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December 5, 2003 Drove Jesse for the first time in over 3 months today. She was moldy & musty, dirty and gritty... battery dead (both of em) hardly her former self at all. I felt like i was a potential buyer... coming to pull some 30-year old battle ax out of a farmer's barn. Even after a charge the starter wouldn't turn over. I had to bump-start her in reverse down a slight grade. she coughed and sputtered some, but she seems her old self again. she was obviously happy to leave that lousy bond yard. it is good to be behind her wheel again. In order to be allowed to take her to Colon, to Puerto Manzanillo, for shipping, I had to have a rider from the aduana (customs) called a 'custodiana' (since i had overstayed my permit). her name was maria christina... she was very nice. i made sure i cleaned the moldy seat for her. i don't think she was quite prepared for the experience.. but to her credit she warmed to the experience, and soon we were bombing along, listening to reggae and dodging and weaving huecos and oncoming camions (potholes and trucks). ever wonder why waco, texas is called waco? it's cause some stupid american liked the sound of the word 'hueco' and didn't realize that they were naming their town after a hole..... Hole-in-the-wall, TX, effectively. Pothole, TX.... maybe... take your pick. great place to 'hole-up' if you're a religious nut anyway.... Colon is a port-city... and i didn't see the city, i only saw the port. one of the biggest in the world... easy to feel lost there.... essentially the main part of the dock area is a city made out of stacks of containers... very surreal... containers packed and stacked 7-high for acres and acres... with streets in between them where ominous and ruthless looking container-moving vehicles in all sizes and shapes zoom and zip around seemingly without regard for one another... i witnessed several near accidents in the hour or so that i was there. they don't let you drive around unescorted. and just loading Jesse into her own private 20' container was an operation that required the skills and supervision of over 20 people. 1/2 security and 1/2 union dock workers who made sure she was tied down and blocked inside the container well enough that she could sustain a 45°+ roll at sea. The cost to ship her to Cartagena is $1000. But when you consider how many people are directly involved and for how long... it's really amazing that it is so cheap. i counted: maria's ride to colon, Ricardo and Elissa, my shipping agents (2-3 hours at least apiece), the shipper (Transcanal Agency, S.A.) and their agent, Sr. Chavez (2 hours), the customs agents who inspected my vehicle at the dock, the first policeman that inspected my car, the escort to take my car to dockside, the 20 or so security, customs and dock workers that supervised the loading and securing of the container (1 hour total for the operation), the workers who loaded the container on the ship, etc. and this is only on this side of the process, there will certainly be a roughly equivalent operation on the other side as well, perhaps not quite as involved. not to mention the cost of the boat and the transit itself! the system was certainly losing money on my transaction... even with salaries here, there's no way that they could fund this. i think generally they must make their money on volume... i am certainly the benefit of the economies of a much, much larger operation. I have to say that Ricardo and Elissa, my shipping agents are some of the nicest people that i have run across. They are a married couple that runs an import/export business out of Colon. If you ever have reason to ship something out of there... i can tell you, you could do no better. Wilberto.. my customs broker in panama, shares an office with them here.
thoughts: balboa: smart guy. the spaniard that figured out that panama was a very thin place. in the year 1600 (or so) imagine the revelation... the eureka moment. and being convinced enough, with instruments and tools that are so crude and inaccurate today (um, satellite photos?) to actually decide to whack your way through 100 miles of jungle to prove it. of course, these guys were born to whack through jungles... they ate that stuff up. 100 miles was like an afternoon stroll to them. naughty santas: my friend kristen ulmer (world's #1 extreme skier for many years) is going to san francisco for the annual naughty santa get together... had to laugh. read this police report from the first one in 1995. it seems that the main attraction here is that with a couple hundred people all dressed up in santa suits... you can do pretty much whatever the fuck you want to and the police have a hell of a time figuring it all out. i'll have to join her next year, sounds like a blast. panama canal: went finally to see the canal today w/ ricardo... from the shipping agent in colon... he stopped by today to get their cash... $1000 to ship Jesse to Cartagena. (everything is a cash transaction around here.... if you want to be a pickpocket somewhere... panama city is the place to do it). the panama canal is an amazing thing.... some facts: |