We are in Panama City awaiting word on our vans. We
left Guayaquil Friday, the 6th, just as the ship with
our vans in it were supposedly leaving Guayaquil.
I must say that shipping is the most stressful part of
this whole trip for me. Ports are dangerous, scary
places and the whole procedure always entails turning
control over to some perfect stranger and you never
know whether to trust them or not.
I had received a letter from the South America Explorers Club with the name
of a customs agent who had helped a group of Swiss travelers retrieve
their vans when they shipped into Ecuador. I couldn't get any information
from anyone about agents who were familiar with shipping OUT of Guayaquil
to Panama. So, we went to see the customs agent.
He agreed to help us and told us that the shipping line that the Swiss
travelers had used (Ecuador Line) was at the port. We drove out to the
port, waited the customary 2 or 3 hours for him to show up, went to
the Ecuador Line and found out that they'd discontinued service to Panama
a year ago. They told us that only 3 companies had Panama service: APL,
Maersk and Transoceanica. We went to APL and their weekly shipping day
was Tuesday and the next ship was full. Since this was Friday, we knew
that Tuesday would be too soon to get all the "stuffing" and Ecuadorian
customs clearance work done. Maersk had a ship scheduled for Thursday,
a little more time to get the work done, and it had space available
so we decided to go ahead with them.
On Monday we went to the bank to get the shipping money ($2035 for
a 40 foot container) and, true to form, my debit card started giving
me problems. I called my banker and he straightened out the problem
within 3 hours.
The next morning we needed to go straight to the port. We pulled into
a bank parking lot and Raul, Fernando's helper who was accompanying
us got out of the passenger side of my van, leaving the window rolled
down. I got out on my side and stayed there with Tyler to watch the
vans. We were told later that as soon as we stepped out of the van,
a guy on a bicycle came up, stepped up on the right front tire, reached
in and pulled my purse out from between the seats. We never even saw
him.
My newly fixed up debit card, my credit card and about $300 were gone.
I had to go back into town and cancel my cards and figure out an alternate
way to get cash. (Thank you, American Express.) My daughter, Jenn, had
returned home from her visit with me by that time and, in her usual
competent way, took care of all the canceling, getting new ones and
sending them to Panama for me. Hopefully, they'll be here by Thursday,
the vans will be out of the port and we'll be ready to move along.
Tyler has decided not to continue with us. He will be leaving his
van in Panama for several months to a year and will be flying home from
here. Shay and I will continue. Since Shay is from Texas, I'm thinking
of changing my route home to the east or central Mexico, entering in
Texas, dropping Shay off in College Station and going east for a quick
visit with my family in Louisiana before going home to California.
Jeanne
