After a final Christmas Eve dinner with family, we had an early bedtime and were up before 5 am on Christmas morning to begin our journey to Colombia.
16 hours and 2 very smooth connections later, we were at the first destination of our trip, Medellin, Colombia. When we walked out of the baggage claim area, a massive cheer erupted from people waiting for their loved ones - we were treated like rock stars, as people threw confetti on us and shouted "welcome" in Spanish! After a 45 drive through the dark, we arrived at our hotel. The park one block away from our hotel was rocking with a couple hundred people celebrating Christmas in untraditional style, so we headed out at 1 am to watch the young and foolish drink and dance the night away. Today was spent touring Medellin, which is an amazingly modern, safe city that is the polar opposite of its reputation. Our guide Willi (just Google Willi's Bedt Tours Medellin), gave us a very thorough history of the region from the 1500s to today. In the span of 15 years, the city has completely transformed itself from murder capital of the world to cutting edge. The people are amazing - everyone seems to have bought in to a community minded approach - I don't think I have ever met a more fiercely proud people. All in all it has been a great day - we are now in the airport waiting for our flight to Cartagena, where we have a free day tomorrow. By the way, Medellin Rum (that's the brand) gets two thumbs up from the Banmans - we are working hard to free Cuba on our first day in Colombia!
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We are now in California and have just finished packing our bags - everything (including our car related stuff such as jumper cables and tow ropes) has fit into two duffle bags!
Steinbachonline did another great piece on our adventure - it is always amazing to us how interested people are in our little adventures. You can find the article here. The only sad note is that Adam MacDonald isn't able to join us - the idea for this trip was actually his, and we will definitely miss his humour, and expertise in all things navigation. Most of all, we'll miss the comraderie that we always share on these trips. All the best to Adam and his family this holiday season. We have checked in for our flights and when we next check in on the SPOT tracker, hope to be flying into El Salvador, and on to Medellin, Colombia late tomorrow night. Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to everyone! We have received word that our vehicle, Manuel, is waiting for us at port in Cartagena. Our plan is to arrive in Cartagena on December 26, spend December 27 sightseeing (as it is a Sunday and the port is closed), and start the importation process on December 28. We have been advised that this process will likely take two days, and we should have Manuel out of jail on the 29th, at which point we hope to start traveling immediately.
Our trip is officially underway on December 24, as I (David) fly into Palm Springs from Winnipeg. We will spend the 24th packing our gear and celebrating Christmas with the family, and are due to fly out of Palm Springs at 7:00 am on Christmas Day, arriving in Medellin, Colombia at midnight on the 25th. Only 8 more sleeps! We just received confirmation Manuel has been loaded onto the vehicle container ship Medea, and is currently sailing for Panama! The ship is scheduled to make a short stop in Manzanillo, Panama on December 16, and continue on to Cartagena, where it is due to arrive on December 17, a week before we arrive in Colombia.
