Antsy, Anxious and Actuated

I have not been on a vacation since November of 2005. That is not a typo. I love travelling, just have not had opportunity, etc, etc. So, when Ryan invites me to meet him on this epic adventure he and Nick are in the midst of, there was simply no question about whether or not I'd make the trip. Original plans had Nadine and I flying to meet them in Quito and riding with them to Piura, Peru. A lovely week of friends and far-off places!

You all know by now that our Boys have been held hostage by the Cartagena customs office. Waiting day after day has been a constant thorn in their sides and ours. Each day that ticked by was another day lost on their ride to Quito. While their bikes are finally (FINALLY!!) freed, they cannot make the five day trip by Sunday. We've tossed around many options: changing our flights to Cartagena; having the Boys fly to Quito to meet us and then back to Cartagena for their bikes; changing dates... The list goes on. We have finally opted to fly our original flight to Quito, spend the day (we'll see the equator!) and then fly to Cartagena to meet our fellas, stay the week and then fly home from there. It does mean cutting into our time together, but only by about 18 hours. (They left May 7- I think we can handle another 18 hours...maybe...)

Counting down the days has been quite the distracting pastime! I am a theatre artist contractor, so my work schedule is always somewhat harried. June and July are particularly busy months for me, so there has been quite a bit of shuffling around and and late nights trying to finish or get ahead of projects before I go. (Is it insomnia if you're choosing to stay awake?) Add to that the stress we've felt on the guys' behalf and these last weeks have been ... full ... but WORTH IT!! I get to see Ryan on Tuesday, and I just can't stop grinning. I feel utterly unprepared for travel, but that's what tomorrow's for, right? Right? I am partially packed. Ryan has had two bike parts shipped to me to bring down, and they are in the bag. Oh! I do have a bag. And a helmet! (My first!)

(Bonus picture of Nadine performing for the camp I was teaching this week. Because, well, juggling...and because she's awesome.)

I've gotten a rain jacket (expecting to be in Peru during the rainy season). I have everything I'm going to bring, I just need to put it together.

I have been humbled by the outpouring of well-wishes from friends and family. There are so many amazing people in my life! They are as excited for me as I am, and I am exceedingly grateful.

Now, to packing I go. Errands and last-minute to-dos tomorrow, maybe a stop for bubbles at Le Fou Frog (my favorite local haunt. Shameless, wholly guilt-free plug notwithstanding.)
I have a very busy 33 hours ahead of me. Sunday- we fly!!

How Very Knotty

Bikes still stuck on the boat...what to do? Why, practice some knots, of course!

As the day waned, I enjoyed a pipe on the deck and listened to the waves crash on the shore. Had some cord handy, so practiced some knots.

The ones I use all the time:

Bowline: famous for being very secure, easy to tie, and easy to untie. Saw several of these in use on the Stahlratte.

Trucker's Hitch: excellent for cinching down a load, particularly if you don't want a permanent knot in the middle of your line. Comes out easily when you're done with it.

Picked up the double figure 8 from my brother, as he's gotten into climbing in recent years. It makes a sturdy stand-in for the bowline, but takes more time to tie (at least for me). I hear that it is preferred by climbers largely because it is more easy to verify that it has been tied correctly -- particularly for novices.

Double Figure 8 Knot: another great way to secure a load, though a bit slower to tie than a bowline.

A couple years ago on my solo trip into the mountains near Monterrey, I very nearly got myself stuck all alone in a dry riverbed far from help.

Notice that the rear wheel is only partially visible. Also: the kickstand is not down; yet, the bike has no problem standing upright.

When I got home, I researched ways that I might be able to self-rescue if need be. The Z-Rig came up as pretty much the ultimate answer. Haven't had to use it yet, fortunately, but useful to keep up-to-snuff on its components: the Prusik knot, which requires a Prusik loop typically made using a double fisherman's knot. When a pulley came loose on the Stahlratte during our passage from Panama, the captain used block-and-tackle and a Prusik knot to finish hoisting the mainsail. Very practical!

Prusik Knot: you can easily slide it along the line it's attached to if you grab the knot itself, but when you pull on the loop, it holds fast in place. *NOTE: the Prusik Loop is the solid green line in this photo, though in the following photos I was practicing the same thing with the green and yellow line.

Double Fisherman's Knot: one line turned into a loop. On this side of the knot, you see four wraps, neatly adjacent to one another.

