My Own True Nature: Border hop to San Vito, Costa Rica

Dennis and I had to make a border hop in order to keep our driving privileges legal here in Panama. There has been a lot of chatter on the local website 'Boquete.ning giving all kinds of advice on how to avoid delays and problems and we made sure we had everything we thought we would need. (cash, return airline ticket, credit card, copies of bank statement and passports) We decided to travel by bus and enjoy the scenic drive through the mountains with our friends Linda and Gary. They, too, had to leave for a short period as tourists are only allowed a 6 month stay. Many take a short vacation, get their passport stamped, and return to Panama for another 6 months. We are working on obtaining our pensionado visa, so that is not a concern for us, but until we have completed the process, we could only drive legally for three months. Confusing you say.......you don't know the half of it. Anyway, the trip was awesome. One bus to David , and another to Rio Sereno , a border town. We had to pass through several small towns as well as Volcan and Concepcion, which are more populated. The buses bounce along, and everyone is sandwiched together and very sweaty, but it's still a lot of fun. We then walked up to the Panama immigration office and got checked out, walked down the street to the Costa Rica border office and went through a slightly different process. We decided to hop a bus into San Vito and take a taxi from there.

San Vito was originally settled by Italian immigrants and still retains its Italian roots. Town was bustling with Christmas shoppers while we were there and there was music and vendors and loudspeakers and traffic everywhere. One fellow had opened a shoe store in his van and was selling everything from sandals to cowboy boots and I was very very tempted.
We took a cab out of town to Cascata Del Bosco, a wonderful spot in the jungle. George, our host, was awesome. He and his girlfriend, LeReggie, cooked all of our meals on a wonderful outdoor grill. We were the only guests, but many of the locals stopped by, so we got to meet quite a few people and found out that San Vito was another expat destination where many folks come to spend the winter. Like Boquete, they are only a short distance from wonderful beaches and offer cooler, more comfortable weather. I was sad we would miss their Christmas party. They were roasting a pig named Floyd for the occasion. Pink Floyd......think about it.
We hiked up the road to the Wilson Botanical Research Facility and took a self guided tour there through the park. I get very excited over the different exotic plants and their seeds. Just a plant nerd, I guess. We also found some jungle trails at the place where we were staying and walked a few of those as well.
We breezed through customs on our way back and no one wanted to see all the documentation we had so diligently collected. Still, I was glad I had it all with me. Traveling at Christmas time made it a bit more hectic than it might have been, but it worked out beautifully. We're back home and legal. A nice feeling. 'THE CLEAREST WAY INTO THE UNIVERSE IS THROUGH A FOREST WILDERNESS.' John Muir