I'm somewhere in between Panama and Colombia and I don't know where I am other than the vague idea somewhere in the caribbean ocean and I love it.
Leaving Panama was hard until I made it to the dock and borded the Stalhratte. Wake up in the morning thinking it's 6:20 and I have an hour to snooze before we should leave. Anders reminds me it's actually 7:30 and we should pack up. Shit the clock on my ipod is wrong. Get up and we're packed up ready to leave. First stop was the BMW dealership where my dear friend Olivier left some spares I had shipped to his girlfriend and since he decided to leave Panama on another ship he dropped them off there. I was a little bummed out that we wouldn't get to catch up on our time apart but he's rushing to get to Argentina before their winter, I'm of no fixed schedule and when I get to Colombia I plan on taking my sweet time getting to Argentina by September, at this point I have no idea.
After getting the parts and making a few copies while we're there the next stop was Western Union to get money Scotiabank wired me. For some reason my bank card won't work at Scotia but I've found HSBC machines that will allow me to withdraw from my credit card. Something else to call them about.
I'm in line for Western Union and finally it's my turn after some were allowed to cut in front of me. I explain to the teller that I'm picking up money. She leaves. A good amount of time before she returns, the other woman explained to me she needed to get the password to log into the system. When she returns she presses a few buttons and stares at the computer. Tells me to step aside so she can help the next customer. I wait but getting impatient, I did after all have a boat to catch. She's helping me again but has to make a phone call. I figure something is wrong with the password. She gets it and is finally ready to aid me. I give her my passport and the number Western Union provides to find the wire. She asks me who sent the money and I told her I'm basically sending it to myself. Presses a few buttons and she begins counting out 967. I swear it must be a moment before she hands the money over she tells me the system is down and puts the money back into her til. Tells me I'll have to wait or go to another Western Union. Are you fucking kidding me?
She asks me to step aside so she can help the next customer. I told her that I want to speak to a manager or something. She tells me there is nothing she can do and I'll have to go to the main Western Union and tells me approximately where it is. I'm a little perplexed and in disbelief and seriously thought maybe I'm not suppose to take the boat. I explain to Anders and we're already late and probably missed the meeting point. I try to stay composed but it's hard.
The next Western Union don't do money transfers. Off the next one. I knew where everything was because I had been looking for Western Unions the day before but because it was Sunday I miss all of them before they closed.
I find the main Western Union and there is lengthy line. I plead with the person at the head of the line explaining what had just happened. Being indifferent they allowed me in front. This time it worked, I get the money and we head towards the meeting spot. They're not there so it's off to the dock, we have to cross from the Pacific Ocean to the Caribbean to get to Carti. A Beautiful winding road, hazardous at times took up there. We stop to photograph a reclaimed part of the road. My bike parked on a bad slope rolled back into the ditch finally breaking the crash bars on the right side. The bike was truly limping now, only 5 km left, was I going to make it?
The final part seemed like a dilapidated runway it was very satisfying having arrived after everything, especially after the last week. I was safe and now my fate was going to be put in the hands of the german crew.
