Wandering with Tedder and Tamara

For background on this story, read these two blog entries:
http://perljam.net/wandering/2007/05/528-529-colon-portobelo-and-loading.html
http://perljam.net/wandering/2007/06/530-64-portobelo-panama-to-cartagena.html

I've been needing to write up more about the disaster that was our trip with Steve Robbins on the Shenanigans, and I finally did it. Here's what prompted me:

"Hey guys, thought I'd let you know I spoke to Steve the other day. I told him what you said and he was "amazed", he said you'd had a great trip and he couldn't understand why you'd say a thing like that jajajajajajaja. Then he rang back to say that the reason you must have said that stuff was because he caught you with drugs on the boat. mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

"Thought you'd like to know, and that it would give you a big laugh!!!!!"

That is awesome. I'm glad this person knew a little more about the story than what Steve said. There were certainly no drugs on board, at least anything more than motion sickness pills!

There was a good quantity of alcohol, all supplied by Steve. We actually lobbed some overboard after realizing the danger he was posing to us by being drunk and passing out often.

Here's a little better summary.

Steve's boat is nice. It's older- from the 70s, I think- but he's taken care of it. I do believe he knows what he's doing, when he's sober. It has a few broken things, but he knows what he is doing and probably got at least some of them fixed before leaving Cartagena.

Lodgings- it is a small boat (36 ft). It has one bed, plus a couch that makes out into another bed. We got the 'cabin', which at least afforded us some privacy. The other couple (Richard and Amanda, from Sweden) were promised a private berth *and* private bath. Neither of those existed- they got the couch, which meant people always had to walk past.

The head was operable, but the door didn't shut. It had to be wedged partially shut, but would always be open 6-8 inches. That bothered Tamara and Amanda quite a bit.

Steve also promised us that nobody would go hungry on his ship, that he was a great cook, and such. Amanda told him that she was incredibly lactose-intolerant- Tamara was standing there as he was told that, he said he understood, and would shop accordingly. Steve bought a good amount of rum, claiming that Richard requested it. There were also several boxes of wine, and he bought beer right before leaving "for Richard".

You can guess where some of that is headed- Richard hadn't requested any of the alcohol, nor did he drink more than a beer or two. Steve started drinking immediately every morning, once we caught on we saw him taking a shot or two every hour, no matter the time of the day.

Steve talked a LOT about his fantastic pancakes and all the great breakfasts (and meals) that he would make, that it was part of his "job" for us, all we'd need to do is pilot for 15 minutes or so while he was fixing the meal. Almost every evening he promised pancakes the following morning. He never delivered on those pancakes. Most mornings we either skipped breakfast, or had some cereal. Admittedly, Steve did make a decent breakfast on two mornings.

Steve would usually make either lunch or dinner each day, but not consistently. They nearly always had milk products in them, and it became obvious that Steve had no clue what lactose intolerant meant. I'm sure he missed a day or two of making any meals- we just raided the pantry and ate junk food. On the final day, Steve actually groused that we didn't fix *him* breakfast!

Steve was also adamant about us not using water to shower or anything. He had a 180 gallon tank, and really was against it once there was about 100 gallons remaining. This wasn't the biggest complaint of the trip, but certainly didn't make the trip very enjoyable.

Steve had jugs of potable water. Well, he claimed it was potable. By the amount of material floating in the water, I don't believe it was filtered as he claimed. That meant we quit drinking any water for the final three days of the trip. It wasn't much fun.

It seemed that Steve's promises of when we'd leave various places always changed. The four of us asked him to leave San Blas, but it was 24 hours before he left. There was NO difference in weather. At first he said we'd leave that evening (after we asked him), that slipped to the next day.

I specifically asked Steve if he had AC (110v, mains power) available. He said yes, I could use the inverter anytime. He pulled it out twice during the trip- he wouldn't run it while the engine was off, he didn't like it if he was in the cabin, you name it. Richard and I banded together later in the trip to connect it once or twice more, but Steve wasn't terribly thrilled at us for that.

Steve claims using the inverter once had caused the batteries to drain. That doesn't surprise me- it was a huge inverter- but his boat was equipped with a shunt switch (to keep the 'house' batteries separate from the engine battery). So he either had it switched wrong or something. Steve said he had a small DC adapter that would power my laptop, but never looked for it. We did look for it once and didn't find it. We did find his gun, which horrified our Swedish friends. It didn't bother me much, except for the legality of it.

Back to the drunkenness. I didn't want to believe Richard on how bad it was, but it became increasingly obvious. During the passage to Cartagena, Steve stopped the boat in the middle of the night because of some thunderstorms. After waiting a few hours and listening to the boat engine idling, I went above to survey what was happening. Steve was totally passed out in the cockpit. I stepped over him, he mumbled a heading and speed, and I started piloting. We had all taken turns piloting, and I knew the heading and speed, so it wasn't hard (there's no way I would have understood what Steve had mumbled).

I ended up piloting for a good portion of the night- the thunder cells were on the sides, but not anywhere near our heading by then- and I finally woke up Richard at 6am for a stretch.

From there forward we decided we couldn't trust Steve at the helm and wouldn't leave him alone. That's when we searched and jettisoned any alcohol we could find without making it obvious.

On the final day, Steve became incredibly surly towards all of us. We weren't quite sure the reason, but didn't want to make things worse, of course. It took us the better part of a day to putter in through the channel (with every other ship passing us- Steve would only do 1-2 knots, stopped for any oncoming vessel, etc). He then rowed in to shore for two hours to drop off our passports, then came back to the ship.

After a while we convinced Steve to take the four of us in to shore. He wasn't happy, but went for it. It's a good thing we did- nothing that he promised us about the passport process was actually happening.

By late in the day we realized that Steve was getting crankier (despite having plenty of beers at shore), and he wanted to leave the bike onboard until the next day (even though us passengers would be at a hotel somewhere). I debated with him, he said (basically) "it's 3:30 now, it'll be dark before we untie the knots". I tried to give him a friendly bet to see if it would motivate him.

Finally I talked to the harbormaster, who did a very nice job of helping the process along. We couldn't have done it without him. Also, a Spanish-speaking friend of ours arrived on another sailboat right then, he had plenty of sailing experience, so we knew that would help things.

Once we went out to the ship, Steve was snappy and incredibly lethargic. He was angry that I got the ship fenders out to protect his boat(!) and made me put them away. We'd used them before, I don't know why he wouldn't want to. He was doing the minimum he needed to do to make the process move along.

