Thursday, January 16, 2014

Cartagena day 2

Cartagena day 2.

Well we did it, got the Blue Wonder out of the harbour on day two. The men started at out at 7:30am. and were back at the hotel with the cars at 6:00pm.  Here is the list of steps taken on day two.
01.   Arrive early at the office, the papers were ready and we went to get the invoice for arrival harbour fees and paid $ 375,750.00 pesos.
02.   From there we walked to the harbour to compass office to get another set of documents.
03.   Then we walked to the car's and waited for the custom officer and he arrived at 9:0am. Hans Torres is his name.
04.   He inspected the cars and told us to be at the DIMA (custom) office 
At 2.0pm. to pick up the final release papers.
05.   Took taxi to the old centre for breakfast, then we realized insurance 
(SETA)  obligatorio.
06.   Took a taxi to one insurance company but thy would only sell insurance for one year. So our next step was to find a company who sells
Insurance for only one month. Finally after walking one kilometre and asking various people we found the insurance only to be told that without the custom release ((PLANTILLA DE LEVANTE) we could not get insurance.
07.   We went for ice cream and coffee to kill time to get to the custom office at 2.0pm. So another taxi ride for 20 minuted depending on traffic.
Every taxi driver thinks he is Schumacher. (Scary)
08.   Back to DIMA and we assigned Clement as our agent and he was the only one allowed in with our passports and original car documents.
As we were a group of 4 we did not have to do it individually.
09.   We finished all documents 3:30pm.  From there we took another taxi to officina compass CENTRO DE DOCUMENTOS to get PLANTILLA DE SALIDA.
10.   Walked to where the cars are located, there an agent from Compass 
Will arrive with the documents, he asked for passport and Levante from the custom office. She checked the vin. # of each car, then left for a while 
And eventually brought back the documents and keys. After that we were free to leave the port. At the exit gate the documents are checked again and our drivers licence was retuned to us.
We flagged a taxi and got him to guide us back to our hotel.
Manfred was so happy that he got the paperwork done that he invited the whole  group (9) for dinner at a fancy restaurant and we had a wonderful dinner.
Today jan. 16, we did buy insurance but it is not in effect until tomorrow.
Norbert washed the Blue Wonder as  it had a thick layer of salt.
I will do the grocery shopping this afternoon so that we are well stocked.
And tomorrow all 4 of us will leave together to head south.
We wanted adventure and we got it. It is very nice to we were not alone during this process and we are a very good team.
Custom officer inspecting car

National Police

Seaboard office

the foursome waiting to be picked up.

Yes you have to pay
Fish for sale

Blue Wonder coverd in salt and stickers

Celebration
Waiting

2 comments:

  1. WOW, you have done it! I hope the worst of the bureaucracy is behind you. Cartagena looks beautiful. Keep sending pics.
    Lise

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  2. OH-MY-OH-MY-OH-MY .. What a trip .. What an adventure .. I am happy that you have 'hooked-up' with Clement and family .. at least this is what it looks like from where I sit .. I myself would feel pretty uncomfortable to be down there totally alone per se .. Smiles .. Cap in Alaska ..

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