hotel

 We're back in Panama, and it's a mixed bag. Prices drop like crazy as soon as you get over the border; the quantity of trash goes directly through the roof. The air quality stays good until you get over the hills and start coming down towards David, at which point you can see precisely how disgusting the air really is. This should improve considerably as soon as we head up into the hills towards Santa Fe in our rented Toyota Yaris - what a shitpile. It takes FOREVER to get up in RPMs, and this one has a stick, so it's going to be a complete nightmare to drive.

 Today, we left Hotel Limbo in Bocas Town, Boca del Toro, Panama, and made our way across the border into Costa Rica via boat, taxi, and foot. The bridge is reminiscent of the trestle at the Boardwalk in Santa Cruz before the foot bridge was added, but with planks across the outside of the ties for foot and vehicle traffic. Few vehicles actually cross the border, most of them being tractor-trailer rigs.

The following is an alternate version (a bit more wordy) of a review I wrote for travelpost about a visit to Comfort Inn at 5370 Clayton road in Concord, CA.

My lady stayed in this place and said she hated it, but we tried to get a place up the road and all the rooms were booked. It must have been because everyone else knew about this place, because it's Feb. 20th and nothing special is going on here. This is by far the LOUDEST hotel I've stayed in, which includes venues in Santa Cruz and Las Vegas. Outside noise is absolutely intolerable, and because of the neighborhood this place is in you can expect to hear loud engines, tires screeching, and horns honking all night (I did.)