Thursday, March 29, 2007
They have it!
Douglas just got off the phone with Guayaquil, and they have the part. Iguanas, here we come! This is a big relief - I´d been having bad images of the wheel falling off while we´re travelling across the Salt Flats in Bolivia, and us dying of dehydration in a dreamscape...
Cuenca
Douglas is feeling much better, hooray. So yesterday we decided to leave Baños, that cute little town of cafes just like the Naam in Vancouver, and head south to Cuenca. We estimated it would take us about 4 or maybe 5 hours to get here, based on Lonely Planet bus times, but we weren´t counting on the tiny little goat track that crossed the foggy Andes. It was a hard day of driving. The road to Cuenca only got paved in the 60´s, and I don´t think it´s been paved since. Add to that the fog, which was sometimes so thick we thought we might be upside down or maybe driving straight up the side of the mountain. It was completely disorienting. The few moments when the fog cleared were like revelations - we sat straight up, with wide eyes and remembered that we were really in the world, and not transported to some weird foggy dimension.
The trip was worth it, though. Cuenca is a truly charming city. It´s the 3rd biggest in Ecuador, but it´s really not very big. It has a lot of intact colonial architecture, and the folks here are very fashion-conscious. There seems to be a big artist community, too. I´ve seen lots of graphic design storefronts. All in all we like it. There´s some really tasty food here, too. We just had lunch at a Colombian place. Arepas (which are like thick corn tortillas, very crisp on the outside) with fried eggs, and a plantain that was totally flattened out, fried, and topped with avocado, fried tomatoes, and a bit of salty cheese. Delicious.
Unfortunately, we´re having some trouble with the van. The bushing on the right front wheel is worn, and so the wheel is a bit wobbly and makes a funny noise. Gr. We´re having a lot of trouble finding the right part, too. It´s been the usual odyssey. We got bounced around from little repair shop to little repair shop, and finally found the VW dealership. Of course they didn´t have anything for such an old car as ours, and seemed to want us to leave as quickly as possible. I think they were worried we would tarnish their image. They directed us to some more small shops, who directed us to a guy who has a VW workshop in his backyard. He told us he could fabricate a part for us, but Douglas is skeptical. Someone else told us there´s a guy who specializes in Westfalias in Guayaquil, so we might be going back to visit the iguanas. Douglas is calling them right now. Guayaquil´s not too far, though, and we liked it, so it wouldn´t be so bad. It´s not even really that much out of the way. If they have the right part, I think we´ll be off.
And, a personal triumph - I´m about a third of the way through Harry Potter number 2 in Spanish!!! It gets a little easier to read every time I pick it up. I still need a dictionary by my side, of course. And I spend most of my time reading English books. But I´m determined to finish it before the end of the trip.
Speaking of books, we found a really excellent book exchange/used book store in dontown Cuenca. It's called ABC Books, and is run by a former English teacher, an expat American. They have an absolutely amazing selection - this might be the best bookstore we've found on the whole trip. They're right near the flower market - check them out.
The trip was worth it, though. Cuenca is a truly charming city. It´s the 3rd biggest in Ecuador, but it´s really not very big. It has a lot of intact colonial architecture, and the folks here are very fashion-conscious. There seems to be a big artist community, too. I´ve seen lots of graphic design storefronts. All in all we like it. There´s some really tasty food here, too. We just had lunch at a Colombian place. Arepas (which are like thick corn tortillas, very crisp on the outside) with fried eggs, and a plantain that was totally flattened out, fried, and topped with avocado, fried tomatoes, and a bit of salty cheese. Delicious.
Unfortunately, we´re having some trouble with the van. The bushing on the right front wheel is worn, and so the wheel is a bit wobbly and makes a funny noise. Gr. We´re having a lot of trouble finding the right part, too. It´s been the usual odyssey. We got bounced around from little repair shop to little repair shop, and finally found the VW dealership. Of course they didn´t have anything for such an old car as ours, and seemed to want us to leave as quickly as possible. I think they were worried we would tarnish their image. They directed us to some more small shops, who directed us to a guy who has a VW workshop in his backyard. He told us he could fabricate a part for us, but Douglas is skeptical. Someone else told us there´s a guy who specializes in Westfalias in Guayaquil, so we might be going back to visit the iguanas. Douglas is calling them right now. Guayaquil´s not too far, though, and we liked it, so it wouldn´t be so bad. It´s not even really that much out of the way. If they have the right part, I think we´ll be off.
And, a personal triumph - I´m about a third of the way through Harry Potter number 2 in Spanish!!! It gets a little easier to read every time I pick it up. I still need a dictionary by my side, of course. And I spend most of my time reading English books. But I´m determined to finish it before the end of the trip.
Speaking of books, we found a really excellent book exchange/used book store in dontown Cuenca. It's called ABC Books, and is run by a former English teacher, an expat American. They have an absolutely amazing selection - this might be the best bookstore we've found on the whole trip. They're right near the flower market - check them out.
Monday, March 26, 2007
strange
Douglas just pointed out a painting hanging in the internet cafe. It´s Renaissance-style religious, but there´s a UFO above Baby Jesus´ head - I think he´s just been beamed down. Weird.
This town is also famous for paintings of people being saved from automobile accidents by the Virgin of the Holy Water. Will have to check those out, too.
This town is also famous for paintings of people being saved from automobile accidents by the Virgin of the Holy Water. Will have to check those out, too.
the curse of Baños
We´re in Baños, a little town famous for its ecotourism and its thermal baths. Hence the name, Baños, which means thermal baths. But baño also means bathroom. Which brings me to the curse. Last time we tried to come here, after Salinas, I got so terribly sick (probably a virus, the kind you had when you were a kid that gave you diarrhea and a fever and made you puke). So we didn´t make it to Baños. We stayed in Guaranda, and then headed north. But I visited the baño plenty of times.
Now we´re actually in Baños, and Douglas has exactly what I had last week. Poor thing. He´s over the fever, and is on the mend. And here we are in Baños, always looking for the baños. sigh.
Now we´re actually in Baños, and Douglas has exactly what I had last week. Poor thing. He´s over the fever, and is on the mend. And here we are in Baños, always looking for the baños. sigh.
Saquisili,Cotopaxi, Otavalo
The last few days have been taken up with lots of marketing. And I mean lots. Take a look at our most recent photo upload, and you´ll see where we´ve been. Animal markets, stepping around pigs and pig poo. I almost got run over by a giant pig. And I´m in textile overload. Each market has had a big ´tourist´ section where they sell ponchos, wall hangings, stripey sweaters, carved gourds, etc. It´s all beautiful stuff, but we´ve been feeling too overwhelmed by the vendors and the sheer amount of stuff to really buy anything. Douglas got a dark grey alpaca sweater with little llamas around the cuffs. And I got a big sheepswool poncho that´s pretty much like a blanket with a hood. All the indigenous men wear ponchos here with much panache. I´m not quite sure how they don´t get themselves all tangled up like I do. Well, i´m working on it.
We also spent a night at Cotopaxi, a volcano just south of Quito. It´s the rainy season, so we had the park to ourselves. Alpine meadows full of oddly familiar plants (purple lupine, heather, and indian paintbrush). We never actually saw the top of Cotopaxi, because it was covered in clouds the whole time. Actually, *we* were covered in clouds most of the time. It´s amazing how often we´ve been at cloud level on this trip. Ecuador really is heaven...
We also spent a night at Cotopaxi, a volcano just south of Quito. It´s the rainy season, so we had the park to ourselves. Alpine meadows full of oddly familiar plants (purple lupine, heather, and indian paintbrush). We never actually saw the top of Cotopaxi, because it was covered in clouds the whole time. Actually, *we* were covered in clouds most of the time. It´s amazing how often we´ve been at cloud level on this trip. Ecuador really is heaven...
Epiphany
So, at our wedding, Mark and Erika were doing this crazy thing. They were sitting down with maps and planning out their route home. They highlighted things, figured out how far apart things were, and decided what they wanted to see in the time they had.
hm.
Up until now, we´ve been militantly anti-plan. We´re lucky if we skim the guidebook the day after we arrive in a country. And it´s been working out OK. But we´ve felt rushed the whole time, like we were supposed to be somewhere further south already.
So the other day, we did a revolutionary thing. We took out our maps (Harry and Doris sold us some buenissimo German maps, so now we have maps of places we haven´t been yet) and we planned out our trip.
wow.
It´s revolutionized everything. We feel like we know where we´re going. We know when we plan to get there. We´ve figured out what we want to see, and where we want to go. And we should, gods and roads willing, be able to see it all and still get to Brazil before money and time run out. And it´s amazingly relaxing!! We don´t feel like we´re supposed to be somewhere else anymore!!
wow.
hm.
Up until now, we´ve been militantly anti-plan. We´re lucky if we skim the guidebook the day after we arrive in a country. And it´s been working out OK. But we´ve felt rushed the whole time, like we were supposed to be somewhere further south already.
So the other day, we did a revolutionary thing. We took out our maps (Harry and Doris sold us some buenissimo German maps, so now we have maps of places we haven´t been yet) and we planned out our trip.
wow.
It´s revolutionized everything. We feel like we know where we´re going. We know when we plan to get there. We´ve figured out what we want to see, and where we want to go. And we should, gods and roads willing, be able to see it all and still get to Brazil before money and time run out. And it´s amazingly relaxing!! We don´t feel like we´re supposed to be somewhere else anymore!!
wow.
