Panamericruiser - An Overland Journey through the Americas
- Thread starter Christian P.
- Start date
yep - sorry about that, I really did not have the chance to stop.
The truck is in storage in Costa Rica and I will be back in 1-2 months so keep the beers cold...I will stop by next time for sure as I really want to see this area.
spikemd
Explorer
Excellent documentation of your trip and crossings. Thanks for sharing. Invaluable info for anyone traveling south.
Brilliant bride tactics with the 80's spanish literature...Hefner would be proud...:ylsmoke:
"Notice also the silver theme - we are trying to be different than the White Expo that is so last year." Ha! Both my rigs are silver too....
Brilliant bride tactics with the 80's spanish literature...Hefner would be proud...:ylsmoke:
"Notice also the silver theme - we are trying to be different than the White Expo that is so last year." Ha! Both my rigs are silver too....
SWbySWesty
Fauxverland Extraodinaire
So excellent! Thanks for the write up and confirming that once you pass the Mexican bordertowns that things get nice! :sombrero:Note: In an additional effort to help our members going through the border process, we have put Expedition Portal stickers next to all the main offices...just look for them.
Roverholic
Observer
I'll be there in two weeks, can I get shawn's contact info? Great trip post!
Free again: Land Cruiser is out of jail!!!
First - a quick recap.
After we reached Panama and spent some time there, I decided to bring the truck back to Costa Rica and fly out from San Jose.
The main logic behind is that Panama only gives you a one(1) month permit for the truck whereas in Costa Rica you get 3 months. You can extend the one month permit but you need to be there with your passport.
Also at the time, I wasn't aware of the cheap flights you can get out of Panama (or any other destination in Central America) with Spirit Airlines. So flying out of San Jose was much cheaper.
My good friend Luis had suggested leaving the truck in a governement controled storage near the SJO airport.
He had done that with his Land Cruiser when he came back to the USA a few months ago.
So the plan was simple - drive back from Panama, get to the storage place in San Jose, drop the car, go to the airport and fly out. Then come back later, get the truck out of the storage place, and hit the road again. I thought I had everything figured out.
Well, it wasn't going to be that easy.
I managed to find the place with no problem. Luis had also explained about the 2 offices at each end of the building - the storage company and the actual customs (Aduana).
Then the yard in the back. Well, more like a junkyard.
The first step is to leave the truck with the junkyard guard which keeps the key and seals the whole thing.
Then you go to the company's office and get your permit's status changed to "Suspended" and you get a letter so if the custom agents ask at the airport, you can prove that you did not sell your car.
That's when things started going downhill. For some unexplained reason (let's say incompetency), the clerk at the storage company (we will call him Blondie) changed my status to Canceled instead of Suspended. Technically, that means that I had left the country and that my truck was also gone, and that my permit was no longer valid. Oops. I could see his face changing as he realized the mistake.
To make a long story short, I left the country a few hours later with no resolution and a letter stating that there was a mistake with the program, signed by the custom guy. But I had no idea what will happen next when I will come back.
That was about 80 days ago...
I flew back to San Jose yesterday and to say that I was a bit nervous is an understatement.
Luckily this time, I got the help of a local friend as my Spanish was being thoroughly tested during this process.
As I expected, things did not go well. Everyone was acknowledging the issue but no one wanted to take responsability - Blondie being the worst of all, no apologie or nothing. In the process of trying to solve the situation, we got warned that if we did not resolve the issue before the permit expires (this weekend) then the system would automaticly place the Land Cruiser in a new status and we will have to properly import the vehicle in Costa Rica and pay full taxes (several thousands).
We got pushed from Blondie to the custom agents to their boss to the IT staff to the IT manager - until we find someone I would say was a bit more "aware" that everyone else. Apparently he is the one who designed the software that handles this process.
He managed to reverse the change in the database and we got a new permit late this afternoon.
The problem got compounded by the fact that these agents always rotate and are not familiar with the process. Apparently that happens often - Luis revealed to me that he went through the same challenges.
So now the truck is finally free again and I have never been so happy to get back on the road.
First - a quick recap.
After we reached Panama and spent some time there, I decided to bring the truck back to Costa Rica and fly out from San Jose.
The main logic behind is that Panama only gives you a one(1) month permit for the truck whereas in Costa Rica you get 3 months. You can extend the one month permit but you need to be there with your passport.