You can track the ship's progress by going here - in the top right corner of the page there is a search function that allows you to enter the vessel's name or the port name and zoom in on the area where the boat is located... Really slick! We really appreciate all of the help we have received from Sims, Waters, our freight forwarder, and especially Luis at Enlace Caribe in Cartagena - he has been giving us helpful information and cost-saving tips since the moment we contacted him. It's been an eye-opening experience shipping the vehicle, and both of these organizations have been very responsive - we'd recommend both heartily. For us, it is time to start thinking about our packing list and final preparations here at home, as we are due to leave in exactly 2 weeks from today. Christmas in Colombia, I like the ring of that! Manuel waiting to be loaded onto the ship at the port After a 2 day, 2,500 km trek across the Southwestern United States (with the last 1000 kms through frozen rain and sleet), Manuel arrived in the port city of Galveston, Texas on Sunday, November 29. Galveston is not only the departure point for our vehicle, it also happens to be the home of Jimmy Collier, a fellow flatlander who we met on Kilimanjaro in 2010, and also accompanied us on our climb of Aconcagua in 2013 (you will see a lot of Jimmy if you click on our video and pictures from the Aconcagua portion of our website). Jimmy and his wife, Regena, also took some time out in the summer of 2013 to come visit us up in Canada. It was great to see Jimmy again, and although he was unable to make it on this trip, we hope to be sharing a tent on a big mountain with him (and his pink sleeping bag) sometime in the future! After a day of sightseeing, it was time to drop Manuel off at the port. Bob (and his wife Joanne) headed down to the port facility, where they showed their ID and Dock Receipts issued by the shipping line. From that point, they hired an "escort" at the port entrance, most definitely a first for both of them. The escort is an accredited official who accompanies the car and passengers around the secure port facility to make sure they aren't going to enter places they shouldn't. At Galveston, the escort can be hired on the spot, but in a lot of port facilities, you must hire a company who sends out the escort from their offices. Originally, we were scheduled to leave from the Port of Houston, where you must hire an escort from a logistics company as explained above. David spent some time on the phone calling a few of these companies to get quotes. Some quotes were quite high - after little success, David made a phone call from his office to Bob and stated he was still working on getting an escort for his father in Houston, but they were very expensive! This conversation was overheard by one of David's secretaries and you can imagine the opinion that was formed about what kind of father-son trip this was going to be! After explaining what an escort meant in this context, David's reputation remained (relatively) intact... Back to the port - Bob was directed to a line of cars and told to put Manuel behind a limousine. Bob noted a wide variety of cars waiting to be shipped, from old beaters to classic cars. After removing the license plates, the radio face-plate, and all personal items, Bob and Joanne were directed to a tiny shack where they waited for someone to take their keys and their paperwork. After 15 minutes of waiting, a port official pulled up in a beat up old vehicle, took their paperwork, stamped a copy for Bob, and that was it. A nice tip to the escort got Bob and Joanne a ride out of the port and to the nearest Starbucks. Manuel is scheduled to be loaded onto the Medea on December 11, with the ship leaving later the same day. We will post an update shortly after to confirm that the ship has departed. We are getting excited!!! Medea - manuel's new girlfriendThe countdown has begun for the first (and most important) part of our journey south - Manuel has a date with Medea on December 11. No, not the Greek Goddess who was betrayed by Jason (of Jason and the Argonauts fame), but the vehicle- carrying ship based out of Singapore. The process of getting our vehicle booked aboard a ship was (and is) a rather complicated affair - part one of this series will focus on the preparations needed to get Manuel aboard a boat, while part two (coming next week) will delve into the documents, delivery and our experience of getting the vehicle into port and onto a ship. Step 1 - Container or Roll-on/Roll-off? There are two ways to ship a vehicle to Cartagena from North America - in a container, or Roll-on/Roll-off (RoRo). Container shipping is self-explanatory; the cargo is loaded into a container, sealed and then unsealed when the cargo gets to its destination. The containers are large - often two vehicles or a lot of extra personal effects can be shipped with this mode of transportation. RoRo shipping is a more cost-effective way to ship a vehicle - the owner of the car or truck hands over the keys, and the vehicle is driven into the ship's "belly", secured, and removed the same way. The disadvantages are that no personal effects can go with the vehicle and it is left relatively unsecured on the boat. We chose the RoRo route, because of the price, and the fact that there are a few more steps (and therefore more time) needed if we were to collect the vehicle from the Container Port in Colombia. Step 2 - Find a Freight Forwarder who will actually respond to you A Freight forwarder can book space for your