Lago Quilotoa and the Posada
We´ve been having pretty quiet adventures this week. It´s been all about a leisurely drive through Ecuador. Nothing is very far away, the people are chill, and we´ve been here long enough that we feel like we have it figured out (two whole weeks!). After we left Guaranda, we went north a few hours to drive around the famous Quilotoa Loop. This is a loop of road just south of Quito, high in the mountains, and fairly isolated because of the bad condition of the road.
The scenery was spectacular. Every mountainside, no matter how steep, had small farms and sheep and sheepherders just barely clinging to it. I really don´t know how they don´t all slide off. It boggles the mind.
We stayed at a small posada, that we happened upon just as dark was falling. Well, maybe it was a bit after, and we´d already spent a harrowing hour driving in the dark, with headlights that just barely work and smell like burning electricity when they do, not knowing where we would spend the night. But maybe it was just as dark was falling. 8) We were greeted in the driveway by Magdalena, one of the owners, and her son, Pablo. We agreed to camp, and they invited us in to sit by the fire and drink some tea. It was practically like being at home!!
The posada is also a working farm, and they have all kinds of fascinating old machinery still running. Douglas was most taken with the antique shower that runs on alcohol. You pour in 1/3 of a cup of alcohol, start the water, and light it on fire. If you let the water just barely dribble out, it gets pretty hot. Not my favorite shower ever, but I think it just might be Douglas´ all-time-favorite. In the top 5 at least.
We got to check out the cow milking, the llama riding, the water-powered turbine. And we were treated to the fabulous fresh-made-on-the-farm food, from cheese to yogurt flavored with coconut to fresh eggs. It was fantastic. Needless to say, we decided to stay one more night and take a hike down to Lago Quilotoa. We also got to attend our first ever dinner party entirely in spanish - there were a 4 other travellers there, and the best common language was spanish, with occasional bits of english and italian thrown in (the finnish woman didn´t try to say anything to us in finnish).
All in all, one of our favorite places.
The scenery was spectacular. Every mountainside, no matter how steep, had small farms and sheep and sheepherders just barely clinging to it. I really don´t know how they don´t all slide off. It boggles the mind.
We stayed at a small posada, that we happened upon just as dark was falling. Well, maybe it was a bit after, and we´d already spent a harrowing hour driving in the dark, with headlights that just barely work and smell like burning electricity when they do, not knowing where we would spend the night. But maybe it was just as dark was falling. 8) We were greeted in the driveway by Magdalena, one of the owners, and her son, Pablo. We agreed to camp, and they invited us in to sit by the fire and drink some tea. It was practically like being at home!!
The posada is also a working farm, and they have all kinds of fascinating old machinery still running. Douglas was most taken with the antique shower that runs on alcohol. You pour in 1/3 of a cup of alcohol, start the water, and light it on fire. If you let the water just barely dribble out, it gets pretty hot. Not my favorite shower ever, but I think it just might be Douglas´ all-time-favorite. In the top 5 at least.
We got to check out the cow milking, the llama riding, the water-powered turbine. And we were treated to the fabulous fresh-made-on-the-farm food, from cheese to yogurt flavored with coconut to fresh eggs. It was fantastic. Needless to say, we decided to stay one more night and take a hike down to Lago Quilotoa. We also got to attend our first ever dinner party entirely in spanish - there were a 4 other travellers there, and the best common language was spanish, with occasional bits of english and italian thrown in (the finnish woman didn´t try to say anything to us in finnish).
All in all, one of our favorite places.
Guaranda
After we came down from Chimborazo, we spent a couple more days in Guaranda, waiting for me to recuperate. That was some virus. Guaranda is a sleepy town in the mountains, not touristy at all, though famous for its cheese. It was really nice to spend a bit of time in a town not geared towards tourists. We got to see Ecuadorians going about their usual business. And the Ecuadorians got to see us going about our not-so-usual business! Lots of people were curious about us, and it was fun to have the tables turned for once.
We were parked on the street, buying cheese, maybe. Douglas was outside the van, lashing something down with our endless supply of rope. I was sitting inside, snacking no doubt. School had just let out, and hordes of schoolkids in their brown uniforms were milling around town. A gaggle of girls walked past our van, in their white kneesocks and pleated skirts. They were pretty curious about what might be inside this strange contraption, and they all stopped to peer inside, pressing their noses right up against the glass. They must not have seen me, or thought I didn´t see them, and they were totally unabashed, looking and pointing and exclaiming. I was watching them in the side mirror, unobserved and really amused. They finally finished looking, and turned to head down the street. One girl turned for a last look, and caught sight of me grinning in the mirror, and then they all fell down laughing in a heap on the sidewalk.
We also stopped outside of town to pick up a few pieces of junk wood for levelling the van (it drives Douglas nuts if we have to park at a bit of an angle, and it makes it hard to cook). The guy at the wood/cabinet place thought we were just fascinating. He couldn´t believe we´d driven that far, and after he sold us the wood bits, he stepped away a bit and started snapping photos of us with his camera phone!! I can´t tell you how delighted I was that someone was taking pictures of us!! We´ve spent so much time on this trip taking sly pictures of other people!!
We were parked on the street, buying cheese, maybe. Douglas was outside the van, lashing something down with our endless supply of rope. I was sitting inside, snacking no doubt. School had just let out, and hordes of schoolkids in their brown uniforms were milling around town. A gaggle of girls walked past our van, in their white kneesocks and pleated skirts. They were pretty curious about what might be inside this strange contraption, and they all stopped to peer inside, pressing their noses right up against the glass. They must not have seen me, or thought I didn´t see them, and they were totally unabashed, looking and pointing and exclaiming. I was watching them in the side mirror, unobserved and really amused. They finally finished looking, and turned to head down the street. One girl turned for a last look, and caught sight of me grinning in the mirror, and then they all fell down laughing in a heap on the sidewalk.
We also stopped outside of town to pick up a few pieces of junk wood for levelling the van (it drives Douglas nuts if we have to park at a bit of an angle, and it makes it hard to cook). The guy at the wood/cabinet place thought we were just fascinating. He couldn´t believe we´d driven that far, and after he sold us the wood bits, he stepped away a bit and started snapping photos of us with his camera phone!! I can´t tell you how delighted I was that someone was taking pictures of us!! We´ve spent so much time on this trip taking sly pictures of other people!!
Sunday, March 18, 2007
16,000 feet
We tried to spend last night at the Chimborazo base camp and failed. We should have known better than to try and sleep where no one lives and even the vicuna population (wild relative of llamas and alpacas) thins out!! At 4:19am we had to bail because of mountain sickness. We fled the mountain with the van top still up and dinner leftovers skittering around on the stove.
It started out as a good day. I was feeling better, though hollow and light as a feather. We were tired of the hotel room (more likely we were scared our brains would rot because of too much TV – we watched heaps of it the day before, half in Spanish and half in English – nature shows on Colombian birds, several episodes of Heroes, not a bad show if not for the brain-eating subplot, and a movie with Tom Cruise as a hitman) and wanted to move on to another town, not too far away, just in the rainshadow so everything wouldn’t be so wet.
We piled into the van and took off for Chimborazo, a nearby volcano that is also the point on the earth closest to the sun (something to do with the earth’s bulge, ask Douglas). There’s a fauna reserve there, and we thought it would be a nice quiet place to spend the night (ha!!). The drive up was spectacular. As the road went up and up through green mountains, the afternoon rain and fog set in, only to vanish abruptly just as Chimborazo came into view. The mountain stops all clouds in their tracks, and just on the other side the landscape is dry and sunny.
As Chimborazo loomed, we also started to see what we thought were particularly cute llamas, but later found out are vicunas (Douglas says he knew this all along), a wild relative of llamas and alpacas with particularly fine hair. The Inca ruler would only wear clothes made out of vicuna hair; everyone else had to settle for alpaca. We stopped and took endless vicuna pictures, then finally made our way up to the base camp, where climbers attempting Chimborazo’s summit stay to acclimatize to the altitude. We should have known that somewhere so high wouldn’t be healthy, but it didn’t occur to us that somewhere we could *drive* to could make us so sick!!
The base camp was nice in a rugged, snowy moonscape sort of way. We whiled away a few hours looking around, making some food, etc. Douglas went for a bikeride, and we cooked dinner when he came back. We were feeling kind of short of breath, but we figured that if we just drank lots of water and didn’t run around too much we’d be OK. Shortly after dinner we both started to feel bad (splitting headaches), and decided to head down the mountain a bit, to where the main road turns off to the base camp. We stopped there and tried to sleep, but our headaches got increasingly worse. Douglas couldn’t sleep at all, and then he started to feel really nauseous. At 4:19am, we couldn’t take it anymore and bailed.
We’ve spent the day recovering, parked on the side of the road just outside of Guaranda, on the way to Salinas (the chocolate/cheese/sweater town). We’ve had a nice rainy sort of day, puttering around in the van and doing all the projects we were putting off at the end of the Central American leg of the trip, worried that we might never see the van again. Tomorrow, probably, we’ll be off to Banos, a small town that’s a hub of mountain biking/trekking activity. Apparently they have some cafes that show movies every night at 8pm, and some good book exchanges, so we’ll both have something to do. Finding good books is turning out to be way harder in South America than it was in Central America – I wish I had bought more when I had the chance.
Side note: on the next trip like this I will pack a hefty supply of rooster poison.