Thankfully, we had a lot of muscle to get things going. Steve wouldn't tie the knots, but our friend knew what he was doing. Tamara controlled the rate of descent of the bike into the lancha, and Steve kept encouraging her to let the bike drop much faster. Thankfully, she wouldn't listen to him.

The rest of the process went okay. Because it was too late for customs, we left the bike on shore for the night. We knew we'd have to do that, but at least Steve couldn't sabotage it or anything overnight. We also got everything removed from the ship that night.

We got to the marina late the next morning, Steve claimed the customs agent was agitated because he'd told us that we were supposed to be there at a given time. Obviously we weren't told that (the customs agent had told Steve the time)- though Steve claimed otherwise. The customs agent already knew some of what was going on, and it wasn't a big deal. He obviously wasn't agitated.

To Steve's credit, he found a gear bag we'd left behind on the ship and gave it to us that morning. That bag was worth hundreds of dollars, so we were thankful for that. Still, he took delight in the length of the customs process, plus the trouble we had starting the bike, and such.

We were happy to have it OVER, no matter what.

*Tamara posting*

Sunday 6/24

We had a down day today, mostly because we had to do laundry. That was fine for the washing, but the building only has one dryer, and we spent the rest of the day checking on it to try and get it when it was free. It meant that we didn't have any warm clothes to wear so we just worked on stuff at home.

I cooked an artichoke I'd bought at the local market and it was really good. I'm pretty sure they don't grow here in Ecuador, but possibly are imported from Chile. In any case, they are quite a bit cheaper here than at home.

Monday 6/25

Volunteering went well today - I spent a lot of the day in the filing room, but got to spend a bit of time with the 'other' medical doctor who is also very friendly. He likes to joke around a lot, and it is obvious that the kids really like him.

Ted went off to meet with some HU folks that were in town. They weren't in, but the front tire of the bike was basically flat, so he had to fill it. We don't know why it was suddenly low, though it did spontaneously become low in Guatemala too.

From our apartment we can hear the buses shifting on the street. Ted taught me to recognize the sound of the blowoff valve, meaning they are turbocharged. It makes sense- we are above 9000 feet.

In the evening, Ted got to meet the HU folks for dinner. He says they were delightful, and there were about 8 people at the gathering.

Tuesday 6/26

I wasn't feeling well this morning, and decided it probably wasn't a good idea to do the volunteering today. I think it is just the food or water since they are just the normal stomach symptoms. I was feelin better by the afternoon, so I went ahead with my Spanish lesson.

We had a late lunch at a fantastic Italian restaurant and gelateria - Ted says it is the best ice cream on the planet. I have to agree that it is very good! The food there is excellent as well. I'm glad Ted got that recommendation from the HU folks.

Ted only slept two hours last night, so he wasn't feeling great. He worked on a bunch of trip photos.

Wednesday 6/27

I'm still not feeling great, but did my volunteering and cut my Spanish lesson an hour short. I watched and tried to help out the dentist today at the clinic, but there isn't much I could do without knowing the names for the instruments, etc. One thing bothered me though - he does all the fillings without any novacaine or other anesthetic. I can't imagine how much that would hurt! I asked if the reason was because the anesthetic is expensive, but he just said it isn't necessary. No wonder some of the kids were really scared of coming in to see him!

Some of the kids were bored while waiting for their siblings to be examined and treated, and I remembered that I had a packet of colored pencils and my notebook in my backpack. The kids loved drawing pictures for me :) One little girl (5) came and sat on my lap, but then it was her turn in the dentist's chair and she just started sobbing. She didn't stop crying the whole time she was being treated. It was really sad :(

Ted did some grocery shopping, and got an appointment to see an english-speaking doctor about his sleep.

6/28

I'm feeling sick still - no real big problems with diarrhea or vomiting, just don't feel good. I didn't go to the clinic or do my Spanish lessons today - hopefully the extra rest will help me get over this bug.

Ted has been cranking out the photos, mostly because of how much trouble he's had sleeping.

Belize


Guatemala: Border to El Remate


Guatemala: El Remate


Guatemala: Tikal: Ruins


Guatemala: Tikal: Other



Guatemala: Santa Elena to Rio Dulce


Guatemala: Rio Dulce


Guatemala: Rio Dulce to border

Labels: picture-post

Picture Post: Mexico: Yucatan #2: Puerto Morelos, Tulum, and the Cenote

This is the end of our Mexico pictures, with the exception of one folder- we are kind of stuck waiting for some pictures to be scanned so we can finish it.

Puerto Morelos


Tulum (ancient ruins on the sea)


Cenote (including a video!)

Labels: picture-post

* Tamara posting *

Sunday 6/17

We didn't do a ton today, just went shopping and explored. The main road in front of our apartment was closed to autos in one direction to make way for weekend bicycle riding. It appears to be sponsored by Bike Stop Ecuador. There are a lot of families out bike riding and playing in the parks (which Quito has a lot of).

I went out with our moto friend Josh for dinner with Eleanor, whom he met at the hostal. We had an enjoyable evening with lots of conversation.

Monday 6/18

Today was more of the same really. I met with the volunteer office for Children International and did my orientation. I will be working in a poor area in the south of Quito at a community center with a dentist and doctor. My volunteering starts properly on Thursday, but I get to visit the clinic on Wednesday to learn the way there and meet the staff. I am really looking forward to this as it should be a very rewarding experience. It will be fun to combine my medical interest with neat kids and more practice of the language.

I also was able to find a Spanish tutor to come to the apartment to give me lessons. This will be better than a school because my volunteer schedule goes until afternoon Mon-Thurs and I won't have to spend more time going from the clinic to a school and then to the apartment. Hopefully it works out with Ted since we will have to share the space.

We spent more time with Josh today. We were going to go to Mitad del Mundo (middle of the earth at the equator) but he isn't feeling well. So we had more good conversation and were able to help him find some heated riding gear to order for the rest of his journey south.

Tuesday 6/19

We met Josh this morning and went together to Mitad del Mundo. Ted made sure to take the GPS so he could see how far off we were from the actual equator - it is really far off! The actual line isn't even on the museum property. Still, the monument is cool to see and there were some fun tourist shops and a post office where we got to stamp our passports with a “middle of the world in Ecuador” stamp.

Hanging out with Josh really paid off for us today. He was able to talk his way into taking our bikes into the property - up to the museum entrance to take pictures of them across the line. He is apparently a 'famous writer' and we're his, uh, photographers. :)

I had my first Spanish lesson here in Quito this afternoon with Monica. Apparently the professor I had spoken with on the phone had somehow gotten the impression that my Spanish was very good. She had a full schedule but set me up with another instructor who got the proficiency information... so the first lesson was not planned for my limited abilities. It is funny to think that I came across as being an advanced student - especially on the phone, which is very difficult for me. Future lessons should go well though, now that the professor has a better of idea of what my skill level is.

