We were booked on Tracopa's international bus from San Jose to David in Panama. It was passing through Uvita at 11am so there was no early morning rush, plenty of time for a leisurely, last breakfast at Luna de Luz. It was only a 15 minute walk to the bus stop but with a pack on your back in the tropical heat, a taxi sounded a way better option. As Maria went to ask the owner of the hotel to call a taxi, an older guy sitting down in the restaurant offered us a lift as he was going the same way.

We were at the bus stop in good time just in case it arrived early but it was quite the opposite, the bus was an hour late. We had seats booked on the bus but somebody was on our seats already and for some reason the driver didn't make them move. He shuffled another four people around so we could sit together. It was a pretty uneventful 2 hour drive to the Costa Rica/Panama border, there was a bit of rain on the way and a truck had driven off the road.

We decided to take the international bus, at additional cost, in preference to standard public buses because we thought it would make the border crossing a bit similar - no changing of buses, just the same one the whole way through and the bus company had our passport details in their system. Apparently not - the fun was about to begin...

As we were queuing at the bank (next to the immigration office) to pay the departure tax, the bus driver and the bus company assistant came shouting we, and the four other foreigners, should follow him. We were taken to a lawyers office 300m down the road. We had to pay our departure tax at the lawyers, with USD $1 service fee on top of USD $7 departure tax. Given the long walk each way, it took longer than the bank queue we were originally in.

When we walked back to the immigration office, we noticed that our bus had disappeared. One of the others said it had driven towards the border but not sure to where exactly. Being last to get our passports stamped for the exit and no bus waiting, we went in search of the bus instead instead of changing our left over Costa Rican money at the bank (the only crossing so far where there are no money changing 'coyotes' on the streets, so to speak).

The bus was waiting by the Customs office in Panama side and our bags were unloaded off the bus and just left on the pavement. Without any information, we were left wondering whether we stand by our bags or join the queue for our immigration stamp. We were not thinking straight when an 'official' standing by the immigration queue demanded USD $1 for a municipal tax sticker that was put in the passport - still unsure whether this actually needs to be paid or not.

Finally, when it was our turn, a group of truck drivers barged in front of us and the official just processed them without a care about us. We then moved to the next window and got over enthusiastic young lady who wanted to see proof of onward travel and credit card statement or cash worth USD $500 per person. We didn't actually have a ticket out of Panama because we couldn't actually book one from Costa Rica. We showed her our return ticket from South America to Europe but it wasn't sufficient.

Maria tried to explain we weren't able to book our flight ticket in Costa Rica asked if bus ticket back to Costa Rica was sufficient but no, she wanted us to show a flight that would prove that we are flying back to our home country after Panama. We politely said that was ridiculous given that we didn't actually live in the country of our passport. In the end, they agreed a flight to Colombia would be enough since we had the flight out of South America to Europe.

Next problem was how to get the ticket at the border when there are no travel agencies. One of the officials then told we could use the wifi through his iPhone. The connection was really slow and we were getting stressed trying to get something booked while all the other people from the bus were already finishing their customs checks. The bus company assistant, who led us off to the lawyers earlier, reappeared asking what the delay was. We told him that immigration wanted us to buy flight tickets before they would stamp our passports.

Then it got really bizarre, the bus driver came to ask what was taking so long just when David was filling in the final details to purchase the flight tickets. He turned to spoke to an older border official at the back of the office and told him that we were with him and he was being held up. The bus driver then guided us towards a window where the older official sat down and told us just to hand our passports over. Without another question, or buying the flights, our passports were just stamped within seconds and handed back to us. The driver then escorted us, with our bags, into the customs hall and we were just waved back out the door without a second glance to throw our bags on the bus.

Finally, we were sitting in the bus again, a bit bewildered about what just had happened. After a quick fumigation of the bus, our journey continued city of David. Panama is one hour ahead of the rest of Central America so we arrived at 5pm and the city was bustling with people moving around between work, the market stalls, shops and malls. We decided against taking a New York yellow coloured taxi to our hotel, it was only a 10 minute according to the map.

Hotel Residencial Cervantes is probably a business class hotel in David even though it was very basic in international standards. It did have AC, cable TV, free WiFi and free coffee in lobby for a price that was cheaper than hostels, so we checked in for 2 nights .

Despite being bang in the centre of town, we struggled to find a restaurant for dinner, it seemed most places were only open for lunch and breakfast. Eventually we found an American style pizza/pasta fast food joint, except it wasn't very fast and wasn't anything worth writing home about. We walked around town a few times trying to find place that sells beer and eventually had to go back to hotel to ask if there was supermarket nearby. Fortunately there was, only 2 blocks away but hidden - we had already passed it twice before without realising. The beer was really cheap again after the 'high cost' in Costa Rica, it was only 40c a beer!!