It started out as a good day. I was feeling better, though hollow and light as a feather. We were tired of the hotel room (more likely we were scared our brains would rot because of too much TV – we watched heaps of it the day before, half in Spanish and half in English – nature shows on Colombian birds, several episodes of Heroes, not a bad show if not for the brain-eating subplot, and a movie with Tom Cruise as a hitman) and wanted to move on to another town, not too far away, just in the rainshadow so everything wouldn’t be so wet.
We piled into the van and took off for Chimborazo, a nearby volcano that is also the point on the earth closest to the sun (something to do with the earth’s bulge, ask Douglas). There’s a fauna reserve there, and we thought it would be a nice quiet place to spend the night (ha!!). The drive up was spectacular. As the road went up and up through green mountains, the afternoon rain and fog set in, only to vanish abruptly just as Chimborazo came into view. The mountain stops all clouds in their tracks, and just on the other side the landscape is dry and sunny.
As Chimborazo loomed, we also started to see what we thought were particularly cute llamas, but later found out are vicunas (Douglas says he knew this all along), a wild relative of llamas and alpacas with particularly fine hair. The Inca ruler would only wear clothes made out of vicuna hair; everyone else had to settle for alpaca. We stopped and took endless vicuna pictures, then finally made our way up to the base camp, where climbers attempting Chimborazo’s summit stay to acclimatize to the altitude. We should have known that somewhere so high wouldn’t be healthy, but it didn’t occur to us that somewhere we could *drive* to could make us so sick!!
The base camp was nice in a rugged, snowy moonscape sort of way. We whiled away a few hours looking around, making some food, etc. Douglas went for a bikeride, and we cooked dinner when he came back. We were feeling kind of short of breath, but we figured that if we just drank lots of water and didn’t run around too much we’d be OK. Shortly after dinner we both started to feel bad (splitting headaches), and decided to head down the mountain a bit, to where the main road turns off to the base camp. We stopped there and tried to sleep, but our headaches got increasingly worse. Douglas couldn’t sleep at all, and then he started to feel really nauseous. At 4:19am, we couldn’t take it anymore and bailed.
We’ve spent the day recovering, parked on the side of the road just outside of Guaranda, on the way to Salinas (the chocolate/cheese/sweater town). We’ve had a nice rainy sort of day, puttering around in the van and doing all the projects we were putting off at the end of the Central American leg of the trip, worried that we might never see the van again. Tomorrow, probably, we’ll be off to Banos, a small town that’s a hub of mountain biking/trekking activity. Apparently they have some cafes that show movies every night at 8pm, and some good book exchanges, so we’ll both have something to do. Finding good books is turning out to be way harder in South America than it was in Central America – I wish I had bought more when I had the chance.
Side note: on the next trip like this I will pack a hefty supply of rooster poison.
Salinas
Driving north out of Guayaquil we enjoyed the rice paddies and the Andes looming ever closer in the mist. We filled up with diesel for $1/gal and soon began climbing out of the heat. At the first road side stand with red banana looking things we stopped. We had seen these on the way down from Quito, and were excited to discover what they are. Moranos. Kim said they taste as if someone took the banana out and made it into banana pudding and put it back in. They are seriously yummy. I asked what this other round green thing was and as she was telling me was cutting one open. Zapote. At first I didn’t like it because of the sweet morano taste in my mouth, but it’s a bit like the cross of a mango and a melon. Onto my second piece of zapote I started to enjoy it.
Passing through Guaranda we started asking for the turn off for Salinas, a small mountain village known for their cheese, chocolate and sweaters. A very enthusiastic policeman told us that the turn off was in just a few kilometers. Have I mentioned how nice everyone one is here? At the turn off a pickup truck with 5 policeman hotboxing told us this was the right road.
After about 10 kilometers the road was covered by a landslide. There was a path through, but I wasn’t sure if it was safe. Night had fallen so I hopped out with the MagLite to check out the scene. Sinking to my ankles in mud I thought we might not be making it to Salinas. Kim and I had a good laugh about the 5 policman laughing at us ‘yup, this is the road, ha ha ha ha.’ As we deliberated what to do a pickup came up and they just drove right through, and emboldened, we followed. At the next mud slide that covered the road they got a bit stuck making me nervous. Luckily we have 400 lbs of books over the back wheels and just plowed right through! Go Tortuga.
Salinas was a very cute little town and we slept next to the town square. The bells of the church started going at 5:30 so we got an early start to the day. We decided to do a hike to some neighboring villages in the morning and see the artisans’ houses during the rainy afternoon. Unfortunately on our hike Kim started feeling sick. After a few trips to the public washroom I struck out to find her a hotel room. As luck would have it, a large group was in town for the weekend and all 2 hotels were full. So we started heading back to Guaranda, were we are now. After a nasty afternoon and a good night’s sleep Kim is feeling better, talking about food and markets. We’re still not sure what she ate/had, but we reallyreally hope it doesn’t happen again.
Passing through Guaranda we started asking for the turn off for Salinas, a small mountain village known for their cheese, chocolate and sweaters. A very enthusiastic policeman told us that the turn off was in just a few kilometers. Have I mentioned how nice everyone one is here? At the turn off a pickup truck with 5 policeman hotboxing told us this was the right road.
After about 10 kilometers the road was covered by a landslide. There was a path through, but I wasn’t sure if it was safe. Night had fallen so I hopped out with the MagLite to check out the scene. Sinking to my ankles in mud I thought we might not be making it to Salinas. Kim and I had a good laugh about the 5 policman laughing at us ‘yup, this is the road, ha ha ha ha.’ As we deliberated what to do a pickup came up and they just drove right through, and emboldened, we followed. At the next mud slide that covered the road they got a bit stuck making me nervous. Luckily we have 400 lbs of books over the back wheels and just plowed right through! Go Tortuga.
Salinas was a very cute little town and we slept next to the town square. The bells of the church started going at 5:30 so we got an early start to the day. We decided to do a hike to some neighboring villages in the morning and see the artisans’ houses during the rainy afternoon. Unfortunately on our hike Kim started feeling sick. After a few trips to the public washroom I struck out to find her a hotel room. As luck would have it, a large group was in town for the weekend and all 2 hotels were full. So we started heading back to Guaranda, were we are now. After a nasty afternoon and a good night’s sleep Kim is feeling better, talking about food and markets. We’re still not sure what she ate/had, but we reallyreally hope it doesn’t happen again.
Getting the Van out of its box
Our Hapag Lloyd representative, Fidel, was very helpful and spent lots of time with us. Although we have discovered that no one person seems to know what the entire process is, maybe that’s what the ‘Agents’ are all about. We decided to try and save the $150+ on agent fees and go it alone. Fidel originally told us Tortuga would be unloaded on Thursday, and after a relaxing morning of humitas and coffee we checked our email. Fidel wrote to say the container would be opened at 12, today, Wednesday. It was now 10 and we were not ready for this, as the previous day was a wash as we didn’t have the proper stamps (again more stamps) on our Bill of Laden when we went to customs. Today, however, we were armed with stamps and photocopies and money. We took a cab to the private port of Inarpi which is about 15 minutes by cab from the main port, and customs. They managed to rustle up some safety vests and hard hats for us and were led back to the bodega, a customs warehouse for loose goods. The hour wait passed quickly watching the dock workers zipping around in forklifts and container lifts. We noticed Tortuga’s container, stacked on 2 others, right outside the bodega. When they finally picked it up and placed it on the ground we were amazed at how gently it was handled. Opening the box was uneventful and it felt wonderful to drive the van again, I’ve had enough of cheap hotel and eating out 3x a day. This was short lived though as I had to drive it into the bodega and begin the customs procedure. Here’s a short synopsis for those interested:
After they unloaded the van a snotty guy, Romi, inspected the van and filled out a Traja. He insisted that I did not need a copy of this for customs but we did, which involved a cab back to Inarpi and waiting an hour for Romi to finally produce it.
With Carnet de Passage (FAI), Passport, Title, Traja, Bill of Laden (with the stamp we got from Transoceania in Guayaquil), list of car contents, and we had a letter from Transoceanica explaining that we are tourists and this is a used car in transit, go to the subgerencia office in the port’s customs office, not the main customs office that’s on the way to the port.
While Romi was inspecting the car a customer service lady at Inarpi said that it would take at least 5 days to get the van out, it was a terribly lengthy process, this is a bureaucratic country and we could not expect to see the van before Monday. This torpedoed our hearts, as we were hoping to have the van out in a day or two. She smiled at us sympathetically and offered us the number of a customs agent who could help us. Funny, he was listed in her phone under ‘Papi’. When we showed up 6 hours later with all of our paperwork completed, she looked pretty sheepish…
We got to the subgerencia as soon as they got back from lunch at 1400. The austere disposition of the guards was countered by jovial atmosphere inside. They said that the Carnet *is* needed when I specifically asked. The ‘tramete’, or paper work needed to get the van out, requires 3 stamps and 3 signatures. The last one being the boss, who, as bosses always are, was in a meeting. We took a stroll around the port enjoying the iguanas and brilliant yellow birds and went back as instructed in 30 minutes. Success. What happened next was a whirlwind tour of the bowels of the customs building. There was photocopying, lawyers’ signatures, we were introduced as our host’s long time friend at one point to get our papers processed ahead of a LARGE stack of others and then, finally, we were spat out again into the bright Ecaudorian sunshine with what we presumed to be everything we needed.
