The next morning, at 9:00 am, we were greeted at the Port Captain's
office by an official from Customs, who had driven from the airport
in Liberia to Cocos to process our paperwork. They were very friendly
and in a few minutes we were finally completely cleared into Costa Rica.
In addition to getting our passports stamped and getting tourist visas,
we also had "local" Zarpes for the boat which entitled us to cruise the
waters of Northern Costa Rica as far south as the Gulf of Nicoya,
at which point we will have to get another local Zarpe for southern
Costa Rican waters.
From the blessedly air conditioned office of the Port Captain, we went
across the street to an internet cafe / phone center, where we called the
main DHL office in the big city of San Jose and found that the package
containing our ship's document had in fact been successfully delivered
to the state capitol town of Liberia, about 30 miles away. So without further ado,
we went to the bus stop, and after hurriedly exchanging $5 for 2500
Colones, we paid 400 Colones each (about 80 cents) for the bus ride
to Liberia. Way inexpensive, eh?
After about an hour of winding our way thru the rural locale on good,
recently paved roads, we found ourselves entering the town of Liberia
at about 11:00 am. From the bus stop in Liberia, we grabbed a cab
and told him to take us to the DHL office, which he did. There,
a few minutes later, after signing for it, we opened the envelope
and had our new ship's document in hand. Relief!
We spent a couple of hours in Liberia, going to an auto-parts store
to get a fuel pump, and having a nice lunch at an outside cafe,
and doing a little sight seeing. Then we took a cab back to the bus station and
returned to Coco, the dinghy, and the boat for dinner.
Daytrip to Ciudad Liberia1. Zocalo 2. Cathedral 3. Colonial Building 4. Fruit for sale on street 5. Bus Station