Cartagena, Colombia

Today marked a big day. We said goodbye to Central America, hopped on a plane, and headed to big, scary South America. We were apprehensive at first of shipping the van to Columbia, but so far our experiences haven't justified the bad reputation that Colombia has. We had read in the guide books that Cartagena was very pretty, but we couldn't have imagined just how incredible it is. The colors here are like nothing I've seen anywhere else. The mix of Caribbean and Spanish influence makes for a wonderful backdrop.

This will be our home for a few days while we wait for the van to catch up with us on the container ship.

We spent most of the morning exploring and photographing the old city, and trying to find a new hotel. Dave and Kacey had made reservations at The Marlin before we left Panama, but once we arrived, they didn't have any double rooms for us, so we ended up all bunking together in one of their dorm rooms. While we've really come to enjoy Dave and Kacey's company, we figured we better find someplace a little more comfortable since it sounds like we might be here for a while. Besides, The Marlin was not clean at all. I don't think the bathroom had been cleaned in a month...

As it turns out we contacted the shipping company today and Evelyn (our agent in Panama) told us that the ship was delayed, and wouldn't ship out until later tonight, instead of as planned on Wednesday. Dave and Kacey checked in with the agent in Colombia, and he had a different story. He said that there was a strike in Costa Rica, and the boat hadn't even made it to Panama yet! Well isn't that interesting... So at this point, we don't know where our van is, or who to believe.

Last night we finally got to meet <a href="www.ramblewriter.com">Nick and Rochelle</a>, another couple from North Carolina that are driving to Argentina. It was weird because we were following their blog and reading of their adventures while we were preparing for this trip, and now here we were in Colombia, enjoying an evening with them on the busy plaza!

They quickly introduced us to <a href="http://ramblewriter.com/ramblings/?p=401">Greg and Carrie</a>, the couple that they sailed over with from Panama. Greg is a light-hearted Russian-born guy that completely looks the part of a boat captain. After finishing medical school and working in the ER for a year, he decided to get a boat and go traveling. He met Carrie at the hospital he worked at, and they headed off traveling together. After spending just fifteen minutes with Carrie, we immediately picked up on her distaste for sailing! They entertained us for a solid ten minutes, bickering back and forth about the pros and cons of sailing!

The final person Nick and Rochelle introduced us to was <a href="http://sailingforsos.com/">Lee, a thirty something ex-software salesman</a> that is circumnavigating the world in his sailboat Jargo-with just his dog! We were astonished to learn that Lee was from Missouri, and had only started learning how to sail six years ago! Now that's lofty ambition!

As you can imagine, Lee had many amazing stories of his travels, and we could have listened to them all night. The one that completely floored us though, was the one about the $1,000,000 reward. It seems that shortly after Lee arrived in Cartagena, his Siberian husky Georgia got into a bit of a tussle with the marina owners dog. Sure enough, when <a href="http://sailingforsos.com/ships_log.asp?id=174">Lee arrived back from going out that night, his dog had gone missing</a>. I can only imagine his disappointment of losing his only companion for miles and miles of open ocean! The one thing to keep in mind is that a Siberian husky completely stands out down here. Most street dogs are small and pretty ragged.

This is when Lee sprung into action. After not being able to find Georgia for a week, he posted hundreds of flyers around Cartagena, offering a $1,000,000 peso reward for the return of his dog. He even took out a spot on the local news! He immediately began to get calls about possible sightings, which led him to shady back alleys around town, trying to verify the sightings.

Eventually he got one that sounded pretty legit. The description of the dog was right. They even knew what color the dog's collar was. The sketchy part was that he was supposed to meet a couple of people in the center of town, they would take him to the house where the dog was, and he would then take them to the bank to collect the reward. Lee's description was much more colorful and it left me envisioning a ransom drop from a bad movie! So he jumped in the car with Nick and Greg and they headed out to see if this lead would turn into a reunion.

As they pulled up to the address, it sounded like he was still skeptical, but within a few minutes, Georgia came running out of the house for a reunion that seems ripe for a novel. As it turns out, a street bum apparently ‘found’ Georgia, and then sold her to the family where she was found. Quite the story…

Now Lee and the Georgia can’t walk the streets without everyone pointing and calling out ‘Look, it’s the million peso dog!’

These are the type of travel stories I came for. The ones that will stick with me forever…

Today Noah, Dave, Kacey and myself spent the first half of the day at the Playa (beach) of Boca Grande, the newer and upscale section of Cartagena. After haggling with half a dozen different vendors for a shade cabana, we settled in and enjoyed the nice view of the ocean that lay before us. Within minutes our view was obstructed by vendors, peddling a dizzying array of wares. Cerveza, crabs, fish, sunglasses, tanning oil, jewelry, art - the stream of vendors seemed never-ending! The most persistent vendors were women that walk up and down the beach, giving massages. As they come up behind you, they give you a 'free' sample, which we always replied, 'No Gracias' They would stop for a second, then start again, rubbing our shoulders. This routine goes on for at least five minutes, until we actually had to stand up and demand forcefully that they stop!

After the initial wave of vendors came by we had a small lull to actually enjoy our view while consuming Cervezas, which were fetched for us by the man that owned the cabana. We were quite disappointed after getting the news that we would be stuck in Cartagena for quite a while, waiting for our cargo ship to arrive, but here we were, living our own Corona commercial in Colombia, so I guess it's not all bad..

Noah, <a href="http://www.lifeofsaturdays.com">Dave and Kacey</a> went to Barwil this morning, and after being stuck here for ten days, it sounds like our van might actually be on the continent! After coming back to change into closed toe shoes (apparently this is required to go to the shipping yard), they quickly left to start the paperwork process. It sounds like it won't actually be unloaded to the receiving dock until tomorrow, but we might be making progress!

Today marked the beginning of our journey south into the continent. After spending another long and frustrating day at the port (it took us 27 hours total to free the van!) we raced to the insurance agent to buy the necessary car insurance, and then it was off to King Ocean to try to get our deposit back on the shipping container before they closed. Of course to throw some last minute salt in our wounds, they ended up keeping about $20 because the container was dirty and needed to be cleaned. Now keep in mind that they made us drive through a gigantic mud puddle to get the van into the container!

All in all our experience with King Ocean/Barwil was terrible and we would highly recommend that folks look into <a href="http://ramblewriter.com/ramblings/?p=394">other shipping company options</a>. As you’ve probably already read, in addition to the twenty seven hours it took to get the van out of the port, our boat was delayed so they skipped Cartagena to make up their schedule, so we ended up being stranded in Cartagena and uninformed for two weeks!