We returned to the Inarpi port and our hero, Javier Delgado, was astonished that we did that so quickly. He wouldn’t believe us that we did it by ourselves. Even Kim was saying that my childhood in the developing world has honed my skills of pushing, with a smile, at just the right time to get that last stamp.
So, why is Javier the hero? Well, he knew exactly what needed to be done, and he was hell-bent on getting the car out that same day. He pushed our papers through the right windows, asked for the right stamps, convinced the bank guy that the bank wasn’t actually closed yet (phew!) and then, remember Romi, well he would not release the car. No reason given. So Javier managed to go over his head and get the final bodega signature.
We really wanted to do something for Javier, we even bought him a bottle of booze, but then felt a bit funny about going back to Inarpi to give a customs officer a gift. Hopefully you’re reading this Javier and know how much we appreciated all your help.
The final moments were the best. I was in the van and drove up to the gate. Kim was on the outside and I was feeling a lot like I was getting out of the joint. Another customs guy walked up to me and asked if I drove the van in, I said no, it came in on a boat and he simply said, ‘well, you can’t leave then’ and walked off. Harrumph. Luckily 4 or 5 semis started piling up behind me so a sense of urgency happened (this is a rare thing and I basked in its presence). I produced a photocopy of some stamps and before I knew it we were driving in Ecuador.
The whole process cost: $100 to Transoceanica for printing the B/L and handling fees (not sure why this was charged and felt like we double paid). $70 bodega and inspection fees. $30 cab fees (misinformation made for a lot of cab rides)
The whole process, once we knew when the container was being opened took about 6 hours. Everyone, except Rommy, was incredibly friendly and helpful. If you don’t speak decent Spanish, I would recommend a customs agent.
After they unloaded the van a snotty guy, Romi, inspected the van and filled out a Traja. He insisted that I did not need a copy of this for customs but we did, which involved a cab back to Inarpi and waiting an hour for Romi to finally produce it.
With Carnet de Passage (FAI), Passport, Title, Traja, Bill of Laden (with the stamp we got from Transoceania in Guayaquil), list of car contents, and we had a letter from Transoceanica explaining that we are tourists and this is a used car in transit, go to the subgerencia office in the port’s customs office, not the main customs office that’s on the way to the port.
While Romi was inspecting the car a customer service lady at Inarpi said that it would take at least 5 days to get the van out, it was a terribly lengthy process, this is a bureaucratic country and we could not expect to see the van before Monday. This torpedoed our hearts, as we were hoping to have the van out in a day or two. She smiled at us sympathetically and offered us the number of a customs agent who could help us. Funny, he was listed in her phone under ‘Papi’. When we showed up 6 hours later with all of our paperwork completed, she looked pretty sheepish…
We got to the subgerencia as soon as they got back from lunch at 1400. The austere disposition of the guards was countered by jovial atmosphere inside. They said that the Carnet *is* needed when I specifically asked. The ‘tramete’, or paper work needed to get the van out, requires 3 stamps and 3 signatures. The last one being the boss, who, as bosses always are, was in a meeting. We took a stroll around the port enjoying the iguanas and brilliant yellow birds and went back as instructed in 30 minutes. Success. What happened next was a whirlwind tour of the bowels of the customs building. There was photocopying, lawyers’ signatures, we were introduced as our host’s long time friend at one point to get our papers processed ahead of a LARGE stack of others and then, finally, we were spat out again into the bright Ecaudorian sunshine with what we presumed to be everything we needed.
We returned to the Inarpi port and our hero, Javier Delgado, was astonished that we did that so quickly. He wouldn’t believe us that we did it by ourselves. Even Kim was saying that my childhood in the developing world has honed my skills of pushing, with a smile, at just the right time to get that last stamp.
So, why is Javier the hero? Well, he knew exactly what needed to be done, and he was hell-bent on getting the car out that same day. He pushed our papers through the right windows, asked for the right stamps, convinced the bank guy that the bank wasn’t actually closed yet (phew!) and then, remember Romi, well he would not release the car. No reason given. So Javier managed to go over his head and get the final bodega signature.
We really wanted to do something for Javier, we even bought him a bottle of booze, but then felt a bit funny about going back to Inarpi to give a customs officer a gift. Hopefully you’re reading this Javier and know how much we appreciated all your help.
The final moments were the best. I was in the van and drove up to the gate. Kim was on the outside and I was feeling a lot like I was getting out of the joint. Another customs guy walked up to me and asked if I drove the van in, I said no, it came in on a boat and he simply said, ‘well, you can’t leave then’ and walked off. Harrumph. Luckily 4 or 5 semis started piling up behind me so a sense of urgency happened (this is a rare thing and I basked in its presence). I produced a photocopy of some stamps and before I knew it we were driving in Ecuador.
The whole process cost: $100 to Transoceanica for printing the B/L and handling fees (not sure why this was charged and felt like we double paid). $70 bodega and inspection fees. $30 cab fees (misinformation made for a lot of cab rides)
The whole process, once we knew when the container was being opened took about 6 hours. Everyone, except Rommy, was incredibly friendly and helpful. If you don’t speak decent Spanish, I would recommend a customs agent.
Thursday, March 15, 2007
Reunited
We got the van out of its container yesterday, safe and sound!! It´s parked in the hotel´s garage, and after one last visit with the iguanas and a quick look at the local market, we´re heading up into the cool green mountains...
more later on the details of getting the van out of the port - it was an adventure, as usual!
more later on the details of getting the van out of the port - it was an adventure, as usual!
Tuesday, March 13, 2007
Guayaquil
The guidebook and other travellers told us that Guayaquil was another dirty, hot, nasty port town not really worth spending time in. We weren´t looking forward to it. But they were completely wrong! Guayaquil is fantastic, especially after the bombed-out port towns of Panama.
But let me back up a little. From Riobamba we took a train ride down the Devil´s Nose to a little town called Alausi. It was incredibly touristy - four boxcars, the roofs packed with gringos, countless vendors walking up and down the train roofs selling Oreos and alpaca mittens. The train didn´t actually *go* anywhere, either - the train line ended at Alausi, and then most people turned around and went back to Riobamba. It was incredibly scenic, though, and everyone we passed seemed to get a real kick out of watching the crazy gringos who prefer to ride on the roof. 8)
From there we took a 6-hour busride to Guayaquil, crossing the Andes for the first time. Most of the trip was on a narrow dirt road, and we passed two other trucks in six hours. Shortly after we left Alausi we entered a surreal misty green world. The fog was so thick we could only see a few feet from the bus, and everything was GREEN. The road was narrow and wet, and the ground dropped away from the bus just inches from the wheels, steeply down and down for hundreds of green feet. The bus stopped heaps of times to let people off in what seemed like the exact same middle-of-nowhere place - it was just a wall of mist and some green slopes. I have no idea how people knew where they were. At one point, a teenage kid who had been sleeping in a careless sprawl at the front of the bus woke up and asked us where we were, and we could only laugh.
Finally we came down into Guayaquil. It was raining, and how. The streets were filling up with water, and the taxi driver charged us extra to go out in the rain. It just started to rain as I´m typing this - this is the third night in a row. It´s like the peak of a Durham thunderstorm, but it continues for hours, never letting up. The streets fill with rain, then the sidewalks - ankle deep puddles everywhere. Everyone just continues with their business. I finally see the utility of the latina shoes - little strappy sandals with 4 inch heels. Only their toes get wet!!
Guayaquil is great. There´s a park full of iguanas. Giant iguanas, some of them 3 feet long. The roam around and stare down little kids for their snacks, climb trees and have naps, fall out of the trees because they´re sleeping, land on their feet, and go in search of something to munch on. They´re fantastic, and the park is a local hangout - everyone goes there with their kids to check out the iguanas. The juice is great here, too - the default flavor for just about everything is blackberry, which is probably my favorite fruit, after guanabana.
We can´t quite get over how nice it is here. The city is big and modern and chill, like Quito. Loads of people are out roaming around the streets at all hours (something we never saw in Central America). There´s a long boardwalk along the Rio Guayas with nice views of the river and the city, ice cream vendors, juice sellers, fountains, and loads of people out enjoying the day. The streets are wide, and the sidewalks are even wider. We keep saying we feel like we´re in a latin version of Vancouver.
We´ve spent a couple of days finding the shipping company, getting the bill of lading from them, going out to the customs office, etc. The boat with La Tortuga on it docked today, and they say they´ll open the containers on Thursday. We´re hoping to finish our customs stuff tomorrow, and set La Tortuga free on Thursday as early as possible. We miss the van!!
We just saw a bad movie at the multiplex and we´re off to have some dinner and beer, at a respectable latin hour (10pm). I think the people here are my people. Things open late (9, 9:30), everyone speaks very softly, eats late, and every second store is a cake shop. Ahhhh. Who could ask for more?
But let me back up a little. From Riobamba we took a train ride down the Devil´s Nose to a little town called Alausi. It was incredibly touristy - four boxcars, the roofs packed with gringos, countless vendors walking up and down the train roofs selling Oreos and alpaca mittens. The train didn´t actually *go* anywhere, either - the train line ended at Alausi, and then most people turned around and went back to Riobamba. It was incredibly scenic, though, and everyone we passed seemed to get a real kick out of watching the crazy gringos who prefer to ride on the roof. 8)
From there we took a 6-hour busride to Guayaquil, crossing the Andes for the first time. Most of the trip was on a narrow dirt road, and we passed two other trucks in six hours. Shortly after we left Alausi we entered a surreal misty green world. The fog was so thick we could only see a few feet from the bus, and everything was GREEN. The road was narrow and wet, and the ground dropped away from the bus just inches from the wheels, steeply down and down for hundreds of green feet. The bus stopped heaps of times to let people off in what seemed like the exact same middle-of-nowhere place - it was just a wall of mist and some green slopes. I have no idea how people knew where they were. At one point, a teenage kid who had been sleeping in a careless sprawl at the front of the bus woke up and asked us where we were, and we could only laugh.
