MUNGO EATS Latin America

Here we are…still in Cartagena, waiting for the van.  Remember when we left the van in Colo’n and it was too wet to put the van in a container?  Apparently it was too wet for the van to get shipped at the right time as well, so we are STILL vanless.  We know it is in transit at the moment and we think it is supposed to arrive in port tonight, 5pm apparently, then hopefully it gets unloaded this evening and we can get it back tomorrow.  That is what we are banking on.  If for some reason it is not available to retrieve tomorrow, then we are stuck without the van until Monday.  Keep your fingers crossed. 

Kevin and I thought we would be really smart and try to do some of the paperwork on this end before the van arrives, since retrieval of the van is supposedly a 5 hour process.  I think there are about 10 steps you have to follow before you  get into your van and ride off into the sunset.  We completed Step 1.  At Step 2 we were told that we had to wait until the van arrived.  Oh well, so much for that great idea!!  The good thing is that we visited  the port, found the shipping office, found the bank, found the customs offices and now we know where everything is.  The dock on this side seems a lot less hectic than on the Panamanian side.  All the offices are in buildings that you walk into, so there should be no yelling through small glass windows.  Also, all the offices are AIR CONDITIONED!!!  AAHHH!!  I like Colombia much better  than Panama.  I’ll see if that holds after we go through all the steps of getting the van back. 

There are really 2 reasons why I feel STUCK here.  The first is that it is HOT.  Most days it is about 33-35 degrees, with 75-85 % humidity.  HOT.  Luckily, in the evening it cools off to a nice 28 degrees.  Aahh…fresh! Just in case I failed to mention it, our room is not air conditioned.  We do have a fan, and that is what is keeping us “cool”.  Once we leave Cartagena, we head to higher ground and cooler temperatures.  Man, what I wouldn’t do to have to put on a layer!!  Also, we seem to be running out of things to do in this town.  we have visited all the museums, have done all the souvenir shopping we need to do, have walked around the old town and sat around the old town absorbing the atmosphere, now it is time to go.

Yesterday we visited the gold museum.  We saw some nice pieces.  It is amazing that we use the same goldsmith techniques today as they did 2000 years ago.  Here are some pictures of some of the cool pieces.

Oh, and check out these urns that they would put remains into.  Wouldn’t you like to have that on your mantle, instead of the “tasteful” urns we use now? Much more fun!!