I flew from Panama to Managua Nicaragua yesterday in a C182. Since my onward flight was planned for Guatemala and since there hasn't been Avgas available outside Gelabert in Panama for basically ever, I thought I'd cleverly avoid the $12/gallon avgas in Managua by doing a technical stop in Liberia, Costa Rica. This was a big mistake.

Flight plan filed at Gelabert (easy) and exit customs and immigration check done (also easy) we were on our way.

Upon landing at the nice-looking airport, I was greeted by the usual drug enforcement people and immigration folks. All very nice, professional and courteous. They duly inspected us and reviewed that everything was in order which it was. Lurking behind them was what appeared to be ground people from the airport. One of them approached me and asked if I wanted "handling". I declined, which seemed to confuse her. I said I just need fuel and to point me to the AIS office where I can file my onward flight plan.

This is where the fundamental misunderstanding of how Costa Rica treats general aviation reared its ugly head. Myself and my Spanish native speaking flying companion, himself a major airline 737 captain who flies many international flights, tried to reason with these people that all we wanted was to get fuel and go. They insisted on a $100 charge for getting us access to these services. We said we decline this because we know exactly how to fuel a Cessna 182 and how to file a flight plan.

A standoff ensued. Papers were shown. Arguments were made. The price got raised to $150 and it was getting dark. Finally, we backed down and it took another hour for them to even deliver the fuel truck to the plane, let alone file the flight plan. We spent two frustrating hours with these people, all with the looming $10/hour parking fees on the horizon if it got dark.

Two hours lost, $150 wasted and a terrible perception of aviation in Costa Rica. For a comparison, we had an unplanned technical stop in El Salvador at Ilopanga and they were nothing but friendly, helpful and courteous and didn't rip us off in any way.

I'm on the return from this flight right now and I would like to ask if I should bother ever going back to Costa Rica. Is this how they operate in the whole country or just at Liberia? How do people avoid the ridiculous parking fees in this country if they wanted to actually visit something? You know, like a tourism-related country might reasonably want to encourage???

I have the Caribbean Sky Tours book by the way and it's great but there should be a giant red "AVOID" warning on Costa Rica from my limited experience so far.