Shipping Week : Panama City
We spent yesterday arranging all the paperwork for shipping the car to Colombia. After we had fixed the customs paperwork mistakes on Monday and bought another months insurance (for the extra two days we would be here) we had several visits to the police. We had also arranged a shipping agent to sort out the paperwork, which was another $100. After writing several notices and leaving them in hostels, posting on Craigslist and other sites we discovered there was absolutely no one else looking to share a container heading south at this time. So instead of paying $600 each, I have to spend $1100 now or wait for someone else to show up. We wanted to go south on the Steel Rat Yacht so we were left with little choice.
First we had the to get the police to check my car really was what it says on my form. Our agent told us it was ‘best to go at 10-11am’ but what he really meant was ‘they are only open from 10-11am’. This meant we were running around at 10.40 trying to find a copy place!
With that done we could relax until 2am when we had to go across the street to get more paperwork. We headed over to the mall to pick up Melissas new glasses. Since her old ones are 2 years old and she can barely see I was expecting great things from her new ones but I can still see better than her. We had her eyes tested again and it seems they could be better. So after waiting a week for the glasses we now have to wait until Friday to get them fixed. Of course it was too much to ask that they get it right first time…
Back at the Judicial Office (in my trousers, no shorts here, the guards checked twice) we waited some more, handed over more copies of everything and finally got the final piece of paper we need. Then we swung by the nearby Customs office in the steadily increasing traffic and heat to extend our permit for the required 2 more days and then had a frustrating hour travelling back to Mario, the agent who was only 3km away.
Now it seems all we have to do is turn up at the port on Monday with the final £378 we have to pay, put the car in the container and we can really relax.
Until we have to collect the damn thing from Cartagena next week…..
Tags: shipping, Panama, glasses, customsI’ve got the plague… Or something
Here in panama city the weather is HOT! We spent the day looking at shipping options for the car and I spent it scratching my bites. Melissa seems to think it’s an allergy but I think our ‘posh’ hostel has bed bugs. At least in my bed!
So far we have a price of £978 for a 20′ container or £1200 for a 40′ one that can take 2 cars. We need to find a friend within the next 2 weeks.
Day 1057: Panama City
Maybe its time to stop neglecting my blog.
I’ve finally made it to the bottom of Central America, well, there is another thousand miles to the Darien Gap and Columbia but it feels like I’m nearly there. After nearly 3 years, many tortillas, plenty of cervezas, a lot of fun and 30, 000 miles of driving I’m still going. I’ve picked myself up a girlfriend on the way, the beautiful Melissa, who is coming with me and this should hopefully speed my trip along a bit more.
The plan for Panama City is to have a look at the architecture, check out the canal, do a bit of shopping and arrange for the minivan to be shipped across to Columbia in a container. We will follow in a yacht that sails lazily down through the islands of San Blas before reaching Cartagena after 5 days and my penultimate continent. The ship I want to sail on, the Steel Rat, just left which gives us a couple of weeks more here to arrange everything. Hopefully we can find someone to share the container with or the price could be a lot more. Still, I’m expecting to spend nearly a thousand dollars. Lets hope it doesn’t blow up in South America :p
Tags: Panama, shipping car, Container, Cartagena