued with mask fog-up = finally figuring out that if you have sunscreen on or put it on just before diving, either the vapors or the sunscreen itself causes fog-up. At least we know now. After diving, we wanted to head back a different way. Our not-so-trusty Nat'l Geo map failed us again, as when we left Punta Pesadora, it showed that a paved road was shortly north of the point and connected back to Los Barriles. Turns out it was several kilometers off, was a poor dirt roadabout as bad as the coastal route and the turnoff was way farther north than shown on the map. We ended up driving maybe 9km on dirt and 20km on paved road through the mountains at dusk when we could have gone back the same way as before for a few more kilometers. Locals call that mountain road, “The Road to Nowhere”. Yes, it was paved (unusual for the East Cape to have pavement), tho it must have been done several years back as it had numerous potholes and worn away shoulders. Poor Bob. I'm always screeching at him when I see these sections of road washed away. He said, “Don't worry. I don't want to go over the side either.” He's got a point. But still............ Glad we didn't leave any later. You don't want to come across these washed away sections on mountain roads at night. This picture shows a road that is just a few miles outside of San Jose del Cabo, but illustrates what I mean by washed out pavement. This section of road was pretty extreme – with no signs of construction vehicles around.

This is a two lane road............yeah right...............

The coastal road leading to Punta Pescadora

After Los Barriles, we headed down the East Cape along the dirt coastal road. We found secluded, deserted beaches all along the way. We'd drive in, park, walk around – and say, “There's NOONE here! Amazing! Beautiful sunrises and sunsets, peace and quiet and just you!

I actually woke up early and caught this sunrise

Empty beaches you can camp or swim at

We continued down the coast to Cabo Pulmo, a 12 mile long marine area protected since 1993 by agreement of the inhabitants there. It's the only living coral reef in Sea of Cortez with 12 diving spots and reef “fingers” jutting out from shore for snorkeling/diving. Our first day free diving, the winds had been calm and thus the water was clear. Fish were abundant. We saw fish we'd both never seen before. The next day, we also did a dive. This day, the winds had kicked up and clarity was less, but on our return to shore, I spotted two rather large rays in the sand. They looked about 3-4 feet across underwater. They swam off as Bob dove down to get closer. We decided to do some Scuba, and since it'd been about 4 years since I had done any diving (I got certified in Lake Tahoe in 2007), I did a Refresher course one morning and then we went out with a dive boat later that day. Two dives – one around a sea lion colony where we saw a few sea lions jump in and swim above us. The other dive was about 55' and around a reef off the coast. Very beautiful. The next day, we decided to dive again – and went out to El Bajo – WOW! GORGEOUS REEF! - lots of fish, saw a striped eel, scorpion fish, grouper, plus some unusual coral – and also dove at a shipwreck there. Lots of fish hang out and it's known for sharks coming to get cleaned up by other fish – but not today. I'm not sure if I was happy or sad about that fact. I did pretty well diving, altho on my last dive, I let out the air in my BCD too fast and sunk like a stone to the bottom. I was surprised I didn't panic – but I didn't – I just looked around wondering where everyone else was. It just takes practice – and I learned a lot by doing those four dives.

Mary on the Cabo Pulmo beach

Cabo Pulmo from a mountain we climbed

Bob windsurfing at Cabo Pulmo

Rock beach - smooth river rock really deep

A few notes on Cabo Pulmo: No free diving is allowed unless you are a “certified” free diver. That means you are not allowed to wear a weight belt if you go diving or snorkeling on your own from the beach. The snorkel trips that are offered there seem well worth the $40/pp; the trip I saw go out went to 5 different places and were out about 2.5-3 hrs. They make you wear a life jacket however. The park fee – well, that's a strange one. One map I read said you must pay a daily $54pesos in La Ribera, about 15 miles away. We didn't pay anything until we booked the first dive and only paid once. The following day, our same wrist band was good enough to use again. Two tank dives were $75pp plus $25pp for equipment rental. This seemed standard in all the dive shops in the village. We chose the PADI dive shop due to PADI's known standards and found absolutely wonderful staff there from the dive operators, to the captains of the boats, to every worker there. Thanks Tyler, Lauren, Alex, Martin and Luis! Also, dives are limited to 45 mins each. No sure who set these rules, but that's what they are.