vehicle on the ship, but mostly is responsible for organizing the paperwork with the shipping company, port authority and customs so that your vehicle can be sent to its destination with a minimum of hassle. A freight forwarder is required, so this step can't be bypassed. Finding a forwarder who will help and answer in a timely manner was not an easy task. I tried at least 6 different companies before finding a "friendly" freight forwarder. Most of these freight forwarders are used to dealing with larger volume, repeat clients, so finding someone who would look after small fries like us was a relief. We settled on Sims, Waters & Associates - Myra was great to deal with and returned my emails promptly. Step 3 - Find a convenient sailing date, then keep checking the schedule! Ship schedules are constantly in flux, so check the shipping company website frequently. We had a confirmed booking on another line, and when I went to confirm the date of departure and schedule two weeks ago, the ship and the sailing had disappeared. After a week and a bunch of emails, we learned that the sailing had been canceled and that we had been re-booked on a ship that was due to arrive two weeks after our trip was to begin! Luckily, we found another line that had a similar schedule from a nearby port, so we changed our booking and are now due to leave on December 11. Step 4 - Find some help on the back end (Optional) A lot of overlanders choose to deal with the port authority and customs by themselves when they arrive in Cartagena. The process is not difficult - it just involves a lot of moving around and a boatload of patience (check out this colorful blog post to see what I am talking about). We chose to have someone knowledgeable help us with the process in order to alleviate a bit of the stress, and to provide their expertise if things go sideways. Cue Enlace Caribe, who have received rave reviews from other overlanders. We have corresponded with Luis from Enlace, and he has already proven to be a wealth of knowledge. We look forward to meeting him when we go to pick up Manuel on December 28. Bob will be dropping the vehicle at the Port of Galveston on December 1 - look for our next post, which will detail his experience with sending Manuel on his way to South America... Sairecabur, chile (20,000 feet) patagonian icefield, argentinaOur route will take us through a diverse group of countries, cultures and ecosystems. There are some constants however - our trusty (we hope) vehicle, Manuel, as well as us three participants (David, Adam and Bob). However, the majority of our trip we will have a 4th companion - this companion will not be riding with us, but will never be far away. This companion will dictate where we drive, how fast we go, and what kind of weather we get. That companion is the Andes mountain range. Starting on our second day of driving, the Andes will be the one constant throughout our adventure, stretching all the way down to our final destination, Ushuaia (with a few breaks of flat land along the way). From the lower peaks of the Cordillera Occidental in Colombia, through the "Highway of the Volcanoes" in Ecuador, to the foothills of the Peruvian Andes, to the Central Andean dry puna region of Chile all the way down to Patagonia, the Andes are a diverse and formidable companion. Adam and David have spent a bit of time in the Andes, climbing on the tallest peak in the range, Aconcagua, in January and February of 2013. They hope to spend some more time in the Andes on this trip, making smaller climbs along the way in each country to keep themselves fit and augment the long days of driving. These climbs will get progressively higher, with the highest being a peak in the Atacama desert on the border of Chile and Bolivia, reaching a height of 20,000 feet. The highlight of the climbing portion of the trip will be a 5 day climb through the Patagonian Icefield (the largest ice cap in the world outside of the polar regions) and an ascent of a glaciated mountain known as Gorra Blanca. The Andes will no doubt be one of the most enduring memories of our trip, and will provide a beautiful backdrop to the cities, towns and regions that we visit - in other words, the perfect companion. border crossing at Paso roballos, argentinaWith apologies to Bruce Springsteen, we hope to be crossing the border on at least eight occasions, at seven different points of entry. While the volume of border crossings is similar to Bob's Central American traverse of 2013 (he traveled from California to Panama and back over the course of one month), the mechanics of getting across a border in South America appears much quicker and easier (and a lot cheaper!). Every traveler coming through Central America has multiple horror stories of the bureaucracy, confusion and corruption when crossing the border. It isn't unusual to spend six or seven hours at the border, attempting to navigate through the labyrinth of government officials, "helpers" and money changers all vying for your greenbacks. In contrast, the relative free flow of people and goods from country to country, as well as more developed infrastructure appears to make border crossings in South America a much easier process. Overlander websites such as Life Remotely take most of the guesswork out of crossing the border - these websites even provide step-by-step illustrated instructions on what needs to get done at the border and how long a person can expect the process to take. That being said, there is still some basic work that has to be done at each and every