Monday, February 20, 2006
Panama City
Today I got the news that I can ship the car to Colombia on Friday. Today is
Monday, it's 4pm and most things are already closed. Tomorrow is D-day for me as I have to go to Seaboard Marine first, then on to the Customs office to get my paper work stamped. (This is an oddyssey unto itself, as one person will stamp the paper, the other you will pay, and the last will stamp all the paperwork again just to make sure everyone is doing their job and no one is ripping the system off.) The whole thing will happen twice, once in customs and then with the police. It is like this here and everywhere in central America. The answer is to just get used
to it as this is the way things happpen.
So the next few days will be somewhat of an adventure for me. It's a strange thing to ship a car such a short distance and then retrieve it on another continent. No turning back now, the real trip begins! I am hoping to fly to Cartagena on Saturday
and from there it's all South America.
Monday, it's 4pm and most things are already closed. Tomorrow is D-day for me as I have to go to Seaboard Marine first, then on to the Customs office to get my paper work stamped. (This is an oddyssey unto itself, as one person will stamp the paper, the other you will pay, and the last will stamp all the paperwork again just to make sure everyone is doing their job and no one is ripping the system off.) The whole thing will happen twice, once in customs and then with the police. It is like this here and everywhere in central America. The answer is to just get used
to it as this is the way things happpen.
So the next few days will be somewhat of an adventure for me. It's a strange thing to ship a car such a short distance and then retrieve it on another continent. No turning back now, the real trip begins! I am hoping to fly to Cartagena on Saturday
and from there it's all South America.