I tried to make coconut rice like we had in Panama. I cooked the rice with coconut milk and had to add some water so that the rice would cook fully. It never did get very fluffy and it didn't taste enough like coconut. It was okay, but definitely didn't live up to what I was hoping for.

Wednesday 6/20

I met the other volunteer, Laura, today at the volunteer headquarters and got shown the way to the community center where we will be working. It is in a poor neighborhood and about an hour from the apartment by bus.

The community center was very interesting - they have a nicely stocked library and computer center that are open to the whole community. In addition, they have, of course, the dentist and doctor's offices. The people there are very friendly and there are tons of cute kids everywhere. I will be working Mon-Thurs 8:30-2:30 and get a long weekend. I start tomorrow morning and I'm looking forward to it!

I had my second Spanish lesson this afternoon and it is going better. We went over the names of the parts of the body and other volunteering-specific phrases. In addition, I finally learned the Spanish alphabet (so I can do eye tests). I feel like this should be a nice mix between regular lessons (learning verbs, nouns, etc) and experience-specific learning from my questions and what I need at the clinic.

Ted explored some of the malls around this area and found some good stickers. There are apparently a lot of shopping centers here with a good variety of stores.

* Tamara posting *

We were glad to sleep in this morning - the past few days have been a lot of riding and very technical riding.

We went to the South American Explorers clubhouse to collect a package (hasn't arrived yet though) and browse their listings for a language school for me. It is a nice place to hang out and they have a ton of information on all the various countries and activities.

That area of town is where all the embassies are - in cute older buildings. There was a marked difference with the US embassy though - it actually had streets closed around it and was very military-looking. Even the United Nations office down the street from our apartment doesn't have anything near that kind of security. Though that does seem to say something about the foreign situation with the US.

We did a little more grocery shopping this evening - it is interesting to see how different the prices are. For example, a smallish jar of peanut butter was $3.89 while carrots were $0.27/pound and cucumbers $0.24/pound. Things like 'Florida's Natural' orange juice (imported, I assume) are relatively expensive.

The grocery store is well-stocked and just around the corner (actually in the big mall) and so it's very convenient. I am looking forward to trying some new fruits. There are a bunch that I've never heard of, but I can't remember many names. I did buy some juice from 'tomate de arbol' which was kind of strange, but not bad.

And just as a warning - since we are here in Quito for a while we may join a few days' worth of posts instead of updating the blog every day since things will hopefully be fairly routine.

We started the morning by getting the bike imported. Ecuadoreans are very nice people- very friendly, helpful, patient. It's probably the only border crossing we've done where no money changed hands. It took a little bit of time (it always does), but it went well.

It's worth noting that gas prices dropped significantly when we crossed into Ecuador. Regular unleaded is $1.48/gallon, premium is nearly $2.00, and diesel is a few pennies over $1.00. Yes, those are US dollars. We do have to pay for tolls now- they were free in Colombia. Unlike Mexico, though, there are moto-specific prices- so a moto pays 20 cents at each tollbooth, where a car will pay anywhere between 60 cents and $1.50, depending on the location. We probably paid at 6 tollbooths in 130 miles.

The trip to Quito was much like yesterday. It is all two-lane, very curvy, hugging the side of the mountain. We dropped a few thousand feet, but mostly stayed above 7000 feet the whole day. It was about 130 miles, 4.5 hours, so again the average was about 27mph. Pretty crazy- it's hard to get used to making so little progress. I think we only stopped once, and that was for gas.

We did see a gaggle of bikes going the other way. There were some new BMWs, a KTM 950, and quite a few V-Stroms (both big and small). They were only running topcases, and their plates were black on yellow. That means they aren't from Colombia or Ecuador. I wonder where they are from. It seemed like a mix of bikes, not what I'd expect from a bike tour company. I would have spun around and caught up if they had recognizable plates.

About 10 miles before Quito, we passed the equator. There wasn't a monument or anything- the guidebooks indicate museums, but they must be on a different highway. Anyways, we stopped, moved the bike until we could rock back and forth between 0 deg N and 0 deg S, and took a bunch of pictures. It was a neat moment- there is something really cool about crossing significant marks such as this.

Interestingly, if we went due north to the same longitude as Seattle, we would be about 200 miles north of Toronto, Canada. That is basically well north of Buffalo, New York. It's weird to think that we are so far to the east.

Quito is a fairly typical big city. Traffic is tough, it's hard to get your bearings, and such. We didn't have much trouble finding our apartment, though. The bike is nestled into its secure parking space, we are in a one-bedroom apartment with a nice kitchen and living area. There's a mall diagonally across the street with plenty of restaurants, a supermarket, and a Radio Shack. And we have Internet access.

We'll be here for a full month. Tamara will (hopefully) be volunteering and taking Spanish classes, I'm going to work on some projects and get the photos uploaded.

Another country. Not without an another Adventure, though.

We slept in a little at Santander, had breakfast downstairs, then zipped down the highway. For the entire day we were in twisties- and I mean serious twisties. It was a bit like crossing Rattlesnake Grade (and the other Chase the Snake type roads) with Alaskan fjords with Californian mountain roads- both north and south. It was spectacular- huge canyons, incredible views, you name it.

However, at one point I felt the back tire go flat. The sensation was sort of sudden, like the bike dropped a hair. Well, I thought it went flat. I immediately pulled over and checked the wheel- it was fine. So I went another half-mile, and knew what was wrong. I lost another rear bearing.

So, I found a nice place to stop, and began taking the bike apart. We removed the three cases, put one under the bike as an improvised workstand, then pulled the rear wheel. Sure enough, the same bearing had failed. The remaining bearings came tumbling out, then I removed the inner race. Just like last time, I couldn't remove the inner race- I didn't have a Big Enough Hammer, among other things.

We were just approaching a small town, so after trying to hammer the bearing out, I hoisted the tire on my shoulder and walked into town. I found a tire repair place (every town has at least one), and tried to explain my problem. My favorite solution would have been to use a Dremel to grind out the race, but that wasn't going to happen. The guys at the shop pulled out scrap metal (large bolts and such), found a piece that fit inside the outer race, then welded it to the race.

We then flipped the tire over and tried to beat the race out. The welds failed.

So, another few pieces of metal. I was a little bumped because he wasn't worried about the rust or any sort of surface prep- I am so OCD about welding prep. But he tacked the pieces of metal, then did some full welds around the race. We flipped the tire over, and it came out. Excellent!