Also at the time, I wasn't aware of the cheap flights you can get out of Panama (or any other destination in Central America) with Spirit Airlines. So flying out of San Jose was much cheaper.
My good friend Luis had suggested leaving the truck in a governement controled storage near the SJO airport.
He had done that with his Land Cruiser when he came back to the USA a few months ago.
So the plan was simple - drive back from Panama, get to the storage place in San Jose, drop the car, go to the airport and fly out. Then come back later, get the truck out of the storage place, and hit the road again. I thought I had everything figured out.
Well, it wasn't going to be that easy.
I managed to find the place with no problem. Luis had also explained about the 2 offices at each end of the building - the storage company and the actual customs (Aduana).
Then the yard in the back. Well, more like a junkyard.
The first step is to leave the truck with the junkyard guard which keeps the key and seals the whole thing.
Then you go to the company's office and get your permit's status changed to "Suspended" and you get a letter so if the custom agents ask at the airport, you can prove that you did not sell your car.
That's when things started going downhill. For some unexplained reason (let's say incompetency), the clerk at the storage company (we will call him Blondie) changed my status to Canceled instead of Suspended. Technically, that means that I had left the country and that my truck was also gone, and that my permit was no longer valid. Oops. I could see his face changing as he realized the mistake.
To make a long story short, I left the country a few hours later with no resolution and a letter stating that there was a mistake with the program, signed by the custom guy. But I had no idea what will happen next when I will come back.
That was about 80 days ago...
(Find the truck in this picture...)
I flew back to San Jose yesterday and to say that I was a bit nervous is an understatement.
Luckily this time, I got the help of a local friend as my Spanish was being thoroughly tested during this process.
As I expected, things did not go well. Everyone was acknowledging the issue but no one wanted to take responsability - Blondie being the worst of all, no apologie or nothing. In the process of trying to solve the situation, we got warned that if we did not resolve the issue before the permit expires (this weekend) then the system would automaticly place the Land Cruiser in a new status and we will have to properly import the vehicle in Costa Rica and pay full taxes (several thousands).
We got pushed from Blondie to the custom agents to their boss to the IT staff to the IT manager - until we find someone I would say was a bit more "aware" that everyone else. Apparently he is the one who designed the software that handles this process.
He managed to reverse the change in the database and we got a new permit late this afternoon.
The problem got compounded by the fact that these agents always rotate and are not familiar with the process. Apparently that happens often - Luis revealed to me that he went through the same challenges.
So now the truck is finally free again and I have never been so happy to get back on the road.
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RusherRacing
Adventurer
Interesting photos of the "junk" yard.. I spy some nice trucks.. Blue Raptor, Patrol, Montero...
Eaglefreek
Eagleless
Wow, it makes you wonder if they do stuff like that on purpose to keep the vehicle.
lostworldexpedition
Explorer
They do not do it on purpose, they are truly inept. The guys that work at the customs office are lazy and relatively corrupt. While on their rotation at this warehouse they deal mostly with regular shipments from the U.S. and what not, they do not deal with many vehicles. That is the main problem, they are never taught how to do the vehicle paperwork and they do not want to make the effort to learn or take reponsibility... It is a pity.
landcruising
Adventurer
Good that it turned out so well, I know a story that ended very bad indeed in Costa Rica... with the Beast.... :-(
DiploStrat
Expedition Leader
The Real Truth
"Well, it wasn't going to be that easy."
The bitter truth of overlanding!
"Well, it wasn't going to be that easy."
The bitter truth of overlanding!
When I headed back to Costa Rica, I only knew a couple things...
-it would be a nightmare to get the truck out of storage (see previous post)
-I only had a few days free before heading to Paris for my next IT assignment
-I did not want to put the Land Cruiser back in any official storage place.
...but I had no global plan.
I explored a couple ideas such as shipping the Land Cruiser back to USA from either Costa Rica or Panama - but the thought of paying $2500 and not driving back across Central America was not really exciting. I also though of driving to Guatemala or Nicaragua and leaving the vehicle there, as it is easier there than Panama (they gave a 3 months permit and don't stamp your passport, so you can fly out easily).
At the end, we came up with a different plan...
I really wanted to drive back to Panama Passage and leave the Land Cruiser there, but did not want to leave it in storage. So I decided to try something....
I spent an extra night in San Jose, where my friends took me to a local bar (Chicharronera Rancho Alegre) - a great place that did not seem to have changed since Che Guevara visited in the 60s...
