Click to listen and learn! Colombia Claudia Gomez

So... here we go! We're off, and this time we mean it! Right?

When we packed up all our things (AGAIN) to catch our boat headed to Colombia (AGAIN) this evening, Shawn looked at me and said, "You know, I'm actually going to miss this place," referring to our hostel in Panama City, where we've been stuck for almost 2 weeks now looking for passage to Colombia. For some reason, I wasn't that sad. I guess I didn't really feel like we were going anywhere. It had become the joke of the hostel that we'd never actually leave, since all our previous attempts had failed.

"See you guys in an hour!" said our friend Eric at the Voyager Hostel as we said our good-byes. We had called the captain of the cargo boat early this morning to make sure that it was, in fact, leaving today, and that they had room for us. They assured us yesterday that the Voz Confio would leave tonight (Wednesday) at 8:30. Yeah! We're finally leaving! We packed up and brought all our things to the port by 5:30 PM to make absolutely sure that we would arrive early enough to get all the necessary exit stamps from immigration. When we arrived at the docks, we found out the Voz Confio was delayed yet another day. We were crushed. Tomorrow again? BUT, the Amparo (the boat we missed last week) was back and was leaving again tonight! Are you confused yet? We were!

We bought our tickets, put our names on the passenger list, paid our exit taxes and got our exit stamps in our passports. Everything was in place, the boat was getting loaded, and we were going to Colombia! Then a crew member told me that we weren't actually leaving tonight because the engine wasn't working. I didn't believe him. Monica or Shawn MUST have told him to play a joke on me, right? Unfortunately, the engine needed a new fuel injector, and we would hopefully be leaving tomorrow. Tomorrow, always tomorrow. Another delay? By now, all of our delays were turning into a joke... a really bad joke!

So, once again, we returned to the hostel. We tried to sneak back in to our rooms without anyone noticing -- maybe people would forget that we even tried leaving earlier! No such luck, everyone merely laughed and waved, "We were expecting you!"

Abeja and Kevin split up from Monica, Shawn, and me to try their luck at finding boats from the San Blas Islands in the Caribbean. They would have to sail from island to island, working their way closer and closer to Colombia. Abeja called this morning and told me that after 3 days, they are still stuck on the same island! The winds are working against them, it's a bad time of year to be sailing towards Colombia in the Caribbean, but all the locals keep reassuring them, "Tomorrow, tomorrow, a boat will surely be going tomorrow."

So as we go to bed tonight, the 5 of us still find ourselves in Panama, but who knows what manana may bring?! Wish us luck!

Kavitha