I borrowed their Big Hammers, installed the new bearing (I've been carrying two spares), then I hoisted the tire and walked back to the bike. It was 0.3 miles- not far, but the rear wheel is heavy and very awkward. I used a BMW strap over my shoulder to carry it- that was better than just carrying it with my hands, but still difficult.

It took Tamara and I about 45 minutes to get things back together. The bearings hadn't seated fully, so it was a bit of work to get everything in. Plus, the inner race of the new bearing wasn't perfect, so the axle bolt was a little troublesome to get installed.

Finally, we got it, and went on our way. It took two hours (okay, 122 minutes), which is a lot better than the several days we spent in Guatemala with the same problem.

From there to the border was another 110 miles. The curves stayed, and we started climbing more- for instance, we climbed 7200 feet in 33 miles, then dropped 4400 feet in 10 miles (8.3% grade), then climbed 3500 feet in 20 miles.

The border crossing was fairly easy, but the customs office wasn't open, so we need to come back tomorrow to register the bike. Our passports are stamped, and we are in Ecuador, but we aren't totally legal yet. We are only about 5 miles inside the border, so going back will be easy enough.

The altitude definitely takes a toll on small-displacement bikes. The DL650 was probably down 20-30% of its horsepower at 10,000 feet. (Do any of you smart people know how to do the math on this? I'd like to know). In fact, when we were in Tulcan, I backed up a little and tried to make a hard left uphill turn. I revved the engine and dropped the clutch, but the bike just bogged, and we went down. I have to give the bike more revs, especially on something like that (a steep uphill). It feels and sounds like I'm trying to start in second gear.

Passes have the same problem, but not as bad. The DL makes good top-end power, so it's just matter of letting it rev high enough. The curves are so tight that we'd spend a lot of time in first gear if we were following vehicles. It's pretty gratifying to pass in first, with the bike nearly bouncing off the rev limiter.

It ended up taking us 10.5 hours to cover 220 miles. You can remove 2 hours for the repair, plus another half-hour for eating, but 8 hours for 220 miles is still only 27.5 miles per hour. That shows how curvy the road was.

We left Bogota a little while after 8, but it took us a full hour to leave the city. Traffic is bad, and it took us a bit to find the correct exit to the city. One small mishap- I was splitting around traffic, actually on the left 'shoulder'. A curb was a little higher than normal, and it caught the left case. Of course, the bike quickly fell to the right. Thankfully Tamara and I caught it before it hit the newish car a few inches away- but the driver was confused, didn't know what to do, and nearly ran over Tamara's foot.

It wasn't much of an issue, but I realized the end of the shifter peg was sheared off. The DL650 has a bad design for a wannabe dualsport bike- the shifter peg is one piece, cast aluminum. When Ken 'Hyder Slider' Morton had an Incident, he had the same thing happen. We rode for about an hour, then stopped at a small hardware store. The guy let us borrow a drill and drill bit, plus supplied us with a bolt and a couple of nuts so we could make a replacement shifter peg. It turned out quite well. Shifting was easier after that- an hour of hooking my heel under the shifter was getting tiresome.

Some time after this we dropped out of the mountains and into a valley. Of course, the trip down to the valley was spectacular- we dropped about 7000 feet, ending up around 1000 feet above sea level. The valley was full of corn, coffee, and sugarcane. The transport trucks for the sugarcane are kinda cool- it is basically a road train of open-top trailers. So, picture a regular semi truck with *six* trailers behind it, instead of 1-3.

At one point we were stopped at a military checkpoint. The checkpoints are everywhere in Colombia, but we hardly have to even slow down for them. At this one, they inspected our paperwork, then told us about the great salsa (dancing) in Cali, and associated America with Yosemite. That amused Tamara.

After the valley was a high mountain range. We quickly climbed 9000 feet, crossed the ridge (full of military guards with weapons, like all passes in Colombia), then dropped about 6000 feet down the other side. The road was very technical, the views were dramatic, and I had my hands full passing trucks, avoiding oncoming trucks that were using both lanes, and negotiating the endless hairpin turns. The corners of the luggage got more than their share of time on the pavement from the tight turns.

From there it was on to our destination, a small city south of Cali called Santander de Quilichao. The traffic around Cali was heavy, so we had bypassed it. This town has a nice little hotel with restaurant, we parked the bike *in* the restaurant, ate dinner, then retired to our room for a quiet evening.

While eating in the restaurant, some young boys came up and were asking about the bike. Surprisingly, they knew it was a V-Strom! Tamara asked why they knew that- they have seen a yellow V-Strom before, and remembered it. They were knowledgeable and very curious, which was fun.

Speaking of 'stroms, we have seen three in Colombia so far. That is a lot, really, considering we haven't seen any since running into our friends in Mexico.

* Tamara posting *

We had planned on leaving Bogota today to start the trip to Quito, but we realized we had an extra day. So instead we stayed in Bogota to relax and get our laundry done (recurring theme).

I tried a new fruit juice with lunch - something called 'maracuya'. I really like it, and the great waiter wrote down the names of some fruit juices for me. The other one I hadn't tried was 'lulo'.

We looked up those fruits when we had internet access - maracuya is a kind of passionfruit, and lulo is a popular Colombian fruit. I bought a lulo at the supermarket to try it - it was kind of bitter, and looked like a tomato on the outside, with juice & seeds inside. I will have to try it as a juice now.

I liked the maracuya so much that when we got ice cream at the famous Crepes & Waffles, I got that flavor (along with a scoop of chocolate of course!).

This is Monday, and it's Corpus Christi, which is apparently a big holiday in Colombia. As far as we're concerned, it means that hardly anything is open. Maybe 20% of the shops are open. We figured we'd get around that by going to some of the larger malls that are north of downtown. The first few were completely closed, and a few indicated they would open at noon. We browsed through a few, then eventually went to a larger mall even further out.

It was probably 70% open, and huge. We didn't want anything (except for some more Magic cards), but we did find an internet/phone center. We did some research on where to buy Magic cards, then faxed a page back to the States for our real estate listing.

We went to a final mall to buy Magic cards. There was a decent salon, so I finally got my hair cut. I haven't had it cut since late March, so it was really shaggy. The cut was $3, plus a little bit for a tip. Not bad.

For most of the day we used the TransMilenio. They are large buses (supporting 50 seated passengers and another 110 standing) that operate on dedicated roadways. I thought they would go at higher speeds, but the roadways aren't grade-separated, so there are often people walking across them. Still, 1300 pesos (about 65 cents) gives you access to the buses, including free transfers (like in a subway). The 'tickets' are on plastic cards, so you can buy as many credits as you want. I wish Seattle did something like that for their transit system.

