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03.03.2020: Cartagena to Puerto Velero
We spent the morning sorting everything out, taking everything back into our motorhome, and Kirsten did a Western Union transfer. They have an office in the shopping mall so we could pick it up when we drive out.
It was 12-30 pm by the time we left and it took us a while to find the open air parking area to the supermarket. Then Kirsten spent a frustrating 1.5 hours trying to get our money from Western Union. She needed a verification pin number. Our phone wasn't working for phone calls so we had to set up the computer and use Skype.
The call centre is in Lithuania and they said it would take 3 days!! And that's for an immediate transfer!! Cost us a lot of time and money for nothing! But we've learned a lesson - we need to make an immediate transfer 4 days in advance!!
It was 3 pm by the time we finally left and extremely hot driving through the traffic to get out of Cartagena. We headed north to get to Puerto Velero, a tip from SeaBridge Uwe, and found a spot on the beach between palapas. We'd only just made it before dark and parked up at 5-45 pm.
It was very windy and we hadn't had a chance to take a look around yet. We worked on our website and had some empanadas (pasties) for our evening meal - way too hot to cook. It was still 30°C at 11pm!!
04. - 05.03.2020: Puerto Velero via Barranquilla to Santa Marta
We spent the next day on the beach. It wasn't really a mini holiday because we repaired our skylight and worked on our website. We got a bit sand blasted when we went for a walk but at least the temperature had come down to 33°C!
The following day we drove to Barranquilla via a photo stop of Ventana al Mundo. The carnival had long finished and there's nothing to see in the city but we were aiming for drinking water from a machine listed on iOverlander. We got through all the traffic, parked and got everything ready to get drinking water, put $2 worth into the machine and ... nothing!! The machine doesn't work!! Brilliant.
Next mistake - we drove through traffic to get to another Western Union. We'd already checked online that the money had been taken out of our account. But we still couldn't get our money!! Kirsten came back to fetch our smartphone to prove that the money had been taken out of our account. No good. We phoned Lithuania again. Still no money! She was extremely angry. She was told she could cancel but how would we get our money back when it's already been taken out?
Another 4 hours of frustration! Then lots of traffic to get out plus 4 tolls to pay. Ouch! We ended up having to drive in the dark again and missed what was supposed to be a great drive over a toll bridge because it was too dark!
We managed to find the dead end street listed on iOverlander in Santa Marta for the night but so had 3 other campers!! It was another very hot night - thank god our new fan works on battery all night.
06.03.2020: Santa Marta to the Northern Beaches and back
Unfortunately it was extremely loud the next morning and we got woken up at 6 am! The only good thing - our money is finally there but the local Western Union office closes at 12-30 pm but Kirsten was out chatting to everyone!! I had to pack everything up to get us ready to drive. I shouted to Kirsten that we had to leave. She just waved!! So I turned our vehicle around and she still kept talking!!! I had to shout for her so we could finally get going and hit heavy traffic again. It took 45 minutes at the office but we finally got our money. Yippee!
We also went to a drinking water place. I'd read on iOverlander that you can get your containers cleaned which means there's someone there - it's not just a machine in the wall that may or may not work!! It cost us only $4 for 82 litres!! Plus we got our containers cleaned! Super! Things were finally working out for us! But then Kirsten put a spanner in the works because she wanted to take a look at Taganga Beach. So we battled through heavy traffic for an hour. It wasn't really worth it.
Afterwards we battled our way back out to the main road where we could finally breathe again. I remembered an American we had met when we were looking at all the beautiful colibris and birds at Finca Alexandria about a month ago. He's married to a Colombian and although he'd lived here for 15 years, he'd never been up north. Why? He said it was just too hot!! Well our experience over the last few days confirmed that he was right. Too hot, too much traffic!
My plan for the day was just to drive out along the northern coast towards the border with Venezuela and then return to the same spot for the night. Of course after getting money and water, plus getting stuck in traffic, we didn't have much time left. But at least we got to enjoy a relaxing drive for an hour.
