The Shipping Process, Part 2 of 3: What an Adventure!

We left off Part 1 on Day 10 (a Tuesday), and that’s where we will pick up now.  We had just dropped off Pichula and Cubby to be shipped.  We had to find a way to get ourselves to Cartagena, Colombia by the next Monday to pick them up at the port there.  This is easier said than done: there are no roads, so no buses go that way.  That leaves air or water… Option 1: just one airplane ticket from Panama City to Cartagena costs $400.  After spending so much on shipping the car, we wanted a cheaper way to get to Cartagena.  Option 2: Taking an “avioneta”, a small plane, from Panama City to Puerto Obaldia costs around $100, and from there you still must take two lanchas (small boats) to cross into Colombia, and from there buses all the way to Cartagena. This option was out of the question because the avioneta tickets were all sold out for the next 15 days, and also Ricardo refuses to fly in such a small plane.  Option 3: Take a 4x4 from Panama City to Carti, and from there a series of lanchas between islands in the San Blas, where the Kuna Indians live, into Colombia, and then buses to Cartagena.  Much cheaper and MUCH more fun.  Some people warned us about the unreliability of the boats and that it might take a while to reach Cartagena, but, hey, we had almost a whole week.  Option 3 – CHECK!

Day 10 (Continued): Tuesday.

It was after 2:00 by the time we left the port in Colon after dropping off Pichula and Cubby.  We went to the bus terminal and ate lunch, then jumped on a bus to Panama City.

bus terminal in Colon

Arriving at the terminal in Panama City, it was already after 5pm.  We called to arrange a 4x4 transport to Carti (the roads are bad and buses don’t go) and found out that the next one left at 5:00 the next morning.  We took a taxi to a hostel in Casco Viejo to stay the night.  We tried to find an ATM but there were none nearby. That’s ok, we said, we’ll get some cash in the morning.

Day 11: Wednesday.

The 4x4 picked us up at 5am, as promised.  The driver kindly agreed to stop at an ATM for us, but after 3 different stops at Panama City ATMs, none of them were working.  The system must be down, the driver said, but you can get some cash in Carti.  We drove on and sometime later crossed into the Kuna Indian territory.

Around 10am, we arrived at a small “Transportation Terminal”. 

There they informed us that a lancha to Puerto Obaldia had already left earlier that morning.  No one knew if another one would be coming, or when.  We got out our books and waited.  And waited.  Around noon, there was a lancha leaving for the island where the actual city of Carti Sugdub is located.  Someone suggested that there are ATMs and more lanchas that leave from the island, so we decided to go.

The lancha with the island of Carti in the distance

Took the lancha to Carti Sugdub, and found that (1) there are no ATMs on the island, and (2) no one there knows anything about any lanchas going anywhere.  The island was an entire Kuna village.  In fact, there was only one small restaurant for “outsiders” on the whole island, and they rented rooms above it.  We waited at the dock for the afternoon, and no lanchas ever appeared. 

 

The Kunas came and left in their canoes, going to the nearby islands.  A larger merchant ship arrived, and they were headed in the direction of Puerto Obaldia, but with no guarantees of when they would get there, as they stop at every island to sell their goods.  We had read online that these boats can take 20 days to make it to Puerto Obaldia, and we did not have that much time.  We had to be in Cartagena by Monday, otherwise they charge a $50 storage fee for every day that you are late.

It got to be evening and we decided to rent a room above the restaurant.  No bathroom, but at least it was a place to sleep! 

 

We also walked around the village for a bit. It was fascinating to see the way the Kunas live, especially the beautiful molas and jewelry that the women wear, although we found ourselves very unwelcome.  One old lady even told us to go away!

 

Back at the restaurant, we found a guy from Colombia who was also waiting for a lancha to Puerto Obaldia.  He said that he thought there was going to be one around 8am the next morning.  We crossed our fingers and went to bed.

Day 12: Thursday.

We woke up and went out to the dock early, so as not to miss the rumored lancha. 8:00 came and went, and no lancha.  Finally, about 8:45, a very small boat showed up and our Colombian friend hopped out.  He had taken the 6am lancha back to the mainland so as not to miss this lancha in case it didn’t come to the island.  Luckily, he told the “captain” that we were waiting on the island, so they came to pick us up.

