(from the rock song by the Eagles)
Thats how Cartegena seems to me these days :)
Yesterday was another interesting one, And again the "escape plan" seems to be falling apart!
First off, we got a confirmation from the yacht captain we have been emailing, that he wants to come get us and take us to Panama... Awesome!
... But, there is a complication in that he does not have anyone who will come with him at the moment, and he needs a second experienced person to do it... problem indeed.
The captain had a friend/acquaintance that he was hoping would help, but that fell through... So, then the new plan was for his daughter (early 20s) who is living here in Cartegena to fly over there and sail back with him... OK, we are fine with that, since its out of his money, and not extra expense for us.
So, some internet research and some phone calls and we arrange to meet his daughter to get her a ticket. We figure out the options and the prices and the taxes... The daughter and the captain have a couple of chats by phone cos it costs more than hoped but they decide its OK... Greg and I have a few chats because there are several delays in the plan that we dont really want...It seems that it will take about four days longer than hoped and it is now little different to just sitting and waiting for one of the other boats but its a whole lot more effort...
Never the less, we all decide to "go for it" so we set about buying the flight ticket on-line...
... And the system wont take either Greg or my credit card details... (It expects all postal codes to be in US 5 digit format rather than Canadian digit/letter format!)
So, we are stuck again!!!
Everyone "takes a brake", and Greg and I have a bit of a chat and a chuckle as to our "ongoing predicament"!!
We decide that its more trouble than its worth to keep pushing at that plan, but there is still another possibility.
We phone up the captain again (hes over in Panama) and discuss the "Turbo" plan... Which is the same thing we tried to do with the original captain when the Cartegena side of things "went to pieces"... We propose meeting the captain further down the coast.
The plan has the benefit that
1) The captain can sail the route single handed (no flights or crew needed).
2) It will take less time by about three days.
3) We can confirm locations and times stage by stage
4) Greg and I already know where to stay and how to get there etc.
5) If it all "falls to pieces" again, we can still just catch another boat leaving from Cartegena on the 12th
The only down side is that we have to still organise our selves and motorbikes into a launch and out across the open sea for a few hours to get to the yacht! (but like I said last time, I think its possible)
So, Thats the new/old plan and in a couple of days we will be riding back to Turbo to try to escape the "evil clutches"of Colombia one more time!
Im not sure how, but Greg and I are still in good spirits and are beyond the stressing phase... Every time there is a new "complication" now, it just makes us laugh more :)))
Stay tuned for more developments in the continuing saga of our ill fated return to North America!!