PADI dive shop at Cabo Pulmo

A few notes on the East Cape road: It's dirt. It's washboard. It is dusty and dirty just about the whole 100 miles or so along the coast. From Los Barriles to short of La Ribero, and then about 10 miles south of La Ribero, it is pavement before turning to dirt. The road doesn't change much throughout the rest of the East Cape – it's jarring, but wide enough (barely) for two vehicles and mostly flat with rolling hills. There is a crossroad out of Vilorama leading to Mex 1, which most traffic seems to take, but we did not. We wanted to stick to the coast and check out the surfbreaks. This dirt road is the road less traveled; so in a few sections, was a bit of a worse dirt road than the upper East Cape dirt road, but not much worse. There were a few spots where the lane narrowed to a single lane due to erosion. But generally speaking it was a “good” back road.

A note on hiking in Baja: OUCH! One thing is for certain. The desert is one big prick. Everything has prickers – every plant, tree, bush, even groundcover. Your tendency when hiking up or down hills is to grab something to steady yourself. BIG mistake. You want to sit down to get out of the sun or to rest – DON'T SIT DOWN unless it's on a rock. I sat on what I thought was dirt one day, and found small barbs in my butt when I took my shorts off that night. Went right through denim. So, you learn to step carefully, watch what clothes you wear (prickers grab nylon, well honestly, they grab about any material....), and take your time going up and down hills.

Just about everything has spikes

We're back in civilization now! What a shock! Traffic! People! Stores! Supplies! Internet! Til next time....

Had to add this sunset photo

Sailing Espiritu Santo and Partida - Baja

We met under the oddest of circumstances – after we did a dance in a courtyard to a rendition of Imagine by a fantastic guitar player and singer just entertaining the dinner crowd. How would you like to come sailing with us? Sure!

A week later, we were buying supplies and moving our provisions on board. We set sail for the islands of Espiritu Santo and Partida, which are north of La Paz, MX. Virtually uninhabited and known for its great diving and being part of a natural preserve, we were excited to combine the adventure of sailing with diving.

Our crew consisted of the captain, Dennis, owner of Spirit, and his best friend, Bill. They'd known each other since high school, graduated in 1969 – same as Bob and all owned the same motorcycle at one time. Dennis had taught sailing; sailed for years, so thus was very knowledgeable. Bill was learning along with the rest of us, altho he had a two month jump having sailed across the Sea of Cortez recently.

We stopped at three anchorages. We learned how careful one must be to find the right depth to set anchor; the right distance between boats; the right anchorage itself according to current and predicted winds. We learned how much a weather forecast matters. What are the predicted winds? What direction? What is coming up in the next few days? We learned that sailors rely on each other and help each other because each knows their lives depend on each other with accurate information.

First thing you learn on a boat is how to ration everything. Water – for cooking, cleaning, bathing – is minimal. Trash is kept to minimal levels. Noone could shower (the shower drain wasn't functional) – altho if you dove or swam during the day, you sort of cleaned off; but after several days in salt water, your hair feels like straw. Cleaning dishes – the faucet dripped, soap was barely used, if any; dishes were wiped with paper towels and never stacked before washing as you'd dirty both sides that way. The sea or a bucket became one's urinal; the head was reserved for the other function. I became chief cook; Bob became interested in all facets of sailing, helping with the anchor and lines.

Living on a boat can have it's challenges. Both Dennis and Bill were smokers. You'd think smoke would fly out the back of the boat, but interestingly enough, it circles around and infiltrates all areas. I think it contributed to the slight nausea I felt during the trip. It is difficult for more than one person to be in the kitchen at a time; drinks needed to be put in the kitchen sink if not being used; things secured or put away when under sail.

 We didn't leave until Tuesday due to rough seas and wind. We anchored at Ensenada de la Raza. I think there were maybe 9 other boats there. We had arrived around 4pm and Bob and Dennis took out the dingy to do a dive at a nearby rock island. That night, we had a condition called the coromuels. These are winds that come from the south/southwest and hit heavy at night. I believe they are unique to the Sea of Cortez. Our boat rocked during the night, altho it was not bad and eventually put you to sleep.

A typical view from the boat of the two islands.  Barren, but beautiful in their own way.

 Dennis and Bill on the Spirit.

 Mary on the boat - typical spot!

 From our hike - look at that water!!

 Our next anchorage was at the Ensenada del Candlelero. This had a massive island off shore, which we dove completely around it the next afternoon and following morning. The island tip had more schools of fish than I'd ever seen and we saw the largest lobster all three of us had ever seen. The beach areas of these anchorages are crystal turquoise blue waters – absolutely stunning water. We took the dingy over to shore and Bob and I hiked a one mile or so trail through spectacular rock formations. It was nice being on land again and there were under a dozen people in this whole area. We stayed several hours here until we all got hungry. There was a small fish camp and also a spot where kayakers are brought to kayak around this island. Other than that, these islands are basically uninhabited – except for a few other fish camps. They are rock, mountainous and full of cacti.

