Today was rich in administrative activity as we have some critical decisions ahead. We have some of our own perspectives, but I wanted to get some comments from our readers (if we have any) before we make a final decision on our options.
Decision A - How should Jose and I travel to Cartagena, Colombia?
1. Plane tix - about $200USD
2. Small Private Sailboat for five - about $250USD (includes night in San Blas islands of the indians, and takes around 5 days depending on the winds)
3. Hitch ride on millionaire´s Larger Yacht - hopefully much less than $200 and 5 days assuming we help as crew members with cooking, sailing, cleaning etc.
4. Hitch a ride on a large container ship, Cabins are going for around $10 dollars per night, trip lasts about 4 days (we have done little research on this one, but is harder to arrange - perhaps we could go with the car??)
5. Land - brave the Darien gap including 50km of hiking, and 50km of hitchhiking or cab through some of the worlds most dangerous territory (for threats of kidnapping, infectious disease, animals, exposure, and extreme terrain-navigation)
Decision 2 - The whole ¨car¨decision
1. Ship Car to Cartegena - around $1100 landed - in container
2. Ship Car to Buena Ventura (southern colombia) - around $1140 landed
3. Ship Car to NYC - around $2000
4. Ship Car to Miami - less than $700 - ¨roll on roll off¨i.e. no continer
5. Ship Car to Oakland - unknown
6. Sell Car in Panama for around $9000 ( approx $3,500 undervalue)
- comments - shipping to US destiantions implies sale at a later date- arrival to ecuador intact implies sale near or above market value, but likely carries a $3000 import tax (through official means only) - cartegena implies traversing two extremly sketching kidnapping zones in a private vehicle, while to Buena Venturea implies traversing only one in a private vehicle
Let us know what you think!
In other news, we were quite excited to see the LFM employment survey today. We were were very proud that we represented half of the 9% of the class which was ¨Not seeking employment/Not Found employment¨. We were also curious who all those other people really were? Seriously, I promise that I will pull my weight next year. In the meantime, back to much more important things like what we did today...
We hardly did anything today! And it was great! I slept 9 hours for the first time in ages, we did piles of admin and web surfing, we ate two wonderful meals cooked by Mrs. Pinto De Gracia, we explored the old town on foot, visited a cheez mini indian village replica - Mi pueblitos, saw amazing views of the city atop the Acon, and we had a wonderful dinner-drinks-hooka session downtown while simultaneously watching an epic Peru vs Panama soccer bout AND soaking in local Panamanian culture (read- talent) ... life is good!
3 comments:
Glad to see you guys started posting on the regular again, I was starting to wonder what the heck you had been doing. And what you have been doing sounds quite exciting. Glad that you guys waited to do all the fun things like scuba diving, white water rafting, hanging out with chicks, and living with Julissa's awesome family, until after I left. Don't worry though, I've been up to some pretty fun tasks myself such as filing TPS reports and running Unix programs.
As for your continued adventures my first vote would be for you guys to swim for it to Colombia. Or not technically swimming. What I actually envision is Jose using his world class floating apptitude why Alexey sits on him and uses his coxswain abilities to guide the SS Pocheto. If this doesn't work I suggest that you guys finally crack down and get a job. Work as deckhands on a yacht in order to secure your passage. Do it for Don, he likes to see the LFM's hard at work. I enjoyed the LFM Employment survey as well as it looks like I secured the bottom salary position. It was nice of Debra to list the salary of the one person who went to work for "Other Operations" at United Airlines. I wonder who that could be? Glad I could do my part to bring down the average.
As for getting the car out of Panama my vote is to ship it to Cartagena so it can participate in the entire Colombia trek. Sure it is easier for me to say this as I am no longer in the car, but I feel like the car has been as much a part of the trip as the four of us and to get rid of it now would be unfortunate. Have you tried to get Mauricio's opinion yet on driving in Colombia? He might offer some valuable insights. Just a thought as I now have less say than a back seat rider.
On a side note, Alexey you need to speak to Jose in English more often. His English seems to be diminishing as he gets back to his Spanish roots. He never would have said "joung" while at MIT.
Ok Ok.. so I have fix joung and joungle to their correct spellings. You know, sometimes you just have to let go of your own mistakes.. like pressing delete to the entire database of United´s customers. Try that, it will feel great! :)
Nice to know you are now part of the working LFM contingent. If you get a cheap flight, come over down to Cartagena next week!
Cya. Jose
Dear Boys,
I am sorry to hear that you are going to say good bye to another member of the clan: Rosinante. I know its a sad decision but its the best thing for you and for the car.
Let me also give you the option of leaving the car in Panama, Joyce will be very happy and I can pay for the car in small quotes for the next 15 years or until I win the lottery, whatever happens first!
Please don't give up with your adventures, since you no longer have the car change the way of transportation to anything and everything related to water and make your way to Ecuador in a sail boat, catamaran, yacht, container ship, cruise, etc...
For sure your families will appreciate my advice!
Love always =)
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