To Cartagena – 5/9/2013
May 11th, 2013 by rallyadmin
We’re still in the mountains though most of Medellin in in a valley between a couple of mountain ridge lines. We’re driving down the autopistas headed to the north trying to make Cartagena today. It’s about 400 miles but it’s doable and if the roads are as good all the way to Cartagena as they are leaving Medellin we might even make it before dark.
As we get out of Medellin proper, the traffic thins and we’re making good time. But then the autopista abruptly ends and we’re dropped into a small town centered around a sugar mill. We look at the GPS which is happily sending us east(!) when we’re expecting to be driving north. We ask for directions and the truck drivers tell us that we have to back on the autopista one exit and take a right at the circle on the exit.
Back down the autopista, take the exit and at the round-about we take a right. And immediately start climbing. With all the truck traffic that’s headed to Cartagena. Here we go again. We’re climbing pretty quickly but soon the road narrows so that the truck traffic becomes difficult to pass and we slow down to a crawl.
Which isn’t such a bad thing. We get to savor the precipitous drop on the east side of the road. This time, in the bright sunlight. To slow things even more, there’s construction on the road (usually some reconstruction to replace a section of road that collapsed down the side of the mountain.) And every little village that hangs precariously to the side of the mountain has speed bumps to keep the traffic from speeding through.
We gain over 6,000 feet on the climb sand then give most of it right back on the descent. We end up in a valley where the road widens and runs along a serious river. But at least the speed picks up and thr trucks are easier to pass.
We’ve been passing car and truck wash areas on the waqy down the valley. The “car wash” is really just a pull off where a hose sprays water in the air to announce its presence. When you pull in a young man comes out to wash the car. We stop and two young men jump to the task of getting the now filthy Cherokee back into presentable shape.
They lather and rinse for about 20 minutes. The smile and announce that they’re done. That’ll be 6,000 pesos (just over $3). The car looks beautiful again. Back on the road.
The river valley gives way to flat-lands again and the country goes from mountainous ranching to crop farming and sugar cane. The sugar cane is everywhere and the sugar cane road trains are everywhere, too. The “road trains” are just a tractor hauling 4 large trailers literally overflowing with sugar cane. They wobble and rock and drop cane all along the highway on their way to the mill. It’s just amazing how much sugar cane is grown here.
The feel of the are has changed to a more Caribbean feel. There are a lot more people on the road, walking, biking, riding motorbikes. And we get to hear a lot of music blaring from the shops as we slow for the ever-present speed bumps.
We know that we’re not going to make Cartagena before dark but we want to be at least close so that we can start the process of giving the Cherokee to the exporter. Tomorrow is Friday and we don’t want to wait until Saturday only to find out that nothing happens on the weekend.
We’re looking for hotels on the web and we find that hotels in Cartagena are very pricey and, bummer, there’s no Ibis. In the end, we end up in an over-priced Hampton Inn that’s right on the beach strip. We take it.
The drive into Cartagena had become a serious grind when we finally entered the city proper. It took over an hour to finally find the hotel. We made a few wrong turns but the big problem was traffic and the swarms of motorbikes. The traffic was just horrendous. It was unclear if there had been a power failure or if the traffic was just that bad. Plus, it had just rained. Actually, more a downpour so the streets were flooded in some places and anything that hindered the already gridlocked traffic just made matters worse.
But when we get to the beach area the traffic thins and we search for the Hampton. This time the GPS does exactly what we need and brings us right to the front door. Parking is an issue but there’s room under the lights right in front of the hotel. This is probably as good as we’re going to get for the night though the desk says that the car will be perfectly safe. We’re tired. We’ll take your word for it.
We get to the room and drop our bags. We go out on the strip looking for a restaurant but the best we can do is find a touristy restaurant with a mariachi band. We get some good steaks, though, and kill a decent bottle of wine. The price is predictably steep but we’re done for the day.
Back at the hotel, I send an email to Martha, the exporter, asking for her phone number, the address of her office and when can we meet. It’s late. I hope this works.
Obi-wan