Finally the bike

Friday 5/08/2011

As agreed with Nohora we turned up on Thursday at the offices full of hope to get our bike, only to be told that the procedure had to be postponed the following day.
Nevermind, we went to Playa Blanca instead.

But the big day was only postponed.
Friday we met Louis at the offices who took good care of us for the following 10 hrs, yes 10 hrs!
First we went to the custom offices (DIAN) where we began our quest accross all desks in the building.
Here is Elena sitting, waiting for the "inspectora" to turn up.

Finally, after 3 hrs and lots of begging and smiling the critical piece of paper was finally printed and signed

Because the whole world stops at 12 for 2 hrs lunch we thought we would take a break too.
This is me and Louis after lunch, trying to cool down.

We then moved to the port where the bike was stored.
2pm and 38 degrees outside and the local authorities insisted for me to wear some extra clothes, just to keep me a little bit warmer.....to point out the fantastic "wooden boots"!

Going inside the storage area at the cartagena port, is a bit like going to IKEA

Unfortunately, unlike IKEA, there are not computers to tell you in which isle you find your goods.
The search lasted over 1 hr, and I have to thank the packing company since they stuck on the crate a huge sign with my name

Probably me and the other 5 port officials who dismantled the crate for the following 2 hrs where not so pleased with the packing company for having sealed the crate with 100 + screws......they don't seem to have screw drivers over here, therefore we had to remove the screws manually 1 by 1.

It was around 5.15 pm when I finally was allowed by the last official to leave with my bike.
Louis took us back to the DIAN, in fact they actually had forgotten to stamp the carnet.....

7PM. Elena and I are cruising on the Cartagena Malecon. The sun is down, and the fatigue, for a moment, has left us.

Cartagena: Waiting for the bike

Cartagena welcommed us like the oven welcolms the turkey.
38 degrees are not easy to handle, in particular if you arrive from 2700m Bogota where the temperature is barely 18C.

Temperature aside, Cartagena is a beautiful colonial city full of colorful buildings

The streets during the day are full of "venditores de fruta", therefore you will never be short of food or drinks to soothe you in the heath.
It feels safe to go out in the night too, thanks to the well lit streets and the ever present colombian police

All in all, as long as you stay away from tap water you should be fine!

On Tuesday we met with Nohora and her team at the Kuhene Nagel offices.
They are really going the extra mile to help us getting our bike from customs quickly and efficiently.
The cargo has arrived perfectly on time (I was able to track its journey in real time on www.marinetraffic.com) and we are now dealing with the paperwork to get the bike freed by the inspectors at Customs.
Tomorrow should be the big day.......
In the meantime we keep ourselves busy eating cheviche, and drinking aguila beer.
If you ever come this way, and feel like eating fresh fish, we suggest you pay a visit to our friend Senen at the "casa del buen marisco" in the getsemani quarter. He will make you feel at home.

Riders in the storm?

Bogota 30/07/2011

We landed in Bogota at 2.30 pm and 25 minutes later we were already outside the airport having cleared customs and recovered our luggage. Not bad!
Bogota welcomed us with the greatest storm I have ever seen.
Clenching my motorcycle helmet I asked the cab driver: is it always like that?
The answer was reassuring: no, it has nor been raining for over 30 days.....
And in fact the following day was glorious.
In the spirit of "lets take it easy for the first few days" we pretty much saw everything that the capital has to offer in 1 day.
Highly recomended the museo Botero

Museo de l'oro

and the view from the monserrat:

The centre of Bogota looks fairly safe, maybe because heavily policed. The main roads are closed to the traffic on Sunday morning (people stroll around by foot and on bycicles) and all entrances to the museums are free, creating a huge atmosphere of party in the streets.
In the evening we went for a meal in the "zona rosa" which looks very modern and rich.
Highly recommended is the Club Colombia were food and service were excellent.
Here's Elena enjoying the fire place in the lounge at the restaurant

The nose looks pretty red not for the fire but for the sun burns acquired on monserrat in the afternoon.

Shipping the bike

Monday 11/07/2011 : Ipswich UK

Today is officially the first leg of the trip, 70 miles from London to Ipswich......Ok, nothing exciting you might say, except for the fact that I run on empty tank for most of the journey.
Of course there were plenty of petrol stations on the way, however I wanted to achieve 2 objectives: I was told I had to deliver the bike completely dry of petrol and I also wanted to test how many miles I could cover with the reserve. I can safely say that the bike covers at least 50 miles once the reserve light goes on. Quite useful information for the long rides in Patagonia.
I went to Ipswich to get the bike crated and ready for shipping. The company in charge is Dooley Rumble.
Mark Foster (ph 01473 835100) who met me at the premises in Great Blakenham was very professional and even gave me a ride back to the Ipswich train station.
It took them 6 hrs to crate the bike and I think the £400 spent was really worth it. I simply didn't want to take a chance.