Finding Elvis

We arrived in Cartegena a couple of days after Elvis. The sailing trip through the San Blas was unbelievably stunning, but after 5 days (particularly after a rolling last 40 hours) we were glad to get off the boat. We checked into a hostel around the corner and I immediately set off to start to find Elvis.

As we got there some folks we knew from loading, who flew instead of sailing, were just finishing off. It sounds like they had a bit of a nightmare with customs twice blocking the release of their vehicles. At one stage they had them out of the containers only to be forced to reload them, and pay for the privilege.

Knowing this we were expecting a difficult few days. Fortunately I had Greg, our container partner, alongside me and the two of us muddled through the bureaucracy. Customs had also opened and blocked our container, but as we weren't there we didn't get hit with all the extra charges the others did.

After 2.5 days we finally freed ourselves of red tape and Elvis was released into South America!

We somehow managed to squeeze him into the front of hostel despite being a foot too long, but finally we could relax and enjoy the city of Cartegena.

Its a gorgeous city with a huge marina and an old town with massive defensive walls. It is crazy hot - taking on even León, Nicaragua and probably winning. When I got the van out of the port it was 47C inside, and walking around the town was a sweaty business, even in the evening. As the sun went down and the temperatures settled around 30C for the night, the old plazas started to get packed with people - either enjoying the amazing street food, chatting over a cold beer or for the more energetic salsa exercise classes in the square.

It's one of the most stunning cities I've ever visited, but the heat, dragging Maya around on a lead, and partying with our boat mates had taken its toll and we soon got desperate to get back into the countryside.

Fortunately we had a spot nearby recommend to us, and we found the most welcoming hosts in Gloria & Alviero. They were super helpful, and even spent a couple of hours patiently chatting to us in our bad Spanish. We discovered an ants nest had taken hold under the bed so we had to strip and clean the whole back of the van out, which was probably long overdue.Read more