Our area of town, La Candelaria, is the bohemian/student quarter of town. It's fairly run-down, but young, plenty of internet cafes (none that would let me use the laptop- WTF?), and a ton of pizza joints. I think other food would be available but again, almost everything has been closed since we arrived in Bogota. There is a bit of graffiti on the walls, fairly artsy stuff, often protesting anti-homosexual attitudes, TLC (the Latin America free trade treaty) or the like. There are also a lot of artsy critters, including a great octopus.

Another interesting thing in Bogota is 'moto alley', which isn't far away from here. It is a couple of blocks jam-packed with motorcycle shops- stores, repair shacks, you name it. It was crazy! I've never seen so many bikes! I've never seen a town that was so bike-friendly, either. It's pretty cool. (It's also worth noting that we saw another Colombian DL650 today- second one we've seen)

We had dinner at the requisite pizza joint. They served pizza by the slice, but they would cook it after you chose it from the display area. That was pretty cool, we thought.

Tomorrow we'll start on the way to Quito, Ecuador. That means we'll probably spend a night in or near Cali.

*Tamara posting*

We didn't end up liking our room last night very much. It was cheap, which is always nice, but it also meant a shared bathroom, rather uncomfortable bed, and quite a bit of street noise. We went back to Platypus to pick the owner's brain and got a great recommendation just down the road. We ended up here at an older hotel with a really big suite for a very reasonable price. We are glad to have a computer desk, comfy chairs, and a good bed.

After a nap to compensate for lost sleep in the night, we walked a couple blocks down to the Gold Museum - purported to be perhaps the most important museum in South America. This was my main reason for wanting to visit Bogotá. We even managed to make it on a free day, though it was a bit crowded. The museum houses pre-Columbian gold artifacts, and had an impressive number of objects - especially considering that the Conquistadores melted all their findings to be sent back to Spain as gold bars. There was an amazing amount of detail in the jewelry and ceremonial items, and it was really interesting to see how the gold was used prior to the Conquistadores' arrival.

We spent the rest of the afternoon just lounging - Ted spent some more time at Platypus using their Wifi while I curled up in the leather chairs in our hotel room and read. Things closed early (6pm) for the evening though, and we had a bit of a hard time finding a place to eat. It is most likely because it is Sunday, and perhaps because it is a holiday weekend here in Colombia.

* Tamara posting *

I was finally feeling a bit better, after sleeping the entire day & night, so we headed on toward Bogotá. There were a number of small, colonial-style towns along the way. We stopped at a couple that had neat churches to take some pictures and get a short break off the bike.

Also on the road past a small town we passed an R12GS and a DL650 headed the other way - honking and waving at us. Ted pulled a quick U-turn and we chased them for a bit. They didn't stop, and they had Colombian plates, so we turned back around.

As we neared Zipaquirá the soil got very red, and we passed several brick plants. It was cool to see the bricks in various stages of manufacture - in the moulds, drying, ready to be loaded. These towns were predominantly brick buildings, which makes sense, but made me wonder about earthquakes.

Once we made it to Zipaquirá we had a hard time finding the salt mine we intended to visit. The salt mine is supposed to be very large and there is a famous cathedral built out of the salt inside the mine. After circling town a couple times we stopped for some lunch to refuel. We finally found our way with the help of some locals and lots of pointing and gesturing, but not before we took some fun roads up into the hills to look around. The mountains there are beautiful and the forests have eucalyptus growing naturally. It smelled wonderful!

The salt cathedral was interesting, though I think we both like the mine aspect of the tour than the actual cathedral. It was built about 12 years ago to replace the old one that had become dangerous due to water eroding the salt rock. The salt in the rock form in the mine is black or gray, not the bright white one expects. The cathedral was pretty modern in design, with four impressive round columns and a giant cross. The acoustics were very good as well.

From there it was a short distance until we entered the Bogotá sprawl. Traffic was heavy, but the mass transit seems to be a good option. It is the TransMilenio - a fleet of articulated buses that run on separate lanes along the major roads. We are looking forward to using this system to get across town and do some exploring.

We got confused by the map in our guidebook and spent about 40 minutes trying to find the hostel, Platypus, we knew would have good recommendations on where to stay (since the hostel was full). When we did finally make it, we were rewarding with a very friendly greeting by the owner who let us park our bike in his empty lot and welcomed us to use his internet whenever we wanted. He gave us a cheap hotel recommendation and they called to comfirm they had a room available. It was a wonderful experience, and we know why Platypus is so highly recommended.

We started relatively early, riding the motorcycle out of the hospitaje in San Alberto and onto the street. That was fun, mainly because of a 45 degree ramp upwards onto the street- I had to give the bike some juice to keep it from high-centering. Luckily, Tamara was on the street, ensuring that I wouldn't plow into traffic or pedestrians.

The day started out warm, but once we began the climb into the mountains the temperature was quite pleasant. We ended up climbing from about 400 feet to nearly 6000 feet, before ending the day at about 3000 feet in San Gil. The road is fantastic- very curvy, plenty of switchbacks and other engineering tricks to keep me busy.

Tamara isn't feeling well, she has some sort of stomach/headache thing going on. So we cut the day short, ending in San Gil rather than going the extra 150 miles to Bogota. We'll do that tomorrow.

The town of San Gil is really neat. It reminds me a little of San Miguel (Mexico), because a lot of the businesses are inside of large buildings with courtyards. That can make it a little difficult to find businesses- I walked about eight blocks before finding an Internet cafe. After I knew what to look for, I found that there were usually one or two on each block.

We found a large selection of hotels. The first one we went to had an inner area for parking the bike, which was nice. However, the room was similar to the hospitaje- just barely a step above a jail cell, and they were asking about $30 for it. We went down the street to a fancy-looking place. They wanted $12 for a very nice room with large windows, clean and modern bathroom, and a balcony. We had to park the bike around the corner (it'll cost us $5-6), but it is a significantly better deal than the first place!

If we didn't have some plans to be in Ecuador soon, we might spend an extra day or two here. It is a nice-sized city with a lot going on- live music, friendly people, you name it.

We wanted to leave Cartagena early today, but needed to wait for a couple of vehicles to leave so we could get the motorbike out. We told them we'd leave at 9am, and the cars were gone then. So, I packed things out and got going.

Through some weird shipping issues, we don't have a map of Colombia. So we stopped at a service station and bought a fairly crummy map- it'll do, given the easy route we are running through Colombia. It still took us most of an hour to get across town, but we finally made it.