The last anchorage we stayed two nights. This anchorage was the crater of a long extinct volcano and you could see the bowl you were in. There was an “S” curve of shallow water leading from the windward side to the lee side, and we took that in the dingy to check out some caves. Motoring on down this coast was amazing. I wish I had a camera for that, but it's just too risky in a small dingy with water splashing on you. The cliffs were layers of various types of rock and huge hunks of rock had fallen along the shores. We got to where the sea caves were – and jumped in with our diving gear. The waters were crystal clear; coral was more abundant and we saw various fish, including a rather large angel fish. That morning, we had gone to two other dive sites along the coast. I “ran into” a moray eel – perhaps 4-5 feet long. He slithered into the rocks backwards and showed his open mouth. I excitedly called the others over to point him out.We saw several turtles; a whale breeching pretty far off; dolphins jumping near the boat; and manta rays doing flips in the waters. I also learned that it is nearly impossible to identify birds while on a boat. You can't keep your binoculars focused long enough on the details. That being said, I did see Brown Booby's, Frigates, Masked Boobies, Brown Pelicans, Caspian Terns, and Pelagic Cormorants.

The insects called “bobos” were a pain to deal with. They'd usually find us around 8am and if the wind wasn't up, would stay with you until the sun set. They are just little annoying pests. Don't bite; just go everywhere – like up your nose, into the insides of your sunglasses; ears, etc. You could use DEET to avoid them – or just get in the water or pray for wind. One day we just set sail out into the open sea to escape them and chase them back to the land.

The diving was good – I wouldn't say spectacular – just good. The reefs aren't all that colorful or full of life. I guess we compare every place to Bonaire and with that as a standard, there isn't any place even close. We're looking forward to Cabo Pulmo as it is one of the premier diving spots here in Baja.

When we pulled into La Paz after 6 days, the marina was closed and it forced us to anchor out in the harbor. We took the dingy over for some yummy hamburgers at Shacks. Getting into a slip the following morning, we then cleaned house (or should I say, cleaned boat), helping to wipe everything down.

It was strange being on land again. During my shower there, I reeled back and forth and swore the marina was floating. (It's not!) We were both happy to have had that experience. On to Los Barrilles!

Baja Beginnings

 Crossing the border at Tijuana is like landing in a whole new world. The first thing you notice is the people living around the bridge, looking for anything to use or eat, and then the presence of trash everywhere. From broken glass to plastic bags to baby diapers – you can't escape it. You have to wonder what kind of upbringing or culture people have that litter so effusively and don't seem to think twice about it. Unfortunately, this wasn't restricted to Tijuana; it was this way all the down the Pacific coast until we hit El Rosario and headed inland (where it is a desert with very few people.) Even for several miles past the last town, you'd see the desert sparkle with broken glass. Any pull-off on the road (of which there were precious few in the north.  This picture just shows the promise of new construction - but left empty for lack of....funding?  interest?  buyers?  Quite common.

The Baja road – Mexican 1 – is quite a unique experience. It is wide enough for two cars and barely wide enough for a truck and an RV to pass each other. I'm glad we have a van. The road itself wouldn't be too bad except there are no shoulders and miles of steep drop off. When I read that online, I thought they meant that there are cliffs with no guardrails and steep drop offs. But that wasn't it. Instead, the road is built up – so it sits maybe 4 feet above the surrounding ground. The asphalt sits inches above that; so you can't drive off the road for breaks, emergencies, or to escape an on-coming car. You basically have to stay on the road.  Speed limits are set around 80 kph (50mph) and are a good limit if people kept to it. Unfortunately, most people don't. You find yourself having to be very attentive while driving, as you cannot relax too much, as if you did, there's a good chance your car could flip as the drop off is so great. The good news is, the road is generally in very good condition with minimal traffic. This is why there is advice not to drive at night.  It's much more hazardous if you stray.  So, you drive closer to the middle of the whole road until you confront another car. The roads seem somewhat better, with more gradual tapering of the sides of the road in Baja Sur.

 Past El Rosario, you turn inland. The desert here is uninhabited and very stunning. There are acres of various cacti, including the odd circio cactus and an area of huge boulders mixed in with the cactus. Finally no broken glass and just the stark beauty of a natural landscape.

 Driving onwards we crossed the desert until we saw the Sea of Cortez. The blue you see is just amazing! It's such a contrast to the desert you've been in for the last day or two and is a welcoming site. We went on near the Bahia de Conception and I felt like we were in St. Thomas, Caribbean.  The drive south from there had gorgeous bays, islands and cactus – with crystal clear waters. You'd see rows of RVs parked along the water's edge. We met people from Canada who had lived there for the winter, and who had come to this area every year for 9 years. We later learned that that isn't all that unusual. Many people make the drive in Nov or so and stay until May. We asked at one park; they charged $1500 for one year, no matter if you stayed six months or twelve. Their nightly rate was about $8.