The "Diana Carolina" that we were so grateful to see when it finally appeared

The boat captain initially was charging us a high price (he only had four other passengers – including a Kuna women with her tiny daughter), but Ricardo bargained and got it lowered.  Nevertheless, we still did not have enough money to pay him.  We gave him what we had, and he told us that we could get the rest at an ATM in Puerto Obaldia and give it to him then.

We got on the boat, which looked more like a canoe with a motor than a passenger boat.  They took our bags and put them under the large plastic tarps in the front of the boat, telling us, “You’ll see why”. Around 9am, we were off!

Almost immediately, we were drenched in water and the boat started flying over the waves, rocking from side to side at the same time.  We had never expected it would be such a rough ride.  Laughing each time we flew out of our seats and constantly getting pounded with water, we were definitely glad they had put our bags underneath the plastic tarps!  The boat was rocking side to side so much that there were more than a few times when we really thought that it would flip right over.  We couldn’t help but wonder if our “captain” really knew what he was doing…

We risk getting the camera wet on a smooth stretch

After about two and a half hours of riding like this, we weren’t laughing so much anymore.  It was supposed to be a 6 hour ride to Puerto Obaldia.  I was wondering if I could take 3 and a half more hours of the pounding on the hard, wooded seats! 

We stopped at another island and picked up 4 more passengers, a couple from Switzerland, and a couple from France.  Then we continued on our way…for FIVE AND A HALF more hours!  Our new passengers were quite scared – the poor French girl was at the point of tears.  The whole time we saw nothing but forested, uninhabited coastline, and many islands, some with Kuna villages, some also uninhabited.
 

Around 5:00pm, we stopped at an island where our Colombian friend and another guy got out.  Our captain told us it was about 2 more hours to Puerto Obaldia from there, but he thought we could make it by dark.  Weary from a full day of sitting on the bumping boat, we groaned and got back in, thinking that we would at least make it there by nightfall…

It was not to be, however.  About 15 minutes after leaving the last island, we heard the motor sputter and then quit.  Our captain fooled with it, trying to get it to start for another 15 minutes or so, the boat just bobbing there in the water, but to no avail.  He had gotten water in the engine and it would not start.  Luckily, there was a second, much smaller engine on the boat for situations just like this, so we were able to putt our way to the nearest island. 

It was a Kuna island.  We pulled in to the dock and unloaded while our captain and some of the Kuna men from the island tinkered with the engine.  After a while it got dark, and started getting cold (since we were still soaking wet).  It was decided that we would just stay there for the night and leave in the morning.  The Kuna woman, her small daughter, and our captain disappeared, apparently staying with some people on the island.  There were no hostels or lodging for visitors, however, and we were left with nowhere to sleep but on the cement dock.  We hung up our wet things to dry and got settled in for the night.

Day 13: Friday.

Waking up after sleeping on the dock.

Rise and shine!

Waking up the next morning, it really was quite a beautiful place that we were in.  The Kunas are up bright and early out in their canoes…

I even saw a canoe full of Kuna people singing/chanting a melancholy tune as they went…it appeared to be some sort of ceremony, maybe going to a funeral?

Our captain showed up with the boat (engine working!) and we once again loaded up.  More of the same, bouncing, rocking, splashing, all over again!  After two more hours, we did finally make it to Puerto Obaldia.  We had to empty our backpacks to be inspected before we got our passports officially stamped out of Panama.  ATMs in Puerto Obaldia?  Of course not.

The captain agreed to take us on to Capurgana, Colombia (he kind of had to, or we couldn’t pay him the rest of what we owed…).  So once again, back in the boat we went.  This time, the captain brought a friend with him, and we think maybe he was showing off for the friend, because it seemed to us that the boat was flying even higher than before!  On one high bounce, Ricardo hit the seat in a bad position and we thought his tail bone might actually have been broken.  This is no exaggeration - it was that bad!

After about 2 more hours, we arrived in Capurgana, thankful to finally be off that boat!

 Oh, wait.  We still have to pay the captain.  We began asking around.  ATMs in Capurgana? Yes!!! There is one!  BUUUUUT….it’s not working. 

