Medllin

Jan. 20

Left Santa Fe and drove to Medellin as we did not want to skip this city.

Our GPS wanted to send us in all directions except where we wanted to go. We asked a young man at the bus stop for directions to the centre, and he offered to ride with us to show us the way. He asked what we wanted to see and after we told him he offered to  be our guide as he still was on holiday and would love to show us his town. Well we had the best tour. Went to the Mirador, the top of the mountain in the city. On the way down he told us to lock our doors and close the windows as we were going through a rough part of town. Parked in the centre and took the Metro to the Gondola and had a 45 minutes ride over the city. The metro was spotless, not a pice of garbage anywhere. The price for Metro and Gondola was one dollar per person. We are constantly surprised how friendly people are, and how curious and full of questions about our travels, and always will say welcome to columbia. The Botero museum is also very nice. We had a very good dinner at a traditional columbian restaurant then did some grocery shopping and after that our new friend and guide Arnaldo rode with us to the edge of town where we said goodby to him. How fortunate we are.

We are now camped in El Pinon and tomorrow will travel towards Bogota. We are in the mountains so a nice cool night.

Hugs to all.

Norbert and Greti

Santa Fe 

Pointa Occidental

Blue Wonder would not fit.

Me above Medellin

Norbert with our guide Arnaldo

Metro and Gondola ride $1.00

picture taken from gondola Medelliun

wonderful fruit

restaurant Hacienda

Carne Asado very good

Parque Boteo

Add caption

fish market

Jan 18 to 20

We left Cartagena at 8:30 am. After we had breakfast at the hotel. Had a little of a turnaround due to construction and morning rush hour. It was already very hot in the morning and did not get cooler during the day.

Lots of military, and the custom here is to give them the thumbs up. So lots of thumbs up. At noon we had lunch on the side of the road  at what we figured was a deserted place, but before coffee was ready we had 5 visitors. Everyone is very curious about our camper and want to know about Canada and how far we have traveled and so forth. It is fun to see people look in amazement when thy see the Canadian flag, even children look and point and wave. Motorbikes will scoot ahead of us and give us the thumbs up. So far we have not encountered any negative  reaction.

Found a nice restaurant and asked  if we could park in their yard, there was a pond and very little breeze and the temperature did not go down much so a hot night. Today we only did 200 km. first we had an oil change done on the Blue Wonder and the road was very windy   and over the mountains with dense fog and lots of truck traffic, add to that road repair and crazy drivers, so it was white knuckles and prayers for Greti.

We are now parked at a Finka (milk farm) at 9000 feet, it is nice and cool and a light rain so will make for a good night.  Got woken up by first roosters and then the cows and then the farm hand looking in our window again with lots of questions. Had coffee and toast and back down the very rocky path to the highway. Again heavy traffic and road repair. Could not find the exit to highway 65 and asked a taxi to guide us in the right direction. Made it to Santa Fe De Antiqua, 500 year old colonial town, very nice. The scenery today was breathtaking, well worth the extra kilometres. When we parked at the town square we were surrounded by people wanting to see the Blue Wonder inside and again lots of questions about our travels and Canada. So much for the theory to get an inconspicuous camper, we seem to stick out like a red flag. Even in the store I got asked if I was the lady of the Canadian camper that crossed the bridge. Tomorrow we will visit Medellin.

Hugs to all.

Norbert and Greti.

here are the forms , but this is not all.

planning the route

no need for the bus

Oil change and Norbert's new friend

Blue Wonder gets a bath

and Norbert as well

Fog over the mountains

milk delivery

Our first wake up call

our second wakeup call

Leaving Cartagena

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

Cartagena

fruit seller

The flight from Panama to Cartagena was one hour and good.
Arrived in Cartagena at 9 am. And took a taxi to the old district but finding a room was not easy as the locals still have holidays.   When we did get a room it was very primitive and so small that there was hardly room for the backpack, and also very noisy. So next morning we found a better hotel with good WiFi and also when we get the Blue Wonder we can park here and sleep in the camper for a few dollars. Cartagena is a very nice city and Old Town is wonderful it is often described as Cartagena the Beautiful or Cartagena the Proud One. So very different from what we have seen so far
And every time I go there I discover new things.
Today the men started the process of retrieving the car's, here are the steps to be taken.
1. Take taxi to office Seaboard
2.  Find office after 3 try's
3.  Get bill of Lading
4.  Take taxi to customs
5.  Fill out forms go to different building to make copy's and return to custom's
6,  back to make copy's of passport and entry visa
7.  Take taxi  to Seaboard office
8.  Contact company to verify location of vehicle and let them know the inspector will arrive at 8.0am
      Tomorrow
9.   Car not at the boat.
These are the steps for today, so tomorrow we will continue and start at 7:30 to make sure we are present when the inspector arrives and find out the next set of steps to take,

This is in the harbour in Colon after we delivered the campers

Manhole lid missin in the middle of the intersection

Panama city

Cartagena Historic Section

Seeking shade

Crossing the bridge with hurdles

Add caption

Cartagena the Beautiful

Cartagena sunset

Panama 

Shipping

Today was the day for shipping.
We all met at our hotel at 5am and left for Colon which is 60 km. north of here, it took us one hour to get there. What a seedy place, we were warned to be careful and once we got there we knew why.
The shipping agent met us at 8am. And the runaround started, custom, copy's,fees, receipts, back to customs , more waiting and finally driver and car could enter the shipping compound and the gate closed behind them and we had to wait outside. It took 7houres until the keys were handed over and the drivers walked back out. We took a taxi to town and from there the bus back to Panama city and then a taxi to our hotel. There I discovered that I did not have reservations for our flight to Cartagena so tomorrow first thing we have to see a travel agent and hopefully book a flight for sunday.
This was a full day so time for bed.
Good night to all
Big Hug
Norbert and Greti