The Waiting Game

Right, well Im back in Cartegena again.
It took me another five days to ride back to the North coast of Colombia. Ive now done this section about five times, so on the way this time, I decided to take several slightly different roads to make it a bit more interesting. But in truth, it made very little difference... The country side and little towns were basically the same ride as previous times... Big mountains and valleys, green pastures, coffee and sugar cane plantations, and small but mostly very good quality highways.
There are still a few places in Colombia that Id like to go see, but they can mostly wait for a different trip as far as Im concerned...

And so, here I am in a beautiful but very hot and sticky coastal city in Colombia... waiting...

Waiting for a yacht... Not a particular yacht, just one that can take me and my bike back past the Darrien gap to Panama.
When I got here, I had managed to "just miss" the departure date of the yacht that I used a few months ago to come South... I wouldnt say it would have been my first choice for transport, but it was certainly cheap and effective, and Id have not hesitated to take the opportunity... But as I said, I missed that one.
Then there is a very nice, quite large, but also the most expensive yacht that does the trip... "Stahlrate"... And its in port here right now... But they are doing maintenance for the next six weeks and thats a longer wait than I want to hang around for!
Then there is a good sized catamaran that takes bikes too, and its leaving on the 25th which would be pretty well right... But Ive heard from lots and lots of people with first hand experience that hes expensive, doesnt know how to maintain (or care to) the boat, and excessively overcrowds the boat on every trip... It seems that the captain is a "business" man and enjoys making lots of money rather than the sailing or the yacht, or having happy customers !!
I really should probably just take this boat, but at the moment I cant bring myself to support this captain with my money rather than "anybody" else! But I have a few days before I have to commit on that one.:)

And so, here I wait...
Late yesterday, there was a rumour of another boat on the 27th... so Ill look into that today.
In the mean time, there are several nice and interesting people in the hostel Ive been at (unusually!) and so, it hasnt been too bad :) I spent a whole day helping a couple of them get their car through the customs and port formalities so that they can continue their journey South.
I also did the usual accumulated bike work which consisted of changing the rear tire, checking the bearings, and fully servicing the brakes again (they really need new seals in the slave callipers though) cos they were getting very spongy again. And I also managed to find a place that sold me a set of only "barely used" brake pads for my bike at well below the cost of buying new ones :) ...which Im surely gonna need before I make it back to Canada :)

So, Im amusing myself well enough, but even so, I have decided to head North a bit further to hang out at Taganga in the next day or two.
Its cheaper there and there is a beach and I can do the boat search thing by email.

... Oh, and I decided that Id probably try to buy a new camera when I get to Panama... They are apparently quite a bit cheaper there :)

And thats about all there is for status for now :))