That’s the Costa Rican Immigaration Sea Can.

Because there is such a black hole of reliable information available on the intewebs, I thought I would serve up some first hand experience here that might be searchable through Google.  They use the header and tags that I’ll add later.

Crossing from Panama to Costa Rica at Rio Sereno is a wonderful change from Paso Canoas, west of David.  Rio Sereno is a quiet little mountain town some 40 km out the back door of Vulcan.

A bus from David is 5 buks a head, one way, and takes 3 hours once you are rolling.  The bus leaves the terminal every 45 minutes.  You’ll have to check what times, but I seem to recall he said the first one was at 4 AM.  Don’t quote me on that.  It’s a milk run up the hill, stopping in Conception, Vulcan, and every stop along the way before arriving in Rio Sereno.

If you want scenery — and there is plenty of it — sit on the drivers side.  If you want shade, pick the other side.  There is still plenty of scenery to be had, but three hours is a long ride with the sun baking your face.  You decide.  From Vulcan on upward, it is a beautiful winding road for bikes, and hair-raising for driving.

The bus stops in Rio Sereno beside the local grocery store.  Up the hill to the left is the way you want to go.

Click on “view larger map” and it will open that in another window.  This town is on a helluva hill, so it doesn’t look anything like the nice grid layout you see here, but it’s good for reference before you get there.  For the pics below, I tilted the map for easier reference.  Up is now up, y’see.

Get off the bus, either drag your gear up the hill, or catch a cab.  I walked…  maybe not so good an idea, but it didn’t kill me.  You go up 4 (or 5) blocks, turn right, climb the hill, turn left, and the Panamanian Immigration Building is there on right.

Here’s the meat.  It’s a busy little map.  Print it out.  Screen shot it, whatever.  It’ll save you a ton of time.  Note the correction, but you’ll figure it out.  Editing with paint… nuff said.

Important things to note are that there is a one hour time difference between Costa Rica and Panama, in that Costa Rica is one hour ahead.  It makes for a 2 hour lunch window.  If you don’t get there with enough time, or too late in the day…. good thing I’m writing this for you, huh?  Keep that in mind when you are thinking about what time to catch a bus, or whatever.

Another thing is that the Panama side requires a photocopy of your passpost, going and coming.  They’re short of paper, y’see, and the toner cartridges are expensive.   So I always carry several copies.  You should too.  And a pen.  Bring a pen, ok?

Ideally, you want to be at the border before noon, Panama time, and wayyy before 11 Costa Rica time going the other way.  I wasn’t… sucked, I tell you.  Yes it did, but not as much as Paso Canoas, so it’s said with a wink.

Once you check out of Panama, note the time marked on your passport stamp.  If you are renewing your visa, you will need to keep it in mind upon your return.  You don’t want to have to endure San Vito without getting the prize.

That’s another thing.  Don’t stay in San Vito unless you intend to get plastered enough that you can sleep through anything.  See the previous post.   There are rooms to be had at the Botanical Gardens about 6 km out of town.  Pricey, but maybe worth your while.  If you like sleeping, that is.

San Vito is a town in desperate need of a noise bylaw, and someone to enforce it.  Until then, go elsewhere, IMO.  I can’t PAN the place enough.  Beautiful, but for the noise.

Upon returning to Panama, there was some concern about forward travel requirements.  This seems to apply if you state that you are heading to David when you are asked at the Panamanian Immigration office.  If you state you are heading to Boquete, or a list of other small towns which I should have taken a picture of, they don’t bother you about it.

Having a bank balance statement showing $500/head goes a long way in that regard too, but I wasn’t asked for it.

I’ll add to this later if I don’t feel it complete enough, but for now and to my knowledge, this is the only current information available online about this crossing.