![\"Playing](\"http:\/\/panam.whensparksfly.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/09\/P1110143.jpg\")
<\/a>Playing in the pool at Jac\u00f3 Beach<\/p><\/div>\n
<\/a>Marianne kickin’ it poolside<\/p><\/div>\n
<\/a>Looking down Jac\u00f3 Beach<\/p><\/div>\n
After one more night in Alajuela we drove Mike and Marianne to the airport for a reluctant goodbye. We\u2019re so happy they made the trip down to join us, and we had a great time with them.<\/p>\n
By a fortunate coincidence, our friends Will and Cate, whose house we occupied for three weeks in Panama, happened to be flying out of Costa Rica the night before our departure, and we got to enjoy an evening with them on their way through.<\/p>\n
What\u2019s been at the forefront of our minds lately though is shipping the van. We\u2019d been awaiting dates from our shipping agent, and we found out last Thursday that the shipping date was to be September 12, and that the next date wouldn\u2019t be until mid-October. So after hastily packing up the van we said goodbye to Frank and Mike, our hosts in Costa Rica, and headed out of town. We left on Saturday and had to be in Panama City to start the shipping paperwork by Tuesday morning.<\/p>\n
<\/a>Yellow Puppy getting to know his new friend, Froggy the Monkey, that we picked up in Costa Rica.<\/p><\/div>\n
We decided to cross the border back into Panama using the only one we haven\u2019t yet crossed, inland near the town of Rio Sereno. Although we became a little concerned when the last few km of road on the Costa Rican side were dirt (we were concerned that the road on the Panama side would also be unpaved, which may have made us late arriving in Panama City), it turned out to be the right decision, as the roller coaster road took us through some beautiful hill country. And as a bonus we stayed out of the heat for one more night!<\/p>\n
<\/a>The central highlands of Eastern Costa Rica and Western Panama are full of lush greenery and home to lots of coffee farms. A few hours after this photo was taken we were driving through a downpour!<\/p><\/div>\n
Sunday was a long day \u2013 we finished crossing the border and eating lunch at 1pm, and drove to within 100km of Panama City arriving at a campsite on the beach after dark.<\/p>\n
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We were close enough to our destination to allow us to spend a few hours playing in the waves before our departure the next morning.<\/p><\/div>\n
We arrived in the city and got to cross over the amazing Bridge of the Americas, watching a huge container ship cross beneath us. We splurged on a week at a nice hotel right on the water, since we intend to visit the Canal museum and do some other touristy stuff while we\u2019re here.<\/p>\n