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Once the car was loaded, we couldn't wait to leave Cartagena. Not because we were not having every service there, but because we had really spent enough time in the stifling hot weather. The hotel we were in both in 2025 and in 2026 had come to feel like home, and the staff gave us desert on the house and a lovely card before we left. The car was loaded on a Thursday, and Friday we set out to get tickets to fly to Panama. This turned out to be easier said than done. Again

Remembering the long wait we had in Cartagena when we arrived in Colombia in 2025, we were now waiting there again - this time to load the car back on a ship to get it sent to Panama. However, we were now more experienced, and knew where to stay to be conveniently close to the port. There are lots of other parts of Cartagena, but to be safe from floodings with heavy rain, tourist traffic and whatever other event that could stop us, we stayed again in Manga. We were 8 minute

The first place in Colombia, on this second part of our stay there, was Cúcuta, the border city where we entered from Venezuela.  We stayed a couple of nights just to sleep and recover a bit from the stress of the border crossing.  We did a city walk on our own, and enjoyed the scenery and the fact that in Colombia you get vegetables for breakfast.  Good ones!  From Cúcuta we booked the car shipment from Cartagena to Panama, and we now had about a week to make our way and be

In order to reach the border with Colombia, we drove from Caracas to San Cristobal.  Daniel, one of our receptionists in Brasilia, and his father had put together a safe route for us to take, but we ended up changing one leg after advice from our tour guide in Caracas.  We drove from Caracas to Barquisimeto, then to Barinas, on to Merida, and to the last stay in San Cristobal.  Well, that was the plan.   The first section was surprisingly dry, and there were a lot of fires fi