Finally we came down into Guayaquil. It was raining, and how. The streets were filling up with water, and the taxi driver charged us extra to go out in the rain. It just started to rain as I´m typing this - this is the third night in a row. It´s like the peak of a Durham thunderstorm, but it continues for hours, never letting up. The streets fill with rain, then the sidewalks - ankle deep puddles everywhere. Everyone just continues with their business. I finally see the utility of the latina shoes - little strappy sandals with 4 inch heels. Only their toes get wet!!
Guayaquil is great. There´s a park full of iguanas. Giant iguanas, some of them 3 feet long. The roam around and stare down little kids for their snacks, climb trees and have naps, fall out of the trees because they´re sleeping, land on their feet, and go in search of something to munch on. They´re fantastic, and the park is a local hangout - everyone goes there with their kids to check out the iguanas. The juice is great here, too - the default flavor for just about everything is blackberry, which is probably my favorite fruit, after guanabana.
We can´t quite get over how nice it is here. The city is big and modern and chill, like Quito. Loads of people are out roaming around the streets at all hours (something we never saw in Central America). There´s a long boardwalk along the Rio Guayas with nice views of the river and the city, ice cream vendors, juice sellers, fountains, and loads of people out enjoying the day. The streets are wide, and the sidewalks are even wider. We keep saying we feel like we´re in a latin version of Vancouver.
We´ve spent a couple of days finding the shipping company, getting the bill of lading from them, going out to the customs office, etc. The boat with La Tortuga on it docked today, and they say they´ll open the containers on Thursday. We´re hoping to finish our customs stuff tomorrow, and set La Tortuga free on Thursday as early as possible. We miss the van!!
We just saw a bad movie at the multiplex and we´re off to have some dinner and beer, at a respectable latin hour (10pm). I think the people here are my people. Things open late (9, 9:30), everyone speaks very softly, eats late, and every second store is a cake shop. Ahhhh. Who could ask for more?
Doo doo de doo doo, Guanabana
It's the next day and I think I've acclimated to the altitude. Maybe now I can say something a little more coherent about our first few days in Ecuador - I think last night's entry was just gleeful rambling!
We spent the morning walking around the craft market in Quito, checking out the stripey sweaters, the alpaca ponchos, the wonderful wall hangings and rugs. We bought handfuls of fingerpuppets in every possible shape - the wicked witch of the west, marge simpson, a lion, a gnome, a snail, a lizard with another lizard on its back. We're hoping to come back when we have the van and get some small paintings. There were some lovely watercolors, and interesting abstract paintings. It was the calmest market we've been in yet - there was no music, no chickens, just peace and quiet. Most amazingly, when we told the vendors that we were solo mirando, just looking, they said 'o, ok' instead of trying harder to sell us something. I don't think I had realised how much the hot chaos, the body armor and machine guns of Central America were stressing me out. The Andes are chill in every sense - vibrantly green, cool mountain air, and a real sense of calm.
I'm surprised how many kinds of fresh fruit juice are available in such a cool mountainous climate. But then I suppose that Ecuador has everything, from hot coast to cool mountains to Amazonian jungle, so it's probably not hard to get the fruit. I had guanabana-coconut for breakfast, guanabana for lunch, and guava for dinner (I tried to get guanabana again, but they didn't have it). And when I say fresh, I mean that you hear them turn on the blender after you order it. The juice is pure fruit, so thick that a straw will stand up straight in it - as thick as a really good milkshake. Douglas has discovered a new favorite fruit, called tomate de arboles, or tree tomato. It looks like a roma tomato, but pinker, and it tasted like a cross between...passionfruit and papaya, maybe? amazingly good. We bought some whole ones for the train ride tomorrow, so we'll try to take some pictures.
We took a very sedate and scenic bus ride this afternoon from Quito to Riobamba. Isn't that a great name for a town? Riobamba. It's a bit less happening than it sounds, but still has a vibrant evening scene. Everyone in town, I think, is out eating ice cream or window-shopping for cell phones or getting groceries, or making out in the park. Busy, busy, busy.
The bus ride was scenic, as the road went straight south between the two Andean cordilleras. There were mountains and volcanoes on both sides. The mountainsides are farmed incredibly high up the mountains, so they look like they've been spread with very green patchwork quilts. Another very striking visual is the indigenous women in their fedora-like hats. I wish I could look that stylish in a man's hat. Pictures soon.
Tomorrow morning we are waking up early to take the train down the Devil's Nose. The train tracks were apparently very difficult to build, and are billed as the Most Difficult Railroad in the World!! It's a 5-hour ride, and we'll ride on the roof of the train to get a better view. There are handrails, I think, so hopefully we won't fall off.
Last night at dinner, we were at a somewhat fancy restaurant, having palm heart ceviche and sangria and fried mashed potatoes. There was live music, too, two guys playing guitars and pipes, traditional Andean music. We were munching away and half-listening to the music, enjoying it, and then I realised that I recognized the song - they were doing an ABBA cover! Fernando, on Andean pipes.
Tomorrow night we should be in Guayaquil, the port town where La Tortuga should arrive on Monday or Tuesday. Hopefully we will be able to pick her up without hitches... keep your fingers crossed for us!!
We spent the morning walking around the craft market in Quito, checking out the stripey sweaters, the alpaca ponchos, the wonderful wall hangings and rugs. We bought handfuls of fingerpuppets in every possible shape - the wicked witch of the west, marge simpson, a lion, a gnome, a snail, a lizard with another lizard on its back. We're hoping to come back when we have the van and get some small paintings. There were some lovely watercolors, and interesting abstract paintings. It was the calmest market we've been in yet - there was no music, no chickens, just peace and quiet. Most amazingly, when we told the vendors that we were solo mirando, just looking, they said 'o, ok' instead of trying harder to sell us something. I don't think I had realised how much the hot chaos, the body armor and machine guns of Central America were stressing me out. The Andes are chill in every sense - vibrantly green, cool mountain air, and a real sense of calm.
I'm surprised how many kinds of fresh fruit juice are available in such a cool mountainous climate. But then I suppose that Ecuador has everything, from hot coast to cool mountains to Amazonian jungle, so it's probably not hard to get the fruit. I had guanabana-coconut for breakfast, guanabana for lunch, and guava for dinner (I tried to get guanabana again, but they didn't have it). And when I say fresh, I mean that you hear them turn on the blender after you order it. The juice is pure fruit, so thick that a straw will stand up straight in it - as thick as a really good milkshake. Douglas has discovered a new favorite fruit, called tomate de arboles, or tree tomato. It looks like a roma tomato, but pinker, and it tasted like a cross between...passionfruit and papaya, maybe? amazingly good. We bought some whole ones for the train ride tomorrow, so we'll try to take some pictures.
We took a very sedate and scenic bus ride this afternoon from Quito to Riobamba. Isn't that a great name for a town? Riobamba. It's a bit less happening than it sounds, but still has a vibrant evening scene. Everyone in town, I think, is out eating ice cream or window-shopping for cell phones or getting groceries, or making out in the park. Busy, busy, busy.
The bus ride was scenic, as the road went straight south between the two Andean cordilleras. There were mountains and volcanoes on both sides. The mountainsides are farmed incredibly high up the mountains, so they look like they've been spread with very green patchwork quilts. Another very striking visual is the indigenous women in their fedora-like hats. I wish I could look that stylish in a man's hat. Pictures soon.
Tomorrow morning we are waking up early to take the train down the Devil's Nose. The train tracks were apparently very difficult to build, and are billed as the Most Difficult Railroad in the World!! It's a 5-hour ride, and we'll ride on the roof of the train to get a better view. There are handrails, I think, so hopefully we won't fall off.
Last night at dinner, we were at a somewhat fancy restaurant, having palm heart ceviche and sangria and fried mashed potatoes. There was live music, too, two guys playing guitars and pipes, traditional Andean music. We were munching away and half-listening to the music, enjoying it, and then I realised that I recognized the song - they were doing an ABBA cover! Fernando, on Andean pipes.
Tomorrow night we should be in Guayaquil, the port town where La Tortuga should arrive on Monday or Tuesday. Hopefully we will be able to pick her up without hitches... keep your fingers crossed for us!!
Friday, March 9, 2007
Quito, Ecuador
We are both oscillating with excitement to actually be here, south of the bulge, new continent, more things to see. The most striking things so far are beautiful people, dark skin, great noses framed with strong cheekbones. And the food. We ate the carbohydrate equivalent of a mango today, a humita. And the altitude. The walkway off the plane was like running up an escalator in the wrong direction, except nothing was moving, and I think it was downhill. The guy with the neat hat passed us like we weren´t moving, must be from here.
Kim here now. I think this is my favorite place I´ve ever been. The food is amazing. I didn´t know corn could taste so many different ways. The humita was like a tamale, but sweet, and something else that we can´t identify, and it tasted more like corn than corn ever has. Douglas says I´m being premature saying this is my favorite place ever, and maybe it´s a little hasty after only 8 hours. Maybe that´s true. But I don´t think so. Quito is nestled in the Andes, more green than I expected. It´s also more modern, and less like Central America than I expected. There are Canadian-style buses running around town. I haven´t seen a single farm animal yet. And we went to an art market that was absolutely incredible.
d here| They´ve just fired up a bonfire on the sidewalk across the street (so much for being like Canada) in front of a cafe, so we´re off.