The trip from Cartagena to Bogota is 19 hours by bus, so we figured we wouldn't make it in a day, especially with the late start and the military checkpoints we were expecting. So, we figured we'd go about halfway. The first half (all of today) involves some roads that aren't entirely straightforward- we took the wrong road at least three times, having to make a quick u-turn and backtrack a short distance. The map is helpful, and the GPS maps for Colombia are decent, so that helps.

The bike problems persisted in the morning, making the navigation through Cartagena fairly excruciating. Basically, the bike will hardly gain revs while under 3000rpm (and that is with no load- it certainly won't if it is driving the bike). So I pull in the clutch until the RPMs increase, then dump it out. Secondly, the bike starts to stumble above 5500rpm. That means I only have a useful range of about 2000rpm. Good times. Luckily it improved after the first 100 miles. That's been the case with my bike for about a year. I think I know what's wrong, but it involves stripping the bike down so I can get to an injector wire. As long as it corrects itself, I won't worry much.

More interestingly, some of the roads (or some of the sections of highway) have tolls. We'd heard through HU that the roads are free for motorbikes- sure enough, when you come to the toll booths, there is a very skinny 'sidewalk' for motorbikes. It is about 40 feet long, 3 feet wide, and has a curb between you and the traffic. So you just ride in a very straight line through that, which allows you to jump the queue *and* avoid paying. Sweet! I wonder if that is the cause or effect with relation to all the motorbikes in Colombia.

As expected, there are a lot of checkpoints. They aren't like the ones in Mexico- more like a simple traffic stop. We were waved through all of them- well, all but one, and I think that guy just wanted to talk. They seem to be military, but I could easily be wrong. There were a couple of APC's at one of the checkpoints- I really wanted a picture.

The whole day was hot. At 9am we saw a sign indicating 33 degrees C (91 . I have no idea how hot it is now. Probably for the best. Of course, we are still below 500 feet in elevation. Once we climb things will cool down significantly.

The little town of San Alberto has a couple of little hospitajes, which are basically like very low-end hotels. You get a room with no AC, no windows, and such. Two things make this one nicer- we were able to ride the motorbike into the main hallway, and it has a fan. Still, we would have paid more for a nicer place if it existed. Oh well.

* Tamara posting *

I took the bus from our hotel to the center of town. I had a bit of trouble finding the right bus, but another passenger helped me and showed me the right place to get off. I met Richard & Amanda to spend the day sightseeing with them. Ted stayed near the hotel, taking care of our laundry and working on our backlog of photos.

We (Richard, Amanda & I) walked around the center a bit to look at the beautiful buildings. We decided to go see the old fort, which was quite a walk. It was really neat - an impressive and menacing¨"castle". This one was more of a fortress than the one I toured in Campeche - I don´t know if the difference is for land vs. sea defense or just period & circumstance.

Afterwards we took a taxi back to the center to get lunch and maybe cool off in a museum. Instead, we ended up in an emerald jewelry store! Colombia is known for its emeralds, and I found a cute silver necklace to buy as a souvenir :)

During our walk we were asked by a group of college girls to do a video interview for their tourism class. I agreed and was soon put on the spot. There were the normal questions - do you like the city, how old are you, do you like the food, music, etc? A few interesting ones too though- what do I think of couples that don´t have children, and what is my opinion on international adoption? The girls were cute in that way that a group of girls always is..

Richard and Amanda wanted to see the area we are staying in, so we went and visited Ted at the hotel for a bit. Afterwards, we walked around Bocagrande and got fresh fruit juice and did some window shopping.

It was a great day, as I had friends to do touristy stuff with, and Ted was able to get some alone/down time.

Random note: At our first hotel in Cartagena our shower consisted of a piece of PVC tubing sticking out of the wall. It worked fine, especially because we were in such need of a shower. They are interesting though. That seems to be common- we've seen that in other hotels.

* Tamara posting *

We finally got out of the marina around 6 or 7 and from there we left with Richard and Amanda. We all piled in a taxi to find a hotel we expected to be cheap and have air conditioning. It took a lot of asking since we had only the street name, and then the hotel was full. They called their 'sister' hotel who had vacancies. We walked the block over, but the rooms weren't great for the price ($30). We finally broke down and got them. It was getting late, and we really really wanted to shower and eat.

The hotel couldn't take our dollars, so we had to find a *working* ATM (taking longer than it should) and come back to pay for the room. We all walked around to find a restaurant which proved to be more difficult than we thought. It was getting late and things were closing up. Also, we didn't know the right areas to look for food. We ended up at a good Chinese restaurant (which amusingly I found listed in our guidebook later that night). We ordered way too much food - their servings were enormous. We gave the leftovers to a homeless man (Richard's great idea!).

After we gorged ourselves we tried to find an internet cafe still open - it was about 9:40 by then. We found one open til 10, but had to share a computer with Richard & Amanda, so just did a quick email check before heading to the hotel for the night.

First impressions of Cartagena: pretty city, lots of people walking around, lots of vendor carts. It reminds me a lot of Campeche, but dirtier. The buildings have a lot of the same pastel and white colors - very Caribbean. Still, there are a lot of beautiful old churches, and the city has an old wall like Campeche, which is always really cool to me.

There are a lot of motorcycle taxis, which are purported to be very dangerous. However, with lane-splitting they are much faster than a car and cost a lot less. They carry an extra helmet on their arm or on the handlebars. Almost all are full-face helmets, but Ted says he's seen hardhats being used instead. There are also a lot of motorcycles in general. The motorcycle drivers are required to wear a safety vest with their license plate number on the back, or for it to be displayed on the back of their helmet. The rumor is that this is because of motorcycles being used as drive-by vehicles, but who knows.

Also, the streets change names a lot, making it hard to find where we are on the map from our guidebook. Interestingly, street signs outside the old center have an advertisement spot at the top of the post - most are sponsored by Visa.. just strange.

6/5: Cartagena day 2 (Tamara posting)

We went to find an internet cafe first thing this morning. Luckily it was open and we were able to take care of some things. We had a quick breakfast with fresh pineapple juice - so good after none since San Jose, then jetted back to the marina to work on the bike importation.

We were greeted by Cap'n Steve, who told us that the importing agent, David, was really upset because he (David) *explicitly* told us to meet him here at 8:00 am. We were never told this, and I told Steve that, but we were willing to wait for him to come back, in 40 minutes. When David arrived, he wasn't upset with us, and confirmed that he had given the meeting time to Steve (no surprise that we never heard it). I told this to David, again no problems. However, the official office was closing in 30 minutes, which wasn't enough time. So we set up to meet him at the marina at 2.

