Well, I just got back from loading the 4Runner in the container at the harbor. All in all everything went smoothly and super quick. For me though, accuracy is more important than speed because we don't want to have any issues in Colombia. Thankfully Boris Jaramillo boris_jaramillo@hotmail.com was awesome at getting us going so fast and accurately. When the DIJ (Dirección de Investigación Judicial) in Colon gets their computers up and running he will be able to do same day loading. The DIJ office in Colon only works sporadically so it is still best to get the DIJ certificate from the Panama City office.
Using an agent for shipping is recommended for first timers like us and I can see why. Simply finding the offices alone would take so much time also navigating through the mountains of paperwork would be too challenging. As it stands right now the vehicle will arrive in Cartagena on Monday afternoon and available for pick up on Tuesday morning. Since the US dollar is strong right now the shipping will actually come in cheaper than we thought. Yeah!
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| Driving through a pretty rough part of Colon to get to the port |
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| Colon is a very important hub for Panama's economy. It is surprising that it has been neglected so much and left to decay in such a way. |
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| Driving here was like high stakes bumper cars. Notice how the vehicles are all over the place. Intersections were a mess in every way and in order to get anywhere you just had to push forward. |
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| Parking in front of the container felt great and finally feels like we are moving forward. |
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| This is Ronald Van Zeist, whom we are splitting the container with to save money. He is from Holland and has been on the road for 6 months as well. |
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| Now this is one heck of a creative way to protect the scalp from getting sunburned in the hot tropical sun. Looks can be deceiving though as this gentleman, with the 15 gallon trash bag on his head, owns one of the larger shipping operations in Panama. He also happens to be Boris' father and is showing Boris the family business from the ground up. He was a great guy and we laughed so much that our sides hurt. I was laughing at his fashionable sun protection and he was laughing at my dumb laugh. We were perfect for each other. |
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| Some are living in homes that should be condemned but have little choice when money is scarce |
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| Even an ugly port town can have a beautiful sunrise. Our view from the Radisson Hotel. |
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