We stopped in La Paz. We walked the malecon and were quite impressed with the cleanliness and layout of the city.  We decided to stay Friday night to check out the dancing and night life there. That evening, we heard this solo guitar player at a restaurant/bar play and sing – and he started off with “No Se Tu” - a Luis Miguel favorite of ours – and just commanded the song. We were hooked. His playing and spin on songs were creative and masterful. When he sang, “Imagine”, we got up to dance in the middle of a courtyard – and ended up getting an ovation from the crowd. These two guys from the States complimented us, and we ended up moving to their table and exchanging stories. Turns out they both graduated in 1969 (same as Bob) and both had the same motorcycle as Bob did; and are all the same age (well, not me). The one guy, Dennis, sailed his 36' sailboat from the mainland Mexico last week and offered to take us sailing. We met up with them the following day, made our arrangements for next week and plan to go out on their boat for a 3-5 day sailing excursion of the islands near La Paz. This is a dream come true – the best diving is around these islands, with schools of whales, sharks (the nicer kinds), seals and dolphins all around. We are really excited about this trip next week! Wow! All from one dance!  

But this week, we are in La Ventana – about a half hour drive out of La Paz. This is a famous windsurfing/kiteboarding (sailors) area. From the small dot on the map, we assumed it was a small nothing town. Wow – were we surprised. The “Campground” has sailors that live here for months at a time. Once again, they drive their rigs down in Nov or so, and stay here, camp out, windsurf or kite for months – then leave and head to the Columbia River Gorge in the summer. Professional bums? Or what? I don't know – people living cheaply, really LIVING – doing what they love. There are restaurants here, gas stations, mini supermarkets, etc., so you can get your supplies as needed. The water is nice – right out your front door; and everyone is friendly and ready to lend a hand. It's eye-opening. To camp here is from $3-$12/night, depending on the amenities.  You forget you are in Mexico; there are Mexican restaurants and Mexican workers, but everyone else around are American or Canadian.

Must tell about our experience with the police. We had entered the town of Cuidad Insurgente. The sign showed a left to take to head towards La Paz. We took that left. Well, turns out that right there, that left was a one-way, so as soon as we realized it, we righted ourselves. The proper left was the NEXT left. Well, the police were waiting for Gingros like us to make that mistake and pulled us over. “Ticket, you!” to Bob. He says that'll be $200 or $100 if we pay them now and we can go on our way. We say, “$200 USD?” Si, senorita. We tell them we will go to the station and pay there. We insist on that – and they take Bob's license and tell us to follow them to the station. At some point, maybe a mile later, on a side street, they pull over – so we do. He comes back and says, “$70 at station; $50 now”. We say no – we'll go to the station. Take us there. He says something about us having to wait until 8am tomorrow. We say “Fine – give us directions to it, we'll go in the morning”. We pull out some paper for him to write on. He scribbles a little, shows us on a map that the station is supposedly 25km north opposite of where we were headed in some other smaller town and again mentions the money. We say, we'll go to station in the morning – where is it – address, Senor? He tries to get us to speak Spanish, (we could pick up very little really of what he said, plus his English was tough to understand as well), goes to his squad car, talks to his buddy, comes back, hands us our license and says, “Goodbye – you can go”. What'd we learn? Play dumb. Insist on going to the station. They want you to feel inconvenienced so you will pay the bribe and get on your way. There was no ticket.

Generally tho, the military checkpoints (of which there have been half a dozen) are of no consequence. Mostly we are waved through after we mention where we are headed and “vacation”. That is the magic word.

A tip for those traveling from North Baja to Baja Sur tho. There is a vegetable/agricultural stop at the border here. You must turn over all your fruits and possibly vegetables to them, even ones you bough in North Baja. We learned of this the night before after buying fruit and ended up gorging on what we had purchased for one week in two meals. 4 oranges, 3 avocados, 5 apples, a cantelope, half a papaya and two bananas – Wow! But didn't want to throw it away. Next time we'll know!

Testing out my new blog - with a photo!

Okay, so this is a test to see if I really can post something with a picture.

This is my favorite monkey picture taken in Punta Burica, Panama.  We were at Mono Feliz and the capuchin monkeys came for bananas.  I reached out and fed him this banana; he just looked at me and debated whether or not to eat it, since he was already stuffed.  But, being a monkey, I guess he couldn't resist the sweetness - so he peeled and ate it.  Loved being there!