The next morning I headed to Puerto Viejo, to meet up with Shaun who had to get out of Panama to renew his motorcycle permit. The last time I was in Puerto Viejo was almost 14 years ago, when it was just a small sleepy village...
The next morning after a good night out, when I had the chance to meet an Expo member (Tom) who bought his black Tacoma on the Portal, we headed to the border at Sixaola.
Let's just say a trip to Costa Rica wouldn't be complete without partying just like if you were still in your 20s...
We also met many other overlanders such as this French couple who is traveling in a 2009 VW Van Camper. Yes, that would be 2009 - notice the front radiator.
They bought the van from a UK company that imports them from Brazil.
Thanks to Shaun's new friend, a gay custom agent who seemed to have a little crush on him, we managed to find a small "loophole" in the process and get the Land Cruiser back in Panama...without me having to leave it in "official" storage. I won't go into details, but let's just say it's always useful to carry your old expired passport with you...
It is now safely at Panama Passage, awaiting my return and a probable trip down to Colombia for the next leg of the journey.
So if you want to have an easy and even fun border crossing, head to Sixaola, get some ice cream and ask for Marley (on the Panama side). Tell him you are a friend of Shaun and that Shaun is always talking about him....you'll be across that dodgy bridge and back on the road in no time.
-it would be a nightmare to get the truck out of storage (see previous post)
-I only had a few days free before heading to Paris for my next IT assignment
-I did not want to put the Land Cruiser back in any official storage place.
...but I had no global plan.
I explored a couple ideas such as shipping the Land Cruiser back to USA from either Costa Rica or Panama - but the thought of paying $2500 and not driving back across Central America was not really exciting. I also though of driving to Guatemala or Nicaragua and leaving the vehicle there, as it is easier there than Panama (they gave a 3 months permit and don't stamp your passport, so you can fly out easily).
At the end, we came up with a different plan...
I really wanted to drive back to Panama Passage and leave the Land Cruiser there, but did not want to leave it in storage. So I decided to try something....
I spent an extra night in San Jose, where my friends took me to a local bar (Chicharronera Rancho Alegre) - a great place that did not seem to have changed since Che Guevara visited in the 60s...
The next morning I headed to Puerto Viejo, to meet up with Shaun who had to get out of Panama to renew his motorcycle permit. The last time I was in Puerto Viejo was almost 14 years ago, when it was just a small sleepy village...
The next morning after a good night out, when I had the chance to meet an Expo member (Tom) who bought his black Tacoma on the Portal, we headed to the border at Sixaola.
Let's just say a trip to Costa Rica wouldn't be complete without partying just like if you were still in your 20s...
We also met many other overlanders such as this French couple who is traveling in a 2009 VW Van Camper. Yes, that would be 2009 - notice the front radiator.
They bought the van from a UK company that imports them from Brazil.
Thanks to Shaun's new friend, a gay custom agent who seemed to have a little crush on him, we managed to find a small "loophole" in the process and get the Land Cruiser back in Panama...without me having to leave it in "official" storage. I won't go into details, but let's just say it's always useful to carry your old expired passport with you...
It is now safely at Panama Passage, awaiting my return and a probable trip down to Colombia for the next leg of the journey.
So if you want to have an easy and even fun border crossing, head to Sixaola, get some ice cream and ask for Marley (on the Panama side). Tell him you are a friend of Shaun and that Shaun is always talking about him....you'll be across that dodgy bridge and back on the road in no time.
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We made it to Panama Passage the next day, after a quick night in Bocas Del Toro (sorry no pic, did not bring anything on the boat).
For those who are familiar with the Diablo Rojo (the crazy buses), well sad news, they are in extinction. They are now being replaced by brand new buses - probably a good thing at the end.
I was unfortunately only able to stay at Panama Passage for 2 days - but enough to appreciate all the efforts that Shaun is putting, and how better and better the place is getting, even after just one month of being officially open.
I am now in Paris but stay tuned for the next adventures - probably in June.
For those who are familiar with the Diablo Rojo (the crazy buses), well sad news, they are in extinction. They are now being replaced by brand new buses - probably a good thing at the end.
I was unfortunately only able to stay at Panama Passage for 2 days - but enough to appreciate all the efforts that Shaun is putting, and how better and better the place is getting, even after just one month of being officially open.
I am now in Paris but stay tuned for the next adventures - probably in June.
SWbySWesty
Fauxverland Extraodinaire
Any more details on that 2009 VW bus? That looks great!