Point of Departure: Cartagena Yacht Club
Point of Arrival: Panama City, Panama via San Blas Islands
Mode of Transport: 30ft Single Mast Sail Boat
Approximate hours at sea: 41
Captain: A gregarious loose cannon named Hernando
Crew: 6 travelers entirely un-experienced in sailing and just trying to get to Panama
Although leaving Ecuador was a 4 hour nightmare, the happenstance of arriving in Colombia on January 6th, however was a giddy dream come true!
We had been warned about a potential delay at the border, but for whatever reason we had somewhat dismissed those warnings until, in line, after a full hour we hadn’t moved one inch. The best part was that we were waiting outside, in the sun, just miles from the equator. There were actually two lines on each side of the immigration building; one for those leaving Ecuador and one for those arriving. The lines merged not so gracefully together at the guarded front door, and 4 hours later we were in (albeit at the back of another line), only to come face to face with 3 unimpressed immigration employees behind the only three desks. Business as usual, I suppose.
Even with the rising value of the US dollar and the dropping prices of oil worldwide, when you are on an overland expedition, you still need to be a little creative in order to conserve your budget. We have been on the road for about 20 months now and during that time, we have become pretty good at coming up with ways to stretch our money.
I am still hard at work on the blog regarding the exact details of what happened with the trucks in Buenos. With Fernando’s help we are putting together a blog that will give a better researched insight not into just what happened to us, but more importantly, why it happened the way it did. More importantly we want to give everyone an insight as to why it is such a tragedy that Argentinean government treats not only us this way, but treats all of the citizens in Argentina the same.
“Africa, haha, those were some times.” …
In 1893, the crazy Norwegians living in the north of their country were mostly cut off from the outside world. With giant fjords and mountains blocking easy paths to and from the northern coast, inhabitants could hardly receive letters, let alone even consider the idea of leaving. What is now called the Hurtigruten group changed […]
Of the many options with the expensive prices of gas in Europe, we opted for the route towards North Cape starting on a ferry from Germany to Denmark, followed by a series of bridges to get to Sweden. The dash up to the Ice Hotel led us across the Arctic Circle and introduced all of […]
We have been here in Pointe Noire, Congo for over a week now. Just what are we doing here you might ask? Well, we are playing the waiting game. We are waiting for our visas to Angola, the link in the chain that currently separates us here in Central Africa with our rendezvous the south. […]
Over a week ago now was the beginning of the action packed speed run through Niger, Nigeria, Cameroon and then further down the coast of the West coast of Africa. The Thundra and Little Pepe are now safely resting in the courtyard of the Botanic Gardens Guesthouse here in Limbe, Cameroon. The crew and the […]
You would think that the similarities between the countries here in West Africa would far outnumber the differences, but for me, nothing could be farther from reality. Driving from Senegal to Mali and most recently into Burkina Faso has been interesting because although the terrain and topography is very similar in the areas we have […]
