1 May: An exploded beer can says everything about the day! 2 failed laundry searches in Santa Marta, getting caught up in a May Day parade, super slow shopping as they only had a few cashiers operating and then a final success at a laundromat in Barranquilla (the next town) BUT by then it was already 4pm. With nowhere to really stay in Barranquilla we pushed on towards Cartagena and broke our cardinal rule – don’t drive at night. Gas stations turned out to be a bust until we doubled back and found one that would accept us but by then it was 8:30 – a very long 12+hour day in 35deg plus heat. The cherry on the top was the beer can!
2 May: We slept really well last night, thanks to being exhausted and becuase the security guard had let us park down the side which meant we were away from the comings and goings of a fuel station. Spent a couple of hours having the valve on one of Mr J tyres replaced (very busy tyre shop on the forecourt of fuel station) and in the process discovering that his bearings are in need of replacement as they have worn the tyres badly (will have to be a job for Mexico). Before heading out to the Finca, we missioned around in narrow streets of a poorish area of Cartagena trying to find our shipping agent as she had received another Amazon delivery for us. It turned out she was in a pedestrian only barrio so eventually Stuart walked in, with plenty of help from the local kids as the only reason gringos visit this neighbourhood is to go to Ana.
6 May: Last night was our last night in Mr Jones on the South American continent, today we move into a hostel for the least few days until shipping. It has been a productive but super hot time on the Finca as we cleaned Mr J thoroughly, built a partition for the front seats and as a bonus built a new cupboard for Mr J kitchen which while not quite complete is going to be a nice new addition to him. The French couple that run the finca have been great with little gifts, a nice evening of aperitifs and helping with the cutting of the wood.
7 May: Mr Jones is in the port, now we have to wait a few days for the narcotics inspection and then hopefully the shipment goes smoothly. Both of us spent the better part of the afternoon sleeping, no doubt an accumulation of the stress of last few days and then that we just probably haven’t slept that well with all the heat.
8 May: chilled day today. Popped out and walked around the neighbourhood to find a hairdresser and barber. Stuart’s last two haircuts have taken almost as long as Tania, it is quite incredible how much time the barbers spend with a razor making sure the edge of the haircut is perfect and also heaven forbid if one fine blond hair pops out, then they go over everything again. His haircut probably takes 45 minutes and only costs R110. Tania wasnt much more at around R300.
10 May: What a long day in the heat and humidity. Got picked up to go back to the port at 6am for the drug inspection of Mr Jones and only got back to the hostel after 4pm. A lot of that time was sitting around for paperwork and so forth but still exhausting. The good news is that the inspection went well, wasn’t as thorough as we feared meaning Stuart didn’t have to unpack every nook and cranny and now Mr J is sealed up with security tape which should make the shipment relative risk free.
11 May: Lots of frustration and stress this morning. With Mr J all set to sail we felt comfortable enough to purchase airline tickets but that turned out to be extremely complicated, between trying to find a suitable routing and then finally to make payment. For some reason in Colombia we have really struggled with online payments using our credit card so after not succeeding on the airline website we eventually had to go through a 3rd party reseller and now hope that we get the tickets as purchased and boarding times in time (everything is via the website and very much out of your control)
12 May: Sunday afternoon & evening wander around the the old town and Getsmeni areas of Cartagena. It was interesting but bustling with tourists (local & international) and real reminder to us that while may not visit all the “must tick places” when travelling with Mr J we in fact get to see a different and more real side of the country. After a bit of frustration with trying to find a restuarant that appealed to us we eventually foundd a very funky argentinian style parilla and got to have lamb chops for the first time 15 months – what a treat!
15 May: And we are in Mexico! A long and tiring 24 hours from Cartagena to Veracruz via Medellin and Mexico City. Two plan rides and one bus. Thankfully the exit from Colombia went well with no issues around not having registered and paid the extra USD50 they wanted when we initially tried to register. Sadly (&weirdly) Mexico only gave us 90 days instead of the common 180 days which messes up our plans a lot but too tired o worry about that now. That is a problem for after we have Mr J back.
