weekends away!

Every 90 days our Cincel students must leave Costa Rica to be out of the country for 72 hours. We load the big bus, every family and all their bags at 7:30 in the morning. We ride, and ride and ride and r  i  d  e  !! 8 hours south east to the border of Panama and Costa Rica. When we arrive at the border we show our documents on the Costa Rica side to leave and show our documents on the Panama side to enter. Lots of little ones to keep track of, lots of activity from others who are crossing, border patrol, dogs, beggars all keep one entertained for the time we wait for all to be checked. The bus is thoroughly checked, they send the drug guide dog through. The bags all come out from underneath and we enter a room to open them and check more documents. During the time that we are going through Immigration and Customs, the bus driver goes to another room to have all his documents and bus documents checked.
Usually we are at least 2 hours at the border. Then coming home 72 hours later we do it all again. It's fun if you ask me! I like the ride, I like the stops to eat, I like Panama and the hotel, I like the church we attend once every 90 days and I like being away from the normal routine!