border -the most important is getting a temporary import permit for your vehicle (and surrendering your permit for the country you are leaving), as well as "checking yourself in" to the country with the Immigration Department. Some of our border crossings will be very busy (Ipiales / Tulcan border between Colombia and Ecuador), while some border crossings will be lucky to see 10 people in a week (Paso Roballos between Chile and Argentina). Stay tuned to find out how we fare at each border - there are sure to be some interesting moments! Cartagena, colombia - our first stop ushuaia, argentina - our last stopThe possibilities for adventure on a continent as vast as South America are infinite - when looking at potential driving routes, we were faced with a lot of choices. The first decision, where to start, was easy - Cartagena is the port of choice for the vast majority of South American overlanders. It has an accessible port, suitable infrastructure, and is an easy connection point for travelers coming from North America. It is also one of the most beautiful waterfront cities in South America, which makes it a great place to begin our journey. Once we had our starting point, the next question was - West Coast or East Coast? Heading straight east into Venezuela was ruled out very quickly, as incidents of kidnapping along the Colombian border and recently, into all of Venezuela, are common occurrences these days. Click here for an example. That left us driving south and west through Medellin, Colombia and its coffee region (home to Juan Valdes), onwards into Ecuador. We hope to spend some time hiking and climbing in this part of the Andes, as well as soaking up the amazing scenery that makes Ecuador one of South America's most photographed travel destinations. If picturesque mountains and verdant valleys define Ecuador and Colombia, history and culture will be the themes for our travels through Peru, our next country. We hope to see the oldest known settlement in the Americas (3,500 BC), delve into the mysteries of the 2,000 year old Nazca Lines, as well as learn about Incan culture (along with enjoying a Pisco Sour or two). Starting around Nazca, Peru, the next 2,400 kilometres will be through the most arid desert in the world. As we venture into Chile, we will stop in the Atacama desert, which receives as little as 0.6 inches of rain per year. Another long 1,600 km drive through the desert puts us into Chilean wine country, where we will take a break to enjoy the fruits of someone else's labour. From there we head down to the gateway to Patagonia, Puerto Montt, where we will take a 24 hour ferry ride amongst Patagonian fjords, disemberk, and drive 400 kms on the dirt track known as the Carretera Austral, through frontier towns, glaciers, virgin forest and stunning wilderness. We will then cross into Argentina, spending the next 1,000 kms on the famed Ruta 40, which has been compared to its counterpart, the American Route 66 (except a good chunk of Ruta 40 is unpaved). Along the route, we will stop in the small community of El Chalten in order to attempt a 4 day ascent of Gorra Blanca, or "White Touque", a mountain located on the second largest glaciated ice cap in the world. After finishing our climb, we will drive the final 1,000 kms directly to Ushuaia, at the southern tip of Argentina (and South America), after which we will drive up to the Chilean city of Punta Arenas to sell our vehicle and head home. All told, our journey will have crossed 5 countries and over 11,000 kms in just 36 days, making our trans-continental road trip one for the ages! Illiniza Norte, Ecuador - one of our planned climbs during our trip A lengthy road trip like this one has many moving parts, and trying to put a plan together while still allowing for some flexibility to stop and enjoy local sites and culture presents a unique challenge. Another complicating factor is the short time in which we have to cover a long distance - most overland trips are completed over the period of several months, not five and a half short weeks.
We have found five main components to our trip planning: 1) Purchasing a vehicle; 2) Shipping and importing said vehicle; 3) Route Planning (including modes of transportation, road conditions, locations of sites of interest, accommodation, gas stations and border crossings); 4) Navigation while on the road; 5) Disposal of vehicle at the end of the trip. Over the next seven or eight weeks, we will delve into these topics a little further in order to give you an idea of our preparation for the trip, what we hope to see and do, and, once we are on the road, how our experiences actually differ from our plans (with predictably hilarious results!). The great advantage in preparing for this adventure is the wealth of resources available on the internet - in this case, our motto "Ordinary guys, boldly going where others have gone before" is right on target. There are at least a dozen websites dedicated solely to overland trips; these websites list the good, the bad and the ugly of life on the road in South America, and have provided the basis for much of our trip planning. Need a step-by-step tutorial on how to get your car imported into Colombia and out of port in Cartagena? It's right there, with pictures and maps. Need to know the road conditions between San Pedro de Atacama and Cerro Toco? Look no further, with a Youtube video to boot. One thing we know for sure - no amount of planning will prepare us for the unexpected, memorable experiences that we will encounter on our trip... |