Kim here now. I think this is my favorite place I´ve ever been. The food is amazing. I didn´t know corn could taste so many different ways. The humita was like a tamale, but sweet, and something else that we can´t identify, and it tasted more like corn than corn ever has. Douglas says I´m being premature saying this is my favorite place ever, and maybe it´s a little hasty after only 8 hours. Maybe that´s true. But I don´t think so. Quito is nestled in the Andes, more green than I expected. It´s also more modern, and less like Central America than I expected. There are Canadian-style buses running around town. I haven´t seen a single farm animal yet. And we went to an art market that was absolutely incredible.
d here| They´ve just fired up a bonfire on the sidewalk across the street (so much for being like Canada) in front of a cafe, so we´re off.
Thursday, March 8, 2007
Panama Canal
To watch 60,000 tons effortlessly move up 55 feet is quite something. We spent a few hours watching ships move through the Pedro Miguel locks and were pleased to be the only gringos.
The next morning we went to Miraflores locks, one of the largest due to the magnitude of the Pacific tides. We paid the $5 to climb 4 (air-conditioned) flights of stairs to the observation platform. This gave us an amazing vantage point to see both flights of the locks, or esclusas in Spanish, as a large container ship moved through, and UP 55 feet.
Read the Wikipedia info for more details, but the jist of it is they close the 7 story, 662 ton gates and then dump 26.7 million
There were 6 mules on the ships we watched, 4 up front and 2 in the back.It all looked like a choreographed John Travolta movie, and even the guys on the ships looked like they were enjoying it, lots of waving in both directions.
Notes on the tooth
A quick note, for those of you (my mom) who are maybe concerned about my tooth. We are flying to Quito via San Jose, and will stop over there for a day so I can see Dr. Marco again, so he can fix my tooth. It actually turned out to be cheaper that way, amazingly. Imagine this: flying from Panama City to Quito, direct: $470. Flying from San Jose to Quito, direct: $470. Flying from Panama City to San Jose, stopping there for a day, and then flying on to Quito: $330. Go figure. But it works out perfectly for us!!
Stuffing la Tortuga
Stuffing! It reminds me of Thanksgiving, and makes me feel all festive!
The van is tied down inside a 40-foot long orange container somewhere in Puerto Manzanillo, and we are sitting in the airport in Panama City, waiting for our flight. It all went well. Boris and the rest of the port guys were friendly and full of questions about our honeymoon, and we didn’t get mugged in Colon like all the guidebooks said we would. All in all, a successful day. Plus, we got to see the inner workings of a huge port city. It was surreal. I’ve never seen such huge machinery. Odd to think that this is how most things get from place to place, and that most of the stuff in your house has probably been inside a container.
And maybe best of all, we took a taxi ride from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean, across a continent!!
Here is a summary of what we did to ship the car. The process seems totally impenetrable at first, but is actually pretty simple. The hardest part is finding a shipping company.
Here are the steps:
1. Arrive in Panama City, spend a few hours talking to Evelyn at Barwil Agencies, conveniently located on Balboa Avenue, near Avenida Federico Boyd. If you’re coming into Panama from the west, it’s just past the yacht club.
2. Go to the police stations, where they inspect your car. Then go the Secretary General’s office, to get the PTJ (policia technical judicial). Then go to the customs office where they will stamp your passport so you can leave the country without your car. Get lots of official stamps. This takes about 3 hours, and according to Evelyn, is best accomplished in the morning.
3. Go to the bank and get cash or a cashier’s cheque to pay Barwil because they do not take plastic. We got cash advances on two Visas from HSBC, just around the corner from Barwil, because ATMs would not give us enough $ all in one day.
4. Go back to Barwil with your paperwork and your wads of cash. Spend another hour or two, emerge with your Bill of Lading, maps of the port, instructions, and Evelyn’s cellphone number in case of emergency. They also let us use their computers/internet to book our flights online.
5. Wake up early to drive to the port, get there as close to 8am as possible. For us, this meant something like 9:30, but whatever. The container wasn’t ready until 10:30 or 11:00 anyway.
6. Go to the Barwil office in Manzanillo (finding it is a whole other saga – imagine mazes of containers stacked so high they make Mack trucks look tiny, with honking horns and people milling around everywhere). There was no sign on the highway, we just went towards the first big cranes we saw from the highway. Get your container number and seal (a weirdly delicate doodad made of plastic and metal – it’s the equivalent of a wax seal, and serves only to prove that the container wasn’t opened while it was being shipped. We also put our own padlock on the container to make extra sure it isn’t opened). The seal number is on the bill of lading and it must match.
7. Take your paperwork to the customs window at the port. Collect many more stamps – several for each of the 4 copies of Bill of Lading. This is the window where all the drivers are loitering, left and around the corner from where they issue visitor badges. Take ID other than your passport in exchange for an ID badge.
8. Go to the next window (Almacenaje), pay $9 if you’re lucky, $105 if you’re not. Don’t ask us the difference. We were lucky. Neil, an American moving to Venezuela, wasn’t. More later on Neil’s amazing stories about Venezuela, involving bags of gold nuggets, guns, and drug smuggling.
9. Get car checked by K-9 security guy (he just peeked inside and said ‘nice’).
10. Have a lovely lunch at the port’s restaurant (thanks, Neil) because all the port employees are having lunch, too, so you might as well, because you can’t get anything done for the next hour.
11. Wait around a bit more.
12. Meet Boris, a very friendly port official. Drive out to another port office, lost in a maze of stacked containers and the biggest machinery I’ve ever seen. Accomplish something totally mysterious. Drive onward with Boris.
13. Arrive at your container!! Ours was orange, and 40 feet long (Barwil didn’t have a smaller one available, and this one cost the same). Check the container number, make sure it matches your paperwork. Drive the car in, watch as port employees nail wooden blocks to the floor of the container to hold your car still during shipping. Be amazed that the wooden floor of the container is made of huge planks of wood more beautiful than the floors in your house, probably teak or mahogany. Watch as the port guys tie your car down with string (see photos).
That’s it!! The whole stuffing procedure took most of the day. We left Panama City at 8am, arrived in Manzanillo at 9:30, were finished with stuffing by 2:30, and at the Panama City airport by 4:30.
We highly recommend working with Evelyn Batista at Barwil. She was incredibly efficient and helpful. We originally wanted to ship from Costa Rica via RoRo (supposed to cost $500), but that proved impossible. If you are trying this in the near future, head rrrrrecto to Panama City and contact Evelyn. Our container ended up costing $1550, which is more than we wanted to spend, but it didn’t break the bank, so, o well. All of the other travelers we’ve met along the way have turned up at Barwil, leading us to believe that they are currently the *only* way to ship a car past the Darien Gap.
Overall, the process took us 2 weeks. We e-mailed Evelyn on Friday Feb 23, she replied the following Monday, and had quotes and dates for us by Thursday March 1. We drove to Panama City over the weekend, met with her on Monday midday, did our Panama City paperwork on Tuesday, stuffed the car on Wednesday, and will be in Quito Friday night if all goes well. The van should sail on Friday, too, and should arrive either Monday night or Tuesday morning in Guayaquil, and we should be there to meet her (Guayaquil port has no free days – they charge you for every day your car is waiting for you).
We found a newspaper in the Barwil office that listed a bunch of other shipping agents that we hadn’t been able to find previously. Here are some of them. This list is totally unscreened – we don’t know where they ship to, or if they ship cars, or anything – but they’d be worth checking out if you’re trying to ship a car.
www.anchorpanama.com
www.agenco.com
www.steamshipsagent.com
www.euro-line-logistics.com
www.boydsteamships.com
www.cbfenton.com
www.hamburgsud.com
www.crowley.com
chinasshipping@csaca.com
www.coscopan.com
www.cma-cgm.com
www.maersksealand.com
www.molpower.com
www.norton-lilly.com
www.panalpina.com
www.seaboardmarine.com
www.servinaves.com.pa
www.unigreen.com
www.italialine.com
The van is tied down inside a 40-foot long orange container somewhere in Puerto Manzanillo, and we are sitting in the airport in Panama City, waiting for our flight. It all went well. Boris and the rest of the port guys were friendly and full of questions about our honeymoon, and we didn’t get mugged in Colon like all the guidebooks said we would. All in all, a successful day. Plus, we got to see the inner workings of a huge port city. It was surreal. I’ve never seen such huge machinery. Odd to think that this is how most things get from place to place, and that most of the stuff in your house has probably been inside a container.
And maybe best of all, we took a taxi ride from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean, across a continent!!
Here is a summary of what we did to ship the car. The process seems totally impenetrable at first, but is actually pretty simple. The hardest part is finding a shipping company.
Here are the steps:
1. Arrive in Panama City, spend a few hours talking to Evelyn at Barwil Agencies, conveniently located on Balboa Avenue, near Avenida Federico Boyd. If you’re coming into Panama from the west, it’s just past the yacht club.
2. Go to the police stations, where they inspect your car. Then go the Secretary General’s office, to get the PTJ (policia technical judicial). Then go to the customs office where they will stamp your passport so you can leave the country without your car. Get lots of official stamps. This takes about 3 hours, and according to Evelyn, is best accomplished in the morning.
