The Long Goodbye

The only ways to get from South America to Central America are either by plane, or by sea ….because there simply aren’t any roads, or even trails …..just disease-infested swamps, mountains, jungle, armed rebels, and drug smugglers! So we decided no, perhaps we wouldn’t try …maybe next time!

So, we drove down past the volcano Cotopaxi (no smoke or flames, very boring), then over the mountains through tiny villages to Manta, a town in the north of Ecuador, on the Pacific coast ….beautiful bays and little fishing villages ……to wait for a cargo boat which would take our car to Panama. The procedure is relatively simple, but the timing is triiiiicky! ……

The cargo boat only takes vehicles, not passengers, so we have to fly. But we can’t fly until we have a document called the Bill of Lading for the car …which is only issued once the car is safely loaded on the ship …..and the ship’s sailing schedule is notoriously unreliable!
We were first given a date of December 15th for the arrival of the ship in Manta …then Dec. 17th …..then 19th ….then 21st ….and finally Dec.22nd! So we couldn’t really reserve any plane tickets till the last minute!

However we found a cheap campsite just overlooking the beach outside of Manta, and spent our time swimming, and watching the local fishermen; they were catching mainly sardines and tuna (average weight 160lbs!), and chatting to our fellow campers …a German couple with two little dogs in an enormous off-road truck. They have been travelling for 3 years already, and don’t intend to stop. We spent Christmas day with them.
I also had to spend quite a bit of time and effort ensuring that the car plus contents were as « thief-proof » as possible (because you have to leave the car in the docks, and give them a key! ….and we had heard quite a few horror stories from other travellers!). Finally our car left on December 24th ….and we got plane tickets to Panama for December 26th.

On the morning of December 27th we went to the docks in Balboa (Panama City) ….and there was our car sitting in the customs yard waiting for us!! No damage, nothing missing!
All we had to do was complete the customs procedures and drive away ….sounds simple doesn’t it!
First, there is no written procedure to follow ….
Second, there are at least 9 little offices to visit …two of which are in other parts of the city several kilometres away! …and none of the offices have any signs to say what they do.
And of course nobody is really in a hurry ….. So after 4.5 hours (in the blazing sun), we finally got the keys to our car!

We decided we couldn’t leave Panama city without visiting the famous Canal, and the time was just right to see some cargo ships coming through the locks. Unfortunately we got completely lost (surprise, surprise!) trying to find the locks, and ended up stopped on the side of the road looking at our maps. Two police motorcyclists stopped and came over to ask us if we had a problem …and when we told them we were trying to find the Miraflores Locks, they just said …. « No problem, follow us » ….and took us all the way there! Yet another example of the kindness and helpfulness of people over here.
We didn’t realize just how much revenue the Canal earns for Panama …on average 25 to 30 ships pass through every day …..for which Panama charges between 3 and 4 million dollars!! ……each day!!! ….365days per year!!! But as they point out, if the ships have to go round Cape Horn, it takes two weeks longer, and costs 10 times as much!
The Canal locks are just 33 metres wide …and the largest ships measure 32 metres wide! So they are very carefully guided through by electric trains (or mules as they are called) which keep them in the middle, and help them to stop. Afterwards we set off to find a campsite for the night. When we eventually found it late at night it was well worth it; beautiful tropical garden with parrots, toucans, monkeys, swimming pool, cheap restaurant, 10 minutes walk from the beach …
We are now taking a couple of days to relax and catch up on things. I have several repairs on the car: we nearly lost the front suspension because two bolts had unscrewed themselves and dropped out! …and we almost had a fire inside when a reading lamp burst into flames!!
But everything is now under control, and we’re ready to set off again …once I’ve changed the rear tyres which are almost completely bald!

So …. HAPPY NEW YEAR TO EVERYBODY, AND BEST WISHES FOR 2008!!

Next update soon.

Ciao