In the meantime, we used the laptop (without 'net access), and also read, drank, and ate some food. The bike is on land now, so we are happy - until the next snafu... the bike wouldn't start. Not terribly surprising, but annoying. We gave it a few tries, with rests in between, then Ted started to tear into the bike - checking the spark plugs (looked fine). I was sent in a taxi to get starter fluid with some help from David who relayed the information to the driver. Again, no luck starting the bike, but it was really close!

After some more discussion, we decided to try to jump-start the engine, but the taxi driver didn't have cables. So another ride in the taxi and I bought jumper cables ($23) and it worked like magic. Ted says the bike's voltage was high enough to start, but not high enough for a strong spark. I traded the taxi driver the cables for the second cab ride and his help - a very good deal for him. There was an eager helper with Ted, but he was actually helpful and seemed to know what he was doing, so we let him help us put the bike back together ($2.50 tip).

It was time to meet David, and we'd seen him around while putting the bike back together, but then he disappeared. No matter, we just hung out til he came and led Ted to the import office on his bike to get the paperwork done. The bike had to be there at the office so they could inspect the VIN, which is normal, but is why we were in a hurry to get the bike started.

Ted got back in about 90 minutes. All the paperwork is in order and we are set and done! According to our run of luck lately, the bike isn't running very well. It seems to be only firing on one cylinder and really lugging. Ted had this problem before.. after his trip to Alaska, and it seems to sort itself out after a while. Hopefully it will be sooner than later and not require any additional work.

We packed the bike back up - difficult because we seem to have accumulated too much stuff right now. We headed to Bocagrande, a touristy part of the city outside the walled old center. After some searching and a random police checkpoint, we found a nice little hotel with a small parking lot to base at for the next couple nights. Dinner and a trip to the internet cafe and we are in for the night, with refreshing air conditioning.. this is nice after the boat.

Captain Stephen (Steve) Robbins, on the 36ft Shenanigans, Panama to Colombia (Colon or Portobelo to Cartagena, via San Blas).

First, it's important to preface the sail trip with the following: we were told we'd be treated quite well, that his passengers “don't go hungry”, and were given very good timelines for everything. Our new Swedish friends were promised more- that they had a private cabin (which is apparently the couch in the salon) and private bathroom (there was one bathroom, the door didn't shut). We were also told that Richard (our new Swedish friend) loved rum, which explains all the rum, wine, and beer that was brought onboard.

5/30

Today we finally left. We were supposed to leave 'at first light'. That meant waiting for our captain to row in, buy more beer, then finally leave about 11am. We weren't given breakfast.

Our pillows and bedding smell strongly of mold. I'm sure it's the humid atmosphere, but it is really bad. Richard complained about their bedding, and said the towels (covering the couch in the salon) are in really bad shape too.

We stopped about 4pm at a nicely sheltered harbor. It was miserably hot the entire day, and the entire evening, but at least we could hop off and swim. Steve fixed dinner- good, because we were pretty hungry.

5/31

Today we sailed to Porvenir, an island that has customs and immigration for Panama. Steve checked us out of Panama- it took about 2 hours (dinner and beer for Steve). In that time Richard and Amanda swam to shore to look around. We then went on to the San Blas. Amusingly, we met up with Josh, because we saw his KLR on a nearby sailboat. Kinda cool to see him again!

We also used the opportunity to buy some molas from the Kunas. They are nice people, and the molas are incredibly detailed- they are basically a handful of layers of cloth, sewn together, then cut out so the various colors show through on the main layer. We'll have to post some pictures. We aren't sure what we'll do with them- they would probably be incredibly beautiful in a quilt.

6/1

We went to shore today, had a cola, and wandered around the little island. The huts are so humble, and the people are friendly. Contrary to what we've always heard, it is totally okay to take pictures of the Kuna people- of course it is worth asking first, but they understand it doesn't take their soul or anything.

There was a monkey tied to a tree at the 'store' where we had our sodas. It seems mean to tie him up, but he would cause trouble on such a small island (probably less than a square mile). He was pretty mean- he'd go swinging on his rope whenever a dog came nearby. He was cute though, and didn't mind posing for pictures.

Richard and Amanda really wanted to leave today. I understand- in fact, we didn't care much about stopping in the San Blas. We enjoyed the visit, but completely agreed- we would have been happy if we left about noon. Initially Steve said we would leave in the afternoon, early enough to navigate out in the daylight (so he didn't have to worry as much about the reef). As the day went on, it became apparent we weren't leaving. Steve eventually said we would leave in the morning. Ugh- another miserably hot night aboard a tiny boat, with a captain who was incredibly drunk and loud.

6/2

Finally we left the San Blas, fairly late in the morning. We were all pretty grumpy, since Steve's snoring and drunken stumbling kept us all awake- though the heat and lack of wind would have done so anyhow.

Like previous days, not a lot of food. Steve fixes about one meal a day. It isn't anything special- Mac 'N Cheese with tuna, or something similar. We usually scrounge for cereal, or make a peanut butter sandwich, or eat some of the food that we brought- though Steve raided Richard's personal food supply without asking, which didn't make Richard very happy. Steve has a bottle of ketchup that is black from mold. Good times.

There's very little to do. It's too hot in the cabin, and too much sun on most of the deck. So we usually alternate between the cabin and sitting in the shade of the cockpit, though that means dealing with Steve and such. We'd watch movies and such on our laptop but Steve refuses to get the inverter out, so we have no power. At least I offloaded some radio shows onto my MP3 player, so I have a little bit to keep me occupied. It's worse for Tamara, because she is so motion sick that she can't read or anything.

6/3

In the night (last night), the boat stopped. It was pretty stormy- we had enough rain that the hatches on the hold needed to stay shut, which meant oppressive heat and humidity for us passengers. We waited a few hours, then Tamara and I went up to the cockpit. Our captain was passed out- sprawled on a bench in the cockpit, out to all the world. He had been crashing into things in the salon earlier in the evening while refilling his cup of rum.

When we went out and started the boat up, Steve mumbled some headings. I wouldn't have understood them except I already knew our approximate heading. So I tossed the boat into gear and started motoring towards our destination. We were probably about 180 miles out- and at 5 knots, it was going to take a LONG time to get there.

We stayed at the helm for almost 4 hours, then went in to wake up Richard for a shift. He came out and piloted for a while, until our captain woke up. We then went in and crashed- remember none of us have slept, or eaten much, for about 5 days by now.