3. Go to the bank and get cash or a cashier’s cheque to pay Barwil because they do not take plastic. We got cash advances on two Visas from HSBC, just around the corner from Barwil, because ATMs would not give us enough $ all in one day.
4. Go back to Barwil with your paperwork and your wads of cash. Spend another hour or two, emerge with your Bill of Lading, maps of the port, instructions, and Evelyn’s cellphone number in case of emergency. They also let us use their computers/internet to book our flights online.
5. Wake up early to drive to the port, get there as close to 8am as possible. For us, this meant something like 9:30, but whatever. The container wasn’t ready until 10:30 or 11:00 anyway.
6. Go to the Barwil office in Manzanillo (finding it is a whole other saga – imagine mazes of containers stacked so high they make Mack trucks look tiny, with honking horns and people milling around everywhere). There was no sign on the highway, we just went towards the first big cranes we saw from the highway. Get your container number and seal (a weirdly delicate doodad made of plastic and metal – it’s the equivalent of a wax seal, and serves only to prove that the container wasn’t opened while it was being shipped. We also put our own padlock on the container to make extra sure it isn’t opened). The seal number is on the bill of lading and it must match.
7. Take your paperwork to the customs window at the port. Collect many more stamps – several for each of the 4 copies of Bill of Lading. This is the window where all the drivers are loitering, left and around the corner from where they issue visitor badges. Take ID other than your passport in exchange for an ID badge.
8. Go to the next window (Almacenaje), pay $9 if you’re lucky, $105 if you’re not. Don’t ask us the difference. We were lucky. Neil, an American moving to Venezuela, wasn’t. More later on Neil’s amazing stories about Venezuela, involving bags of gold nuggets, guns, and drug smuggling.
9. Get car checked by K-9 security guy (he just peeked inside and said ‘nice’).
10. Have a lovely lunch at the port’s restaurant (thanks, Neil) because all the port employees are having lunch, too, so you might as well, because you can’t get anything done for the next hour.
11. Wait around a bit more.
12. Meet Boris, a very friendly port official. Drive out to another port office, lost in a maze of stacked containers and the biggest machinery I’ve ever seen. Accomplish something totally mysterious. Drive onward with Boris.
13. Arrive at your container!! Ours was orange, and 40 feet long (Barwil didn’t have a smaller one available, and this one cost the same). Check the container number, make sure it matches your paperwork. Drive the car in, watch as port employees nail wooden blocks to the floor of the container to hold your car still during shipping. Be amazed that the wooden floor of the container is made of huge planks of wood more beautiful than the floors in your house, probably teak or mahogany. Watch as the port guys tie your car down with string (see photos).
That’s it!! The whole stuffing procedure took most of the day. We left Panama City at 8am, arrived in Manzanillo at 9:30, were finished with stuffing by 2:30, and at the Panama City airport by 4:30.
We highly recommend working with Evelyn Batista at Barwil. She was incredibly efficient and helpful. We originally wanted to ship from Costa Rica via RoRo (supposed to cost $500), but that proved impossible. If you are trying this in the near future, head rrrrrecto to Panama City and contact Evelyn. Our container ended up costing $1550, which is more than we wanted to spend, but it didn’t break the bank, so, o well. All of the other travelers we’ve met along the way have turned up at Barwil, leading us to believe that they are currently the *only* way to ship a car past the Darien Gap.
Overall, the process took us 2 weeks. We e-mailed Evelyn on Friday Feb 23, she replied the following Monday, and had quotes and dates for us by Thursday March 1. We drove to Panama City over the weekend, met with her on Monday midday, did our Panama City paperwork on Tuesday, stuffed the car on Wednesday, and will be in Quito Friday night if all goes well. The van should sail on Friday, too, and should arrive either Monday night or Tuesday morning in Guayaquil, and we should be there to meet her (Guayaquil port has no free days – they charge you for every day your car is waiting for you).
We found a newspaper in the Barwil office that listed a bunch of other shipping agents that we hadn’t been able to find previously. Here are some of them. This list is totally unscreened – we don’t know where they ship to, or if they ship cars, or anything – but they’d be worth checking out if you’re trying to ship a car.
www.anchorpanama.com
www.agenco.com
www.steamshipsagent.com
www.euro-line-logistics.com
www.boydsteamships.com
www.cbfenton.com
www.hamburgsud.com
www.crowley.com
chinasshipping@csaca.com
www.coscopan.com
www.cma-cgm.com
www.maersksealand.com
www.molpower.com
www.norton-lilly.com
www.panalpina.com
www.seaboardmarine.com
www.servinaves.com.pa
www.unigreen.com
www.italialine.com
Tuesday, March 6, 2007
Panama City - 4 year or 7 year?
It’s Tuesday March 6, and we’re in the offices of Barwil Agencies, ready to pay them and get the final paperwork for shipping the car. At Barwil we have run into Doris and Harry, the Germans who traveled from Nova Scotia to Alaska, then south to Guatemala (we met them camped by the side of Lake Atitlan in Guatemala and see them every other week it seems). They unfortunately have to ship their car home, because it has too many broken springs to continue their holiday in South America. Yes, the roads are THAT bad here! We all spent the morning going from police office to Secretary General and back and then to the customs office, and now we have all the paperwork that we need. It wasn’t so terrible, less than three hours and I even got to sign for Harry and Dorris’ car as there was some mistake and they had already moved on to the next step. Never mind that my signature doesn’t have ANYTHING to do with them leaving the country, there were LOTS of stamps to make it all OK. We are getting used to navigating Panama City (rather, Douglas is getting used to it – I seem to have a strange unconscious fascination with crossing La Puente de las Americas, the bridge across the canal, even when it’s not really on our way…), and have found two good places to sleep. Finding spots to sleep in the city can be really tricky. Not all the hotels have parking spaces, hotels being our standby up north, and even when they do, they’re inevitably tiny and we are cramped. We spent the first night at the National Park 20 km north of the city, right next to the ranger station, very tranquil, thank you Lucas. We even saw a HUGE toucan in the morning. When I asked the ranger what they eat he said, rice, bread, vegetables, whatever they had left over, not the answer I was expecting. Last night we slept at the Balboa Yacht Club, out on the prosperous western edge of the city, also very tranquil with a great view of the Canal. Kim wondered where all the fancy yachts were, and on my daily bike ride, I found them. Out beyond the Smithsonian Tropical Studies buildings and dock there were many, very bling boats. The ride was great, the wind coming off the Pacific was pushing me at mach speed on the way out and gave me a great workout on the wonderful boardwalk on the way back.
Panama City is a great city, completely out of place down here. The buildings are (mostly) all new and incredibly tall. And everyone is super friendly. Driving here is sorta like pushing your way into a concert, except in cars. Everyone jostles along and it all works out, and of course there's a cacophony of horns.
You are no doubt wondering about the title. At the grocery store tonight, we were wondering down an isle and lo and behold, they're sampling the yummy Nicaraguan Rum, Flor de Cana! I was asked whether I wanted the 4 year or the 7 year, of course I had to try both. Yum:)
Well, we have to stuff the car early tomorrow on the other side of the continent. Wow, what a great sentence. Yes, it does seem like the official term for putting your car into a container is stuffing, and I hope it’s not that tight of a fit! And yes we’re going to drive across the continent for a 9 am meeting! I was planning on riding my bike to the port, a 70km jaunt, but the timing is not going to allow it . But how cool would that be, riding your bike from the Pacific to the Atlantic, all before lunch!
We are going to ‘stuff’ the car, and if we’re lucky, catch a flight to San Jose, see the dentist, and then continue on to Quito, Ecuador. So, in all likelihood, the next post will be from a different continent, YEAH!!! (I wish I could make that blink in neon like the good ol day’s of the web (not as much a technical issue as sympathy for you, my reader:)).
Panama City is a great city, completely out of place down here. The buildings are (mostly) all new and incredibly tall. And everyone is super friendly. Driving here is sorta like pushing your way into a concert, except in cars. Everyone jostles along and it all works out, and of course there's a cacophony of horns.
You are no doubt wondering about the title. At the grocery store tonight, we were wondering down an isle and lo and behold, they're sampling the yummy Nicaraguan Rum, Flor de Cana! I was asked whether I wanted the 4 year or the 7 year, of course I had to try both. Yum:)
Well, we have to stuff the car early tomorrow on the other side of the continent. Wow, what a great sentence. Yes, it does seem like the official term for putting your car into a container is stuffing, and I hope it’s not that tight of a fit! And yes we’re going to drive across the continent for a 9 am meeting! I was planning on riding my bike to the port, a 70km jaunt, but the timing is not going to allow it . But how cool would that be, riding your bike from the Pacific to the Atlantic, all before lunch!
We are going to ‘stuff’ the car, and if we’re lucky, catch a flight to San Jose, see the dentist, and then continue on to Quito, Ecuador. So, in all likelihood, the next post will be from a different continent, YEAH!!! (I wish I could make that blink in neon like the good ol day’s of the web (not as much a technical issue as sympathy for you, my reader:)).
