It was fairly easy after all, and there are plenty of people doing it nowadays. The paper work just took quite a lot of time, and it would have been much harder without Iitu's very good Spanish skills, even though surprisingly many official did speak at least little English. Generally speaking the people in Central America do speak way better English than Spanish people. So many Gringos around I guess.
In Costa Rica we randomly met an Argentinian couple, Carlos and Samanta, who had just arrived from Colombia with their old Renault 12. They had spend a month sorting out the best and cheapest option and they happily told us everything they knew. Actually all we needed was the email address of Vicente Vargas, who is working in a shipping company called Wallenius Wilhelmsen logistics in Colon, Panama.
We needed to visit many different officials in different places in Panama City and Colon but
eventually paperwork was ready and only karma needed some extra care for its trip without us.
We packed everything under the bed and "sealed" it with plywood boards. The valuables for life we took with us, on the plane. Just in timberlake the boat sinks or other dreadful things occur. Occasion makes the thief and stevedores are rascals, haha.
Ready to go. Two dogs visited the van but didn't find any explosives or drugs. So there we left the van, alone in the big sketchy port of Colon and headed back to Panama City. Our part was done, we thought.
Well well, next morning we got a mail from the port that gas cylinder had to be removed from the car and only we were allowed to enter the van. So we headed back to Colon to remove the bloody cylinder, gasoline canister and lamp petrol. No burning liquids were allowed on board, now we know. We should have been smarter and hid the stuff deeper under the bed. From port to taxi ( who we made happy with these presents) , taxi to bus to taxi... we barely made it to the airport on time. Fortunately we found liquorice in the duty free, what a delicious end for a speedy frustrating day!!
In Cartagena, Colombia, every office was very much apart from each other. Stephanie from the Naves office was very helpful and so we got everything sorted out. And it took a lot of time but we had patience! In the end, with the shipping and all port payments we ended up paying 700$ for the whole thing. Not cheap, but bearable. Many people who struggled with same kind of transportation project paid much more.
Only major setback was that when the stevedore finally drove the van to us, there was only third and forth gear left. Somebody had changed the gear with extreme force and the shift stick was dislocated. Great. It was dark but with a lighter and a couple of tools we fixed it in two hours. Wasn't easy but we made it, Karma was back with us!
Colonial buildings in Casco Viejo, which has recently been dangerous slum, but is now getting popular area among young and trendy. Contrast can be seen as the poor and the elite are living side by side. Unfortunately many of the poor are getting kicked out of the way. The area is heavily guarded by police and private guards.