During the day, we had a gut-check type of meeting with Richard and Amanda. We debated options- mutiny, radioing the Colombian Coast Guard, or what. Some of our party wanted to confront him and take fairly severe action. Finally we decided that we just couldn't trust the captain. We became much more involved with piloting and navigation. We learned how to use the chart plotter, radar, and everything else. We might not know how to actually SAIL, but there wasn't enough wind anyhow.

Captain Steve slept most of the day. That was fine with us- we used the few opportunities we had to ransack the boat for any more alcohol. He'd finished the rum and all the beer, so we threw the remaining wine overboard. I don't like to litter, but the leftover containers would have been quite obvious.

6/4

We took turns piloting until about 3am, then turned it over to the captain until 6am when we started crewing and monitoring him again. We could finally see land again by about 8am. We fed ourselves breakfast (sound familiar?), then sighted Cartagena about 9am. We knew the channel meant basically going behind Cartagena, so it would take a while- but our good captain slowed WAY down. We were only turning 2 knots at best, and he would slow down or run circles whenever he saw a ship coming towards us. The channel was quite wide, so the behavior was perplexing.

The situation was made worse because he hadn't been to Cartagena for 7 years, so he didn't know where the marina was. We finally got anchored near a marina by about noon. Pretty sad- the final two miles took about 3 hours to cover.

Captain Steve got a tow, so he didn't have to row his dinghy in. We sat on the ship, talking about our options and what we'd do if the passports were rejected or anything weird like that. We were ready to start flagging down passing dinghys when Steve finally showed up, two hours later. Why does it take 2 hours to row in and drop off five passports? We are sure that a lot of alcohol was involved- the actual rowing only took about 10 minutes, round-trip.

After he came back, he was very evasive with information. We finally talked him into taking us to shore to wait for our passports, and to talk to folks about getting the bike unloaded. Steve was basically unwilling to do much about the bike- he figured he'd take care of it by the next day. I honestly don't know why Steve suddenly turned hostile at this point. Our behavior hadn't changed significantly- in fact, we were somewhat on pins and needles. However, from this point forward, he became outwardly abusive and aggressive towards the four of us.

We sat in the restaurant with Steve for probably two hours. By 5pm we realized things were getting dire. We talked to the harbormaster- he was a nice guy- in some ways, he reminded me of a former boss (Eric W). He went over to Steve and smoothed things out a bit- he was very good at explaining that we'd like the bike off today, and why does Steve care what day?

While we were away, Steve badmouthed us to our Swedish passenger friends. They were annoyed and amused. He also complained to us that we had cereal and didn't even offer him any. The night before he was talking about his wonderful pancakes (like he did every night), and promised to make them for us (like he promised every night). We only ate because he didn't feed us! Why would we offer him some? He usually had wine or rum for breakfast!

Our timing couldn't have been better- Josh and his KLR arrived. His captain was a good guy, they actually docked his boat and had his bike unloaded in minutes. Since Josh is fluent in sailing and Spanish, we enlisted his help to organize the whole operation. It was apparent we'd need someone who knew what they were doing to help, since Steve was trying to sabotage the whole thing.

Eventually we (Tamara, Ted, Steve, Josh, Richard, and a couple of dockworkers) went out to the boat. That meant Tamara had to ask Steve to come out, and rode out in the dinghy with him. Tamara said that Steve didn't know why we were in a hurry to unload it, that he was sick (DTs from alcohol, we figure, since we pretty much forced him to run out of alcohol), he knew the bike was going to go into the water because the lancha was too small, and the bike would go in the water because we were in such a hurry.

As soon as we got aboard, I started grabbing the boat fenders to keep the lancha from marring Steve's boat- he cussed and told me to leave them. Oh well- his loss, not mine. We then untied the boat in about 10 minutes (Steve said that would take at least 90 minutes). He threw a rope at Josh, who used his incredible knot-typing skills to secure the bike. We then hoisted the bike up, then carefully set it down into the lancha.

During this, Tamara's job was to hold the rope and let it out as we lowered it into the bike. That was a really difficult thing to do, and she did a great job. We didn't trust Steve to not 'accidentally' let go or anything. As she was lowering it, Steve kept telling her to speed up, to let it drop faster, and things like that. Her speed was perfect- at the same time that Steve was saying that, the rest of us were telling her to go VERY SLOW. It was amusing that Steve was trying to speed things along, considering he was moving like a government employee on his parts of the process.

The bike was loaded, and the little lancha (about 10 feet, v-bottom) was really sitting low in the water. The two dockworkers went back in it, and four of us crowded into Steve's tiny dinghy. Josh rowed us in, which was quite nice.

We left Tamara on board the boat (alone). She grabbed all of our luggage. I thought Steve was going to stay behind, so Tamara was there as security. Steve ended up coming with us in the dinghy. No matter- it worked quite well to have Tamara packing and such.

Josh, Richard, and myself went down the beach, looking for the lancha. They knew of a shorter dock that we could unload the bike from. When we got there, Josh didn't like it. He conversed with the workers, and discovered there was a boat ramp a little further down the way. So we kept walking that way. Steve was trailing behind- probably interested in seeing our bike go into the water more than anything.

Josh had a great idea. We set the lancha parallel in the ramp, and pulled it up the ramp until it was only in about 6 inches of water. The bike was laying on its side, with the tires on the shallow side. We then pulled the tires out of the lancha a little and then Josh and I lifted the bike up- as if it had lowsided on dirt. The bike went upright very easily, and we just pushed it out of the water after that. Not bad!

Since the bike was on its side for so long, I didn't want to start it. It needs to sit overnight, so I'll let the oil drain out of the cylinders. I also didn't have the key. So I pushed it back to the docks- more than a quarter mile. Phew.

Richard went in the lancha to pick up Tamara and our luggage. They met us back on the dock not long after I got there. From there it was really easy- quickly pack the bike and put the luggage on, then lock everything up. The bike won't clear customs until tomorrow, so we just went to a hotel with Richard and Amanda.

While we were packing things up, Steve was nearby. He bitched towards us, making sure we knew the bike wasn't going anywhere until the following day anyhow, since it needed to clear customs. Of course, it was off his boat, which was the huge risk. We figure there was probably a 50% chance that it would be sabotaged by Steve if we left it on his boat overnight. Better yet, we are done with him.

The whole thing was incredibly high drama. Not only were we angry, worried, and worked up, but Richard and a lot of other people were too. Because of that, we didn't get any pictures of it. I wish we had been able to- the bike, coming off the sailboat, was very photogenic and it would have been easy to see how precarious the whole thing was. We just didn't have enough people to risk it- the thing was high-risk enough without having a camera or two involved.