17 May: Super despondent. We had high hopes for getting a 10 year TIP for Mr J which Mexico give for RV’s/motorhomes. The clearing agent processed the paperwork as such but when Stuart went to pay the admin fee for the TIP, the customs persons was adamant the registration document had to say Motorhome for this to apply so he had to pay an additional USD200 deposit to get a TIP that is only valid as long as our visa. Considering the short visa period we received this messes up all plans of being able to go home for a holiday, visit Devon and Hannah’s etc. It seems we just hit one obstacle after another at the moment and no longer have the energy for it!
18 May: Feeling much better today, after some overnight reflection and some research this morning we have found a storage place near Cancun that falls into a “free zone” meaning no TIP is needed to leave Mr J there, only problem is flights get exorbitantly expensive from mid June thanks to summer holiday period. So, a plan of action was quickly decided on: we will drive down to the border with Belize once we have MR J back, cancel the TIP, drive up to Cancun in the free zone and leave Mr J. Flights are booked home for 12 June. Certainly not the way we expected to start our time in Mexico but we know we desperately need a holiday and so we are now going to take that earlier than thought.
22 May: Another day and another obstacle – this time it is the fact that South African vehicle registration documents don’t show the vehicles “year of model”. They do show the date liable for first registration but with the caveat that this doesn’t mean year of model. Mexican customs picked up on this and have queried it, despite us already having paid the TIP deposit days ago. So, tomorrow Stuart has to go and sign a letter explaining all of this.
23 May: another small step forward and now we wait., customs accepted our explanation that Mr. J is in fact a 1995 model. In the meantime, we are grateful for air-conditioning, we don’t think we have had such hot and sticky weather since our brief passing through Tete (Mozambique) in December 2010. On the one hand we are eager to get Mr J back but also a bit scared that that means no air conditioning and learning to live again with extreme heat!
24 May: We have been patiently waiting for all the processes to play out but today is Friday and we have had the feeling that there is very much an attitude of “manana es manana” so Stuart started to put his foot down this morning and be a bit pushy that we have been waiting long enough. At 4:30pm we got a WhatsApp message to say Mr Jones has been cleared to leave the port and can Stuart come to the offices now, so off e rushed. He finally got back to the hostel at 8pm with Mr Jones in hand, not the easiest evening but very glad to have Mr Jones back with us. Now starts the process of re-assembling him and getting out life back in order for a few weeks before we fly home.
25 May: Our first day back in Mr Jones and it has been quite the day! After putting the surfboards back on the roof to create a bit of space inside we left the hostel. First stop was at a mechanic as we discovered just before leaving Colombia that the front wheels had a wobble in them, Stuart hopes its just bearings but unfortunately the mechanic didnt feel they had the competancy to work with a 4×4 and think it might be more to do with the differential. They have given us the name of a 4×4/jeep specialist but if it is something more serious this could be a big issue as we have limited time before our flights and need to do a border crossing in that time to cancel the TIP and then travel 500km to Cancun to store MR J. Anyway with nothing more we could do for Mr J on a Saturday morning we went shopping at Walmart as he needs a restock and then home depot for some hinges so we can finish the new cupboard, only to emerge from Home Depot to find a steady drip of water coming out of our new water tank. It had been a long and hot morning and this sight elicited more than a few curses, we spent a lot of money on the tank andd all the auxillary equipment. It also provided confirmation of why we need a holiday, 2 years ago we would have just dealt with these problems as part of life whereas now we feel like just running away. From home depot we drove 90 minutes campsite on the beach. It is very busy spot but quite nice and has shade to camp under. Spent the afternoon disassembling the partition and packing things back into their normal space – all this in 40 deg with 90% humidity. Sunset swim rounded out the day, we thought, until for some reason our outside gas stove started spewing flames from the underside while Tania was cooking. Once again we feel like we just deal with one obstacle after another! After turning off the gas at the cylinder to kill the flames and inspecting the stove to see nothing obviously wrong we lit it again and as this is being written it appears to be working okay, or at least nothing has caught fire again..
