July 22 to 26 - Cartagena

It felt great to be in one place for a few days and Cartagena was the perfect place to do it. 

Monday morning was spent at the customs broker agency making arrangements for the booking and shipping of the truck to Panama. However, I left their office with still a few questions and without an exact pricing.  Oh the joys of South America.  So we decided to check out the local beach (Castillogrande) and enjoy the down time.  The boys went on an inflatable tube and had fun being whipped around the very warm Caribbean waters.

It was close to end of regular business day when we received an email from the custom agent with the costing, and although the price was higher than expected, it was still within what I had planned to pay.  The shipping date, which had been previously suggested as July 31, was now Aug 3 and according to the shipping company there wasn’t an earlier date that would allow us time to reserve and stuff the container.  The one bothersome issue was the customs agency in Cartagena didn’t know what our costs would be in Panama to retrieve the truck.

On Tuesday we decided to make some calls and quickly found out that releasing the truck from customs in Panama shouldn’t cost more than couple hundred dollars and take one full morning.  A couple more calls to another customs agent and I was given a quote that was half as much as the initial company.  The customs broker even came to the hotel and we went over all the details/ process.  At least the second company confirmed Aug 3 would be the next available sailing.

By Wednesday, I had signed my second contract, re-attended the notary office and visited the Port Authority of Cartagena to reserve a container.  I won’t even try to explain the entire process, but I’m glad the agent knew what he was doing.  The new plan however, would entail that we had to be back in Cartagena on July 31 to take the truck to the port, and then re-attend on Aug 1 to actually place the truck inside the container.  At least we were making progress and could work with the dates being thrown around….

The old historical walled city in Cartagena is beautifully maintained and exuded an excellent balance between old colonial buildings, new funky restaurants, clothing stores and the usual market stuff.  The crowd was visibly touristy but it was such an interesting place to explore that we didn’t mind. 

Every night we explored the old city and found great restaurants where Marnie could actually enjoy some good food.  The kids were still being picky with dinner options and it seemed more and more difficult to find them…or better yet, convince them to eat something half decent and nutritious.  Even the one night where they had waffles with ice cream didn’t seem to keep them all that happy. I’m sure the heat/humidity and lack of exercise is killing their appetite.

We also spent some time planning our next few days in Colombia and Panama! 

Given that we now had more time than previously expected, Marnie and I decided to drive up to Taganga (240 km North East of Cartagena) and take our PADI Open Water Certification.  We’ve been meaning to get our diving ticket for years but it never worked out.  Now was the perfect opportunity and Taganga is known for great, affordable diving.  

It took a bit of convincing the boys (ie: Mateo) it would be fun for them but eventually they (ie: Mateo) came around.  The plan would be to spend 4 nights in Taganga, then return to Cartagena for another three nights and fly to the San Blas Islands with an overnight stop in Panama City.  Needless to say, this is becoming the “holiday” portion of the two-month road trip.  The down side is that we won’t be able to pick up the truck in Panama until Monday, Aug 6 at the earliest.  But in following Marnies great advise…we need to live in the moment and not spend so much time worrying about tomorrow, easier said for those wired with the need to “have a plan”.