Huge milestone alert! After a week-long shipping delay, our overlanding Jeep left Panamá inside a shipping container and arrived in Cartagena, Colombia on November 20, 2022.
Then we began the multi-day process of clearing all the bureaucratic hurdles to actually get our Jeep out of the port and be able to drive it legally in Colombia.
Wonderboy Eric managed to capture the whole process on video while navigating this complicated process. Only one person per party is allowed in the port of Cartagena, so Caspian and I stayed back at our Airbnb.
Watch what is takes to ship a vehicle into Cartagena in our latest video:
As a reminder, we worked with Alejandro Huerta at The Overland Embassy in Panama City to facilitate the entire shipping process. The Overland Embassy opened last year (2021) and has made the process of shipping across the Darién Gap infinitely easier for overland travelers. They can also ship vehicles along other routes, like from Uruguay to Africa or from Panamá back to the United States.
What’s next?
Our Colombia insurance went into effect yesterday, so we can now drive legally in this country. We are packing today, and tomorrow we hit the road for our first trip on South American soil! I can’t wait.
We are heading north to a town called Minca, where we understand the temperature will be cooler. It has been insanely hot in Cartagena, so cool temperatures sound amazing right now.
While we don’t put all of our adventures on YouTube, there are two other places where you can see more. First is our Instagram account. We make several posts and reels about our journey each week. Second is Patreon. At the Expedition Member tier, you can access real-time video clips through an app called Marco Polo. Most recently, we shared a tour of Castillo de San Felipe in Cartagena and fun walks through the colorful Caribbean neighborhoods here. Patreon is a more intimate community where we let our guard down and offer a transparent look at the good and bad of driving around the world.
We are excited. Period. This is the start of a new chapter for us: driving across a new continent that is both unfamiliar and full of wonders. Thank you for joining us.
-B
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