27 May: Hard but ultimately successful day. Yesterday, Stuart tried to get the heavy-duty flanges off the front hub to see if it would be possible to adjust the wheel bearings and they wouldn’t budge so we knew we needed professional help. We contacted the “expert” that had been recommended on Saturday morning and after initially being quick to respond he then never sent us an address of his workshop. While hopefully waiting for the address we drove back into Veracruz, went to a gas refill place (only half successful there as they struggled to fill the cylinder and we only got 2,5kg instead of 5kg), then went shopping and when by 11am we still had no address we decided to go back to the original mechanic who said they couldn’t help us. he idea being to get them to at least loosen the big nut with a long breaker bar, which they did and then they let us pull into the shop and work on Mr J ourselves. Over a very sweaty couple of hours (40 deg heat and 90% humidity) Stuart removed the flange, tightened the bearing and reassembled everything and so far, it seems to have fixed the problem. The metal putty fix to the leaking water tank also seems to be holding up. So all the despondency on Saturday wasn’t fully needed. Come back to Isabella’s for some air conditioning and recovery.
28 May: Even though we only covered 150km today it took well over 3 hours, partly becuase we took back roads to avoid some of Mexico very expensive toll fees. In a very pretty spot with twin waterfalls and the water is quite nice and cold to swim in which is a welcome relief. Had a nice little chat this afternoon with a Mexican family who are Rving around Mexico and dreaming of travelling further.
29 May: A killer day as we drove across to Palenque, 9 hours and 400km in excessive heat so feeling rather broken. We debated tonight should we have tried to split the journey up and don’t have an answer because on the one hand these long days kill you and take the fun out of travel but on the other there often isn’t anywhere appealing to stop and so to early afternoon in some hot, dry and dusty place just for the sake of stopping doesn’t seem to make sense. We have however vowed to try and limit our days to 4 hours length.
30 May: Had nice visit and walk around the Palenque Maya pyramid ruins and then did 3 hours of driving which was so much better, especially seeing as stumbled across a roadside restuarant that allows camping on its grass and they have a swimming pool.
31 May: Again we succeed with a shorter day, this time stopping at the Hormiquero ruins. These are smaller and less developed but we can camp for free in the parking and it basically gets no tourists so is much more our vibe. Later afternoon two other overland vehicles arrived so we had some company and we enjoyed an “Indiana Jones” style exploration of the ruins in the evening once it had cooled a bit. All in all, a fantastic stop.
1 June: Another shortish drive today, first to the border with Belize so that we can cancel our TIP and then across town to a stunning campsite on the edge of the Caribbean. Going to stay here the weekend as it is election day on Sunday for Mexico.
3 June: Even shorter drive today but still around 4 hours in total as we stopped to do laundry in the town of Bacalar. Spent a sweaty period while laundry was getting done trying to fix Mr J radio as it has mysteriously stopped working. Added to the Stuart frustration was that the brand new water pump for our fresh water tank seems to be in state of continually trying to pump and was super super hot when we stopped – fortunately that was an easy fix as it seemed a vacuum formed when our tank had got low, despite filling the tank this morning it didnt seem to help but a little pumping of water through the sink seems to have resolved the issue. Everything is crying out for a holiday!
4 June: Yesterday after laundry we found a cool little spot on the edge of town and the stunning aquamarine lagoon of Bacalar. We were only going to stay one night but have decided on two as it has a nice vibe and shade to sit under during the day plus the lagoon to swim in.
6 June: Our stay on the lagoon has easily extended into 5 days, its just so nice to have the lagoon to swim in, a lounge area to relax and cook and and just generally enjoy the good vibes. We could explore a little bit along the coast towards Cancun but also know we can do that when we come back so doing what’s best for our mental health right now.
8 June: We moved today, mainly just to break up the journey to Cancun in two and very glad we did as the road was quite going and so even though we only drove 3 hours were quite tired. The gremlin that made Mr J radio not work the other day seems to have been banished after Stuart cleaned some contacts on the radio face, so we had some tunes for the drive which was nice
10 June: The spot where Mr J will live for the next5 months is adequate for storage but that is about it, so we are very glad we delayed our arrival here until the last day. To compound frustrations and remind us how tired we are of obstacles, it absolutely poured down for a couple of hours in the morning making packing difficult and of course making awnings and tents wet which is not want you want when you going to close him for an extended period – the mood was low and grumpy (hence the reminder). Thankfully with the end of the storm come super heat (first time we not complaining of that) and so everything dried up in time for our 1:30 pickup to transfer us to a hotel for our last night in Mexico.