February 2010- it's all about shipping

Another month on the road… a better half of it was stationary but more out of necessity then design- we had to organise shipping of the car to South America and it took a week of back’n’froing with emails in Costa Rica (camping at Francis and Jackie’s place), another half a week of paper work in Panama City and nearly a week of waiting for the ship to arrive in Cartagena, Colombia- fucking shippings!
What did we actually do in this past month others than that? Well, we spend some time driving dirt roads on Nicoya Peninsula in Costa Rica searching for (and finding some) surfing beaches, we grooved around for a couple of days on the Costa Rican Caribbean coast smoking pot and taking turns swinging in our hammock. We also visited in Panama a lovely town called El Valle which lies in the crater of an extinct volcano; it is very pretty up there, it’s got some warm springs and special mud to wallow in, there is a waterfall in the woods and I saw a very nice looking coffee shop; altogether, it was a nice visit.
Panama City was damn hot and damn muggy- shopping centres where the only escape from it. I think the Canal was about the only exciting place I’ve seen there. The we drove to Colon. The nite before we shipped our car from we stopped in a marina for the nite and that was really cool. It was half an hour out of Colon, to get there we drove through the locks on Panama Canal and once in the marina we got to use their hot showers and washing machines- each one a rarity for a traveller in those parts. And when it rained, I was ready to dance. I loved that place.
As for the shipping, well, the whole loading was of course more tiresome and complex than we thought with lots of waiting in between- waiting in a queue to pay, waiting for an inspection, waiting in a queue to pay again, waiting for another inspection, then the ramp shoot off from underneath our car when driving into the container, collecting my foot on its way, so the car was half stuck and I was bruised- more waiting. Then the crane couldn’t reach the container to place it on the ground as it was standing too deep under the roof- so we are waiting some more. And when our car was finally inside, it was such a close fit that the guys, who secure the car in the container, had to crawl on the roof and underneath it to do their job, hence it took them quite a while. 4 hours and 1 bruised limb later we were free to go. Relocating from Colon to Panama City and then to Tocumen airport by buses went really smooth. We got out of Cartagena airport by taxi and easily found a place to stay in town. We did it all in one day.
S we are in Cartagena de Indias now. I am sitting in our basic little hostel room under a fan where I spent most of the last 5 days. The boat had delay and we’ve been here longer than we planned. It’s a pretty place, I mean, the old town is pretty, and where we are staying (Getsemani) the street is kind of mix of bums, whores and backpackers- we make for an interesting crowd. There are cheap hostels here, cheap food, cheap beer, probably also cheap sex. Only alcohol is expensive. I don’t know about drugs, I just know they are there.
It is Wednesday today, 3 March 2010. So far, I discovered for myself in Colombia good coffee in the Juan Valdez chain, nice seafood dish called Cazuela de Mariscos, boca queso, blackberry milkshakes and freshly made lemonade. I’ve got a feeling there is much more to discover, but I am taking it slow- one step at the time. Too much excitement can kill and I am such a fragile girl.