Double Fisherman's Knot: on this side, you see two "X" shapes. Tell-tale signs it's tied correctly.

On our annual canoe trip this year (Dad, Travis, and I), I elected to attach my bow and stern lines so that they would be less likely to drag in the river. To do so, though, I needed to put them through a pre-existing hole in the deck, then make it so they couldn't come back through the same hole. The stopper knot came to mind, but wasn't big enough, so I followed by brother's instruction for tying a monkey's fist. Did the job, though took some work to tie it and get it tight.

Stopper Knot: puts a lump in the end of a line to keep it from sliding back through a hole, etc.

Monkey's Fist: puts an even bigger lump in the end of a line, though takes quite a bit more time to tie...and a bit of practice doesn't hurt.

So there are some knots for you. Barely scratches the surface, of course. Would love to hear about your favorite knots and how you use them in the comments!

Downsizing for the Weekend

The Stahlratte dropped anchor in Cartagena late Thursday night (21 June), and we stayed aboard to get a last night of rest aboard the ship.

Cartagena: night and day.

Friday morning, we had our first "last breakfast aboard the Stahlratte". Little did we know the delays aduana would beset upon us in the days to come. After breakfast, we went ashore and the first harbinger of troubles came that afternoon: no bikes before Monday morning.

"No big deal," thought I. "A minor inconvenience." I promptly found Motorbike Rental Cartagena, with lots of options for motorcycle rental over the weekend. I was determined to have a good time around and outside of Cartagena.

I was not disappointed.

We broke fast aboard the Stahlratte again Saturday morning and picked up our passports. I left Steve and Nick to the taxi and walked back to rent an AKT 180: a perfect example of all the little bikes we see zipping around these crowded Latin American countries as we struggle through traffic on our oversized highway beasts.

Michael, the shop owner, directed me to some recommended routes north and south of the city, but I started with just running around town, enjoying the maneuverability of the wee bike, despite the 5.5-fold decrease in power from what I'm used to. Eventually, I headed up Cerro de la Popa, which offers an excellent view of Cartagena in all directions. At the top of the hill is a historic and picturesque Augustinian monastery, complete with museum.

"He who has more is not happier; but rather, he who needs less."

"Do the things that you can do, pray for the things that you cannot do and pray that you will be able to."

No GPS mount on the rental bike and few street signs made for a lot of missed turns and re-routing on this first-day's voyage. Hence, I ended up on the bike longer than expected; thus, became much redder than anticipated due to the full brunt of the sun's attention. I took the rest of the day off from the bike and found some skin lotion to help my flesh heal more quickly.

Sunday, though, I was back at it and determined to see some roads outside of the city. Since Nick and I will be heading south from Cartagena whenever we get our own bikes off the Stahlratte, I opted to head north and east. Somewhere along the way, I caught sight of a sign for Volcan de Lodo El Totumo and figured I'd have to check it out.

Behind me, you can see folks covered in mud, head-to-toe, coming down from the volcano. It is said to be medicinal. Not having any clue about this place before my trip, I failed to bring appropriate attire. Guess I'll have to strive from health without the benefit of volcanic mud.

After a good dowsing of mud, folks would walk down to the lake to rinse off.

From there, I headed inland along excellent highways that curved through lush forest.

Eventually, I decided that the rented dirt bike should really see some dirt. I noticed that Google Maps listed an ATM at Santa Rosa Bolivar, just off a few smaller roads, so determined that I would find it.

Google Maps, if you're listening, I can now say with a fair bit of confidence that there is no ATM at this location. I tried every option I could find, down to single-track paths, and -- near as I can tell -- these coordinates are in the middle of a pasture, far from any structure, let alone poblado of notable size.

Making my way back to the highway, I realized I couldn't make it back to Cartagena for our 3 p.m. KCJF planning meeting, so I elected to pause for it in San Estanislao, the nearest town of decent size. When I arrived in town, it was clear that the World Cup game was on everyone's mind. Colombia was playing Poland and was ahead, 1-0. While I paused at various locations around town looking for a decent wifi signal, Colombia scored two more times. Each time, raucousness erupted in all directions. Very exciting! In the end, Colombia won the match, 3-0. Congrats!!