Terrible tooth
Terrible luck, my filling fell out!! I was flossing my teeth on Saturday night, and it fell out!! My tooth is aching again, and it’s not practical to go back to San Jose to get my filling fixed, so now I’m on a hunt for a new dentist in Panama City. Dr. Marco contacted a Panamanian patient (not just any Panamanian patient, either, she used to be the Panamanian ambassador to Costa Rica), who has said she will refer me to a dentist here. The tooth saga continues…
Panama – Way too hot
We found a boat!! We gave up on the folks who’d been trying to get us a quote in San Jose, and have decided to ship with Evelyn Batista’s company in Panama. She found us a boat that leaves on March 9 from the port city Colon (for folks trying to find some of our smaller towns on the map, try going to either Google Earth or Google Maps, and typing in the name of the town. The program will find the town for you, even if it wasn’t on the map before. These gizmos know more than they let on). The Lonely Planet guidebook says, basically, don’t go to Colon if you can avoid it, since you will mostly likely get mugged in broad daylight, no matter what precautions you take. It also gives us enough time to get to Panama City, do customs stuff, look for a solar panel and a porta-potty (we might have better luck, since these are items many sailboats use, and there is a really big yacht club in Panama City), see the Panama Canal, then take the car back to Colon by Friday. Whew. We won’t have much time to spare, since it’s a day either way, but we should have just enough time to do everything.Let me back up a bit, to just before we left San Jose. We spent two more days there, waiting to hear from Evelyn about the boats, and also trying to run errands (like find solar panels, etc). It was incredibly frustrating, because we couldn’t get any of it done, despite being in a gritty city. We went from store to store, asking our questions, then getting directions to the *next* store, who just might have what we were looking for, then wandering the really hot and dusty streets. Ugh. To get a break from it, and because we really miss movies, we spent our evenings out at the cinema in the big mall on the edge of town. A little dose of Hollywood can be just the thing for the 3rd world blues…. 8)
Once we heard from Evelyn that she could ship our car for certain, we packed up our stuff and headed south, and east (Panama mostly runs on an east-west axis – it’s a funny-shaped bit of land). We spent a terrible night in a parqueo in San Isidro de la General, because it was where we were when it got dark, and there wasn’t anywhere good to stay. The idea of camping is non-existent in Central America. We think this is because in most countries it’s too dangerous to spend the night in the wilderness with just the thin walls of a tent to shelter you – where would you attach the razor wire?? Costa Rica is an exception – you can often camp in the national parks. But the van can’t always deal with the long dirt roads that lead to them. So, a parqueo for us. Unluckily, we picked one right next to a disco, and they played LOUD 80’s music until the wee hours. What’s up with Central America and 80’s music, anyhow???
The next morning, we crossed the border into Panama. We chose the smallest of the 3, just for something different. We were also hoping to avoid the big scene with the guides that we’d had to deal with at the last 2 borders. Let me backtrack a little more – I don’t think we said much about our last border crossing. At the Nicaragua/Costa Rica border (we went through Penas Blancas), our guide tried to rip us off. He told us we’d be waiting for at least 4 hours, but that he had connections and could get us through the border really quickly if we would just give him $20 to give to the border guards. He said we couldn’t give it to them ourselves, because that was illegal, but he could give it to them for us, and save us the 4 hour wait. Luckily, Douglas’ scam radar was working, he didn’t pay him the $20, and we were through in 30 minutes. The border guards were perfectly efficient, and seemed very surprised when Douglas suggested that there might be a long wait. Our guide then had the cheek to tell us that we hadn’t tipped him enough! We gave him enough for 2 beers, for 30 minutes of work. He got indignant and asked “What’s this?? I usually get at least $10!! Give me $10!!” We refused (we’re not paying him $20/hour!!!), and he walked off in a big huff. This was our introduction to Costa Rica last week.
The Panamanian border was much different. It was so small and relaxed we accidentally drove through it and were told to turn back!! It was 10 km down a dirt road, just two buildings by the side of the road. Everything was very informal. The Costa Ricans were standing around outside their building, and watched us drive by into Panama, then turn around and come back. I guess they were amused by our shenanigans. They stamped us out of the country, and a woman walking down the dirt road dealt with our car paperwork on her way to lunch. On the Panamanian side, the border guard had brought her teenage son to work with her, and introduced us to him, and we all chatted for a while. When it came time to pay the car fumigation fee ($3), we didn’t have correct change, and the border folk didn’t have any change, either, so we went across the street to have lunch (amazingly good fried chicken) and get some change, then came back to finish crossing the border. It was as chill as could be. El Sereno, it’s called, appropriately enough. We recommend this crossing highly. The dirt road leading to it is very picturesque, too – lovely hilly vistas, and a 3-foot long iguana crossing the road!! It was huge! We could see the muscles rippling in its bright orange arms!!
Now we’re in Panama, and it’s the opposite of Costa Rica (which we didn’t like as much as we expected to). In Costa Rica, the landscape was absolutely gorgeous, and the people were, for the most part, surly (with a few notable exceptions, like Dr. Marco, my dentist, Mireya, the schoolteacher at Finca los Maestros, and Andres, a volkswagen enthusiast who pulled up next to us in San Jose traffic, and started talking about vanagons – we pulled over and chatted for a while and traded contact information). Otherwise, we had more encounters with downright rude people than we have had in any other country. Panama, on the other hand, is kind of a wasteland, with odd oases of hilly beauty, and the people are incredibly warm and friendly. Complete strangers keep striking up conversations with us.
We spent last night in Boquete, a small hilltown about 40 km north of the Panamerican Hwy that reminded us of Banff, AB. It was very small and cute, and we ate some terrible pizza and had another wonderful post office experience with lots of arcane instructions involving glue, tape, paper, and stamps (both rubber and lickable). We also found our first road that la Tortuga couldn’t handle, on the way to Volcan Baru. We wanted to camp there, but had to give up on the dirt ‘road’ and turn back and camp in town, alas.
Tonight we’re in El Valle, Panama, about 2 hours from Panama City. We’re camped outside the police station, and had a delicious dinner of fresh orange juice, stewed chicken, and flattened plantains. We tried to give the police a 6-pack of beer to thank them for letting us camp behind their station, but they refused!! They asked for Coke!! We are not in Nicaragua, anymore, Toto. This makes me feel oddly at home. Once more in a country where you can’t thank the on-duty police with beer. Ah.
We’re going to the local craft market in the morning, then on a short hike to see the famous golden frogs, and then we’re off to (hopefully) camp at the yacht club in Panama City and arrange to ship La Tortuga. We’re both feeling pretty exhausted by this whole shipping rigamarole, and poor Douglas has caught a nasty cold. Hopefully we’ll sleep well tonight and feel better tomorrow. And, fingers crossed, we should be in South America in a week!!! We can’t wait…mountains and llamas.
Thursday, March 1, 2007
Go South, young man, and grow up with the country
Well so thats not exactly how Greeley wrote it, but we are heading south, to Panama.
So we found some helpful people in Panama that actually *want* to do business, so we are leaving today. This is sorta good. The panama canal has GOT to be an amazing thing to see, and there are tours of the locks. There are even electric trains that act as tugs to pull the boats through. It now looks like we will be going with either LOLO or containers. The most important thing for the LOLO is that I can get pictures of la tortuga dangling in a banana net!
We will certainly post a fully detailed entry on the trials and tribulations of shipping.
On the Silk Road Panamerican trip blog we learned of Evelyn Batista with Barwil Unitor Ship Service a Wallenius Wilhelmsen agent. They refered to her as the Hero of the Darien Gap. This could not be more true, she is friendly, timely, and very professional. These do not seem to be common traits in the shipping industry.
her info:
Evelyn N. Batista
Sales Executive, Barwil Agencies, S.A.
Barwil Unitor Ship Service
Panama City Office
Avenida Balboa, Galerias Balboa Building
Second Floor, Suite 35
Phone: +507 263-7755
Cellphone: +507 6673-8150
Fax: +507 223-0698
Email: Evelyn.Batista@wilhelmsen.com
Alejandro Vargas with NYK is completly USELESS. After over a week of seeing him in person and unanswered emails he doesn't seem to want to help at all. He is the replacement for Milton Madriz at Barlovento, who by all accounts was very helpful.
Ive been getting long winded sitting around waiting for the boats, so I'll keep this short.
Lots of love to everyone.
So we found some helpful people in Panama that actually *want* to do business, so we are leaving today. This is sorta good. The panama canal has GOT to be an amazing thing to see, and there are tours of the locks. There are even electric trains that act as tugs to pull the boats through. It now looks like we will be going with either LOLO or containers. The most important thing for the LOLO is that I can get pictures of la tortuga dangling in a banana net!
We will certainly post a fully detailed entry on the trials and tribulations of shipping.
On the Silk Road Panamerican trip blog we learned of Evelyn Batista with Barwil Unitor Ship Service a Wallenius Wilhelmsen agent. They refered to her as the Hero of the Darien Gap. This could not be more true, she is friendly, timely, and very professional. These do not seem to be common traits in the shipping industry.
her info:
Evelyn N. Batista
Sales Executive, Barwil Agencies, S.A.
Barwil Unitor Ship Service
Panama City Office
Avenida Balboa, Galerias Balboa Building
Second Floor, Suite 35
Phone: +507 263-7755
Cellphone: +507 6673-8150
Fax: +507 223-0698
Email: Evelyn.Batista@wilhelmsen.com
Alejandro Vargas with NYK is completly USELESS. After over a week of seeing him in person and unanswered emails he doesn't seem to want to help at all. He is the replacement for Milton Madriz at Barlovento, who by all accounts was very helpful.
Ive been getting long winded sitting around waiting for the boats, so I'll keep this short.
Lots of love to everyone.
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