Sorry if it has taken me a very long time to write something about my travels in Latin America. I haven't been in the mood to write anything. I deactivated, reactivated, deactivated again and finally reactivated my facebook account in the time I have been away.
I will try to post regular updates from now on, but my life is not easy at the moment so give me a break and enjoy the reading.
So the last update I had was when I was still in Colombia, looking for a boat to hitchhike back to Pamana. Well, I found it, but if you've been reading my blog you already knew this because I have been back in Guatemala for the past month. Anyways, so go to the fridge and grab a beer (or beers or something stronger), sit back and try to enjoy my writing (that what the alcohol is for).
If you want to hitch a boat you have to be in the right place. Of course, being at the right time also works. We were in Santa Marta, some 240ish kilometers from Cartagena. There are a few boats coming and going from Santa Marta but IS in Cartagena where the vast majority of boats go into and out of Colombia. We found a couple of work exchange job but it wasn't what we were looking for anyways. So we left and went to Cartagena without a clue of where we were going to stay, what to do to look for a boat or even how long we would have to stay.
I think I have been lucky so far in my travels. I know, I have been saying this, but I think I am. The first day we went to the Marina... short pausa to make a little explanation: if you tell any Colombian that you are looking for the Marina they will automatically think that you are looking for the Colombian Navy; they call it Club Náutico. That being said I shall continue. So the first day we were there it was the second day the Stahlratte was anchored. They were unloading four motorbikes. We had the chance to talk to the captain and he said that they some times take hitchhikers but in this particular ocassion they will have to stay for a month fixing the ship... "if you are here in July we talk about it" said to me Ludwig. This happened at the beginning of July. Joan, one Spanish volunteer onboard the ship came back to talk to us and he was super nice when he took us in the ship's dinghy to ask on basically all boats anchores in the bay.
We kept going back to the Marina every other day. If you want to succed in finding a boat, you have to keep going back every single day! Don't even tell anyone that you are looking for a boat to work. That will automatically shut the doors of the marina down for you. We did and even if we were inside with people from boats we were still getting kicked out.
I think I wrote before that you also need a shitload of luck. We had it. The ship's dinghy was stolen so they have to cut short all repairs and invest that money into a new one. Bad for them, good for us. Instead of leaving in July, they were to leave the following week. They needed to make money, they still needed the do some repairs to the ship so they did a quick run, instead of the regular 5 days that the trip takes, this one special trip would only last 3 days. Perfect for me as I'm not very boat friendly.
We were leaving wednesday June 27th at around noon and about the same time the following friday I was touching Pananamian soil and telling the fucking Kunas to go to hell because they charge you for everything. It's impossible to hitch out from Kuna territory. You have to take one of their (expensive) shuttle that coasts around 35$. I found a private car and bargain the fee down to 10$ each. From Carti to Panama City!
I thought I was never going back to Panama. I didn't want to and now here I was, again. Only this time going back. It's not the first time I say I'm never going back to somewhere I go back. First time happened with Czech Since I left I had been back several times. Second time with Poland, been back quite a few times and even thougth about living there. Now, I'm telling to myself that I'm not going back to Estonia but chances are I might end up there drinking my life away.
We kept going back to the Marina every other day. If you want to succed in finding a boat, you have to keep going back every single day! Don't even tell anyone that you are looking for a boat to work. That will automatically shut the doors of the marina down for you. We did and even if we were inside with people from boats we were still getting kicked out.
I think I wrote before that you also need a shitload of luck. We had it. The ship's dinghy was stolen so they have to cut short all repairs and invest that money into a new one. Bad for them, good for us. Instead of leaving in July, they were to leave the following week. They needed to make money, they still needed the do some repairs to the ship so they did a quick run, instead of the regular 5 days that the trip takes, this one special trip would only last 3 days. Perfect for me as I'm not very boat friendly.
We were leaving wednesday June 27th at around noon and about the same time the following friday I was touching Pananamian soil and telling the fucking Kunas to go to hell because they charge you for everything. It's impossible to hitch out from Kuna territory. You have to take one of their (expensive) shuttle that coasts around 35$. I found a private car and bargain the fee down to 10$ each. From Carti to Panama City!
I thought I was never going back to Panama. I didn't want to and now here I was, again. Only this time going back. It's not the first time I say I'm never going back to somewhere I go back. First time happened with Czech Since I left I had been back several times. Second time with Poland, been back quite a few times and even thougth about living there. Now, I'm telling to myself that I'm not going back to Estonia but chances are I might end up there drinking my life away.