After our meeting video conference, I pointed back toward Cartagena. Hit a military checkpoint just outside of San Estanislao, where I had a difficult time understanding the official. "Cédula" is a word that had only been on the fringe of my vocabulary until then. Not anymore. Got it down pat.

In Villanueva, the entire town was apparently shut down  to celebrate the win in Russia. I had to turn off the main road onto some muddy and super bumpy side roads to bypass the celebrations. There was really no hope of going through them.

Made it around the festivities, though, and back into Cartagena, which was similarly elated.

Trapped in Cartagena

The Stahlratte has transitioned from an excellent ocean cruise to a laborious waiting game. The aduana (customs) in Colombia apparently relies on a single individual for our vehicle import permits.

Cartagena. Beautiful? Yes. Trapped? Yes.

Hearing it from the Stahlratte's perspective, this particular individual is cantankerous and arbitrary. Often, the first trip of the season comes with newly-invented regulations and hoops to jump through, but it has never taken more than a day. This year, the first trip had to be cancelled so the Stahlratte could negotiate with the Colombian aduana. We, fortunately, were scheduled for the second voyage. But apparently things didn't get completely ironed out.

"Last breakfast aboard the Stahlratte" has become a common occurrence. Always delicious; increasingly disappointing news.

We've now embarked on our fifth morning in Colombian -- third morning on the boat hoping to acquire our steeds (no attempts over the weekend). The outlook is bleak. I have confidence that we'll get them, but it's looking like a bigger and bigger kink in our schedule. Sarah and Nadine have tickets to meet us in Quito, Ecuador, this Sunday night: a 5-day drive from here. We can make it in less, but it makes for long days on the road and little experience of Colombia.

But at this point, there's nothing to do but wait.

The streets of Cartagena.

The Stahlratte

The Stahlratte was an amazing time.  It was not the cheapest option to get the bikes across the Darien Gap but it was the perfect option considering our time constraints.  The captions below should tell the whole story.  I would definitely do this again.

There she is in all her glory.  Though it was not as majestic as I was expecting at first sight it lived up beyond expectations.  Ludwig and crew were very knowledgeable, very experienced and very entertaining and accommodating. 

Just about the moment we arrived they started prepping the bikes for the boat.  We had to remove everything from the bikes, even the panniers.

That is Ludwig himself tying the ropes to my bike.  I think he would do everything if he could.

Step two, loading the baggage separate from the bikes.  We had to use the dinghy to get to and from the boat.

On our way!  

Loading the bikes.  To get the boat close enough to the dock they had to run it into the mud.  They had to act fast to make sure the boat didn't get stuck.  As you can see in the video, they have this down to a science.  It took about six minutes to load all three bikes.  It was awesome watching the first two bikes going up... but the third one was mine.

On board and ready to sail!

They fed us lunch after loading the bikes but we couldn't stay on the boat the first night.  They have a bunch of strange rules about passengers here.  We could load the bikes at this port but not people so they sent us to an island for the night.

Everything here was beautiful.  But super small.  A walk around the perimeter of the entire island took about 15 minutes.

Our place for the night.  Pretty primitive but so perfect.

The view from the front of our cabin.

Check out these studs!

I even caught my own fish!

The San Blas Islands are the second largest coconut producer in the region so the coconuts on this island are protected.  One of our shipmates tried to crack into one but one of the islanders ran over and put an end to it. 

Ryan... being Ryan...

Everything here is so beautiful!  It was like living in a postcard.

Finally on the boat!  Bikes are loaded, people are loaded... we are out to sea!

This boat entered service in 1903.  Then, it was purely a sailing fishing boat.  In the 50's a diesel engine was retrofitted and it started other types of duty, including a stint working for Greenpeace.  Ludwig spends the summer moving motorcycles between Panama and Colombia and then a few months of the off season moving motorcycles between Mexico and Cuba. 

We sailed about 30 miles and stopped for dinner, swimming and snorkeling. 

That's Ana in the grey shirt, Ludwig's right-hand man.  Very knowledgeable and fun.  The guy in the red shirt is Vincent, another crew member.  He spent the first two days throwing up and then we never really saw him again.  Here we are buying bracelets from Panamanian pirates. 

Getting ready to leave the San Blas Island area.  Open sea from here until Colombia!

Naturally.

Dolphins loved the Stahlratte.  Several times they came and swam with the boat.

On the second night at sea I fell asleep early and woke up to this: Cartagena.