This is Elise. We were all packed up and ready to go to Colon to catch the ferry today until we got the email saying the ferry was canceled. Quick geography lesson: Central American(Panama) is connected to South America by land but there is no road that goes through the Darien Gap. (a swampy, no man's land filled with drug runners and FARC guerrillas) The only way for us for get our car to South America is by boat. Apparently Colombia doesn't want to give the ferry permission to land there. We had been assured by the captain that the ferry was definitely running August 4. Now it is not. This ferry is like an urban myth, impossible to pin down. On again, off again, for years. We have been scrambling all day to find ways to ship the 4Runner, cancel hotel reservations, and find out when we have to leave here. There are some silver linings to our rainy day. The ferry has already refunded our $900 deposit, we hadn't paid for our hotel in Colon yet, airline tickets to Cartagena seem to be a constant price so we won't get dinged for buying last minute, and we don't have anyplace we HAVE to be. I was really ready to leave this area as we have spent almost a month here and I don't find it the most interesting place we have seen. I don't have anything bad to say about Panama, I just don't feel a connection here. It doesn't "sing to my soul".
Hopefully, we will be able to ship the car this week. We just have a lot of new logistics to work through. Also, hopefully, the hotel in Cartagena will be cool about our no cancellation, no modification, hotel rate and let us change the dates instead of trying to charge us the full 4 nights even though we won't be able to be there.
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