Villa Paula in the village of Tijeras is a well known stopping off place for travelers going to or coming from Costa Rica so here we are. There are two Dutch couples, a Spaniard, a Briton living in Costa Rica, and a Finnish couple we met briefly as well as the magic school bus above run by a couple of characters. Joel, below is from Minnesota but lives with his British girlfriend Becca,
…and the occasion for the photo was their departure from the campground.
Their journey to South America was interrupted by the Panamanian blockades and protests that slowed our own journey but now they are gone from this campsite and expect to load their school bus on a car carrier to Colombia later this week. It’s unlikely we’ll see them again as they have to move much faster than us retirees of leisure. Notice the youngsters traveling in perfect safety through countries most Americans classify as dangerous.
Joel was struggling with a failing alternator when we arrived and he finally had to solve the problem by buying and installing a new one. Fortunately for them it worked; unfortunately for us they had to leave.
Joel and Becca organize adventure journeys by gathering numbers of travelers to join them for segments of their trips as a low cost way to see the world. Becca gave Layne a full tour of the bus. Their desire to get to Colombia was fueled by their plan to regroup with their passengers for the holidays in South America.
We have had a few interesting conversations with Rudi from the Netherlands as well as Kasper, also Dutch, both experienced travelers with children, full of stories about North Africa and Europe and hints for us approaching South America. They make our modest needs as a couple with an uncomplicated dog look easy to handle.
We had the briefest encounter with Aline and Essa a young couple from Suomi Finland though we hope to catch up with them on the PanAmerican in South America. They told stories of meeting officials who had never heard of their country and the struggle to make themselves recognized. Finland? Where’s that?
I was wandering around doing chores, figuring out the complex trash recycling system for a start when I noticed the signboard Kati and Nelson, the Panamanian owners, had put up. I realized with a start we are more than half way down the road to Ushuaia even though we started from our northernmost point of Fort Kent Maine, not Alaska.
Only 4500 miles to go in a straight line. But we never drive in straight lines.
