Hasta Luego Colombia!!

Hasta Luego Colombia!!

We are leaving Colombia (and South America)! We have enjoyed our stay here, prolonged as it was due to the normal shipping shenanigans. After leaving Mompox, one of the ‘colourful towns‘ we continued to the coast expecting to ship Big Bertha in short order, but then we received an email to say the Colombian customs were not working over Easter and could we arrive sooner at the port. Time was already tight and so we had to roll over to the next vessel that would depart two weeks later. That’s two weeks in the sweltering heat of northern Colombia; but good training for Central America we suppose! After a couple of days camped on the beach at Palomino we moved on to a campsite inland and just outside Cartagena to wait for our ship. The campsite is owned by Graham – a Brit who has been in Colombia since the 70’s and who regaled us with his tales, including being held up at gunpoint and his time as the UK Honorary Consul. Dave fixed a few things on Big Bertha and prepared her for shipping.

Big Bertha is now at the port and we moved into an apartment in the historic centre of Cartagena, which is actually very nice (it’s lovely to have air conditioning). Fellow overlanders Gigi and Phillipe were also in town and we met up for a couple of very tasty evening meals. Then on Wednesday 7th May we departed South America and flew to Panama City. Central America here we come!

So what can we say about Colombia?

It was probably not the best time to visit, out of season and the rainy season approaching. But you can’t be in the right place at the right time all of the time when you are full time overlanding. We enjoyed the cooler areas – up in the highlands, but the northern coast is a sauna. The people are very friendly and we had no security issues at all. Shopping was fine, with most things being available; but we do miss Argentinian meat. Until we reached northern Colombia, and the end of the Andes, we didn’t think Colombia had level roads. They are either up, up, up, or down, down, down. Big Bertha really has done quite well considering.