At this point, we really did not know what to do…the captain was still waiting to get paid, but we were really without even a dollar on us.  Should we try to sell something from the little we brought with us in our backpacks?  Should we start begging in the street?  Should we just run away and hide until the captain leaves? 

We found out that although there is no Western Union, there is a hostel in town that does money transfers.  We were able to have Ricardo’s mom wire us money to the hostel (we did this reluctantly because of the high fees, but we really had no other choice!).  Captain got paid after patiently waiting for us, and we were finally able to eat again (we had each only eaten a granola bar and some crackers each since lunch in Carti two days ago!). 

We then got officially stamped into Colombia, found a hostel, and relaxed in the town for the evening. 

Capurgana

trying our first arepas

Hanging out with the Swiss couple, Noemi and Patrick.  Nice people!

Capurgana is actually a very pretty town, very tourist-friendly (a nice change from the past couple days) and very laid-back.  We would have liked to stay there longer, but considering how long it took us to get there, and knowing we had to be in Cartagena to pick up the car on Monday, we bought ferry tickets to Turbo for the next morning.

Day 14: Saturday.

7:30am, the time the boat is scheduled to leave.  We are up and at the dock, waiting with a crowd of other people.  No boat. 

8:00am. Still no boat.

8:30am. A motor on one of the boats sitting in the harbor BURSTS INTO FLAME, and remains afire for about a minute before one of the people on the boat puts it out.  “That’s our boat!” says one of the people in the crowd.  Indeed, the flaming boat was the one headed for Turbo.

I didn't get a picture of the flames, but here the engine is still smoking.

The guys on the boat played around with the burnt engine for a little while and then apparently decided that we would just go anyway, with the remaining two engines the boat had.  Around 9am, they pulled it in to the dock, and we loaded up.  We were the last two people to buy tickets, so we got a spot right up front, where the boat jumps the highest.  We were already in pain from the previous two days of boat rides, especially Ricardo whose behind was swollen to twice its normal size, so this was not good news for us!

We took off yet again for a long speed boat ride.  This boat was wider, so it did not rock back and forth so much, but it went REALLY fast and it seemed like we spent more time flying in the air than sitting on the seat!  This boat was much more tolerable than the other, though, because there was a thin layer of foam padding over the seats, and we knew that this was the last boat we would have to take in order to get to Cartagena. 

A view of the rest of the boat behind us

We were kept entertained during the ride because there was a guy sitting in the front row with us whose steady stream of (good natured) shouts and expletives about the extreme ride kept us laughing.  There was also a guy with a dog sitting in the front.  The dog must have been used to boat rides like this because he was very calm during the whole trip, but every time we went over a wave, the dog’s ears would fly up on the way back down.  If only I had a waterproof camera, that picture would have been priceless!   

11:30am We made it to Turbo, no engine failures or anything!  We promised each other that we would be staying on dry land for a while!  We were still far from Cartagena, however, so we caught a buseta (mini-bus) to Monteria.

on the buseta to Monteria

In Monteria, we ate at the bus station and then waited for a van going to Cartagena.  All this waiting around for buses made us miss Cubby and being able to travel when and where we want to.

waiting for the van to Cartagena

11:00pm Our van pulled in to the virtually deserted Cartagena bus terminal.  We finally made it to Cartagena, and with a whole day to spare! We were dreading going out to look for a hostel so late, especially since the Cartagena bus station is far away from the downtown area.  Luckily there was a man there who told us about the hospedaje right there in the terminal.  Too tired to look for anything else, we crashed there. 

It was an incredible adventure getting from Colon to Cartagena, for two cities that are really only 150 miles apart.  Yes, we may have some back pain that lasts for a little while, but we also have great memories and a great story to tell! I personally am glad that we chose to do the crossing the not-so-easy way – we wouldn’t have gotten to visit the Kuna islands, experience those wild boat rides, spend time in Capurgana, or meet some of the cool people we met on the way.  We also saved ourselves a bunch of money and put ourselves to the test figuring out how to get to Cartagena. But now that we’ve done it once, I think next time maybe we’ll take the plane...

Two weeks since we began shipping from Panama City, we had finally made it to Cartagena, but that’s not the end of the story…we’ll tell all about our time in Cartagena, and the hoops we had to jump through to get Pichula and Cubby back in our next post - The Shipping Process Part 3: Crazy Cartagena.