God, AIDS, Africa & HOPE

A day full of pain, but at the end all smiles.

At 7.30 am we are readily standing at the harbour customs at Cartagena full of energy and expectations to get our cars as it was promised yesterday. Well, there is always a discrepancy between promises and realities in some sectors of life: 25 signatures to collect per vehicle plus 4 fingerprints; in total 125 signatures and 20 fingerprints, additional the visit of 7 different waiting areas…

14 hours and several high blood pressure symptoms of Joachim later the miracle happens: the boom opens for our five Amaroks and the game between customs, harbour administration, insurance companies and agent has finally come to an end. 14 hours also hanging around for the rest of the team comes to an end – we say farewell to 40 degrees Celsius, almost 90% humidity in front of the Café Zona Franca at the petrol station opposite the gates of customs.

But there is more good news: Our well-armed police protection unit has also arrived in time and in no time we take petrol and then we are on the road again. One police bike in front of us, one covering our back, we start our challenge against the time: tomorrow at 11 am we have to be in Medellin to attend a major press conference – 700 km still to go and we are optimistic that we will make it. 30 minutes into this race against time we stand again: one tyre is heavily punctured due to a sharp cut – the disintegrating asphalt can be razor sharp. But Lothar is directly on top of the situation: tools out and within 15 minutes we are on the go again.

The road improves, but the weather now starts to bring on a tropical thunder storm with rain and thunder and lightning causing potholes to fill with water, trees to lie across the streets, mud from the terrain right and left of the road. But we cannot afford to stop anymore…

During night time our policemen change now and then, but there is nothing to report about serious incidents, the weather clears and we climb up through the rainforest till 2800m above sea level. Medellin, we are on our way.

Filed under: Uncategorized, HOPE Cape Town Association & Trust, Move the world, stefan hippler

It is killing our nerves. We are stuck, really stuck. Today we checked out of our hostel, all our luggage is already in the courtyard of the hostel and part of our team has gone to the harbour to get our cars. But now the long way to freedom starts: from office to office, from clerk to clerk, from stamp to stamp and in between: waiting periods spiced with different messages:

“Today all will be done” – “Not today” – “Maybe today”.

And at the end, when all the paper work has been done, there is the clear verdict: no chance of getting our cars today. The containers arrived but there is no space at customs, which has to deal with up to 5000 containers per day. And so, a rather depressed team is back at the Media Luna Hostel where the rest of us were waiting watching our mountain of luggage and sweating in the soaring heat of Cartagena.

Sandra multitasked with all the laptops, while the rest of us are answering questions of curious fellow guests of the hostel. Otherwise there is nothing to do and we indulge in waiting boredom and chit-chat.

At the end we have to check in again with the advantage of getting a much needed shower opportunity. But every advantage has a flip side, also showering: mosquitoes love humidity and persons attached to it….

Filed under: Uncategorized, HOPE Cape Town Association & Trust, Move the world, stefan hippler

We are on the road again – not with our cars, but after breakfast at “Villa Michelle” the owner and her friend take us to the airport in Panama City. A cordial farewell and we catch the flight at 3.15pm to Cartagena in Columbia with Copa Air.

An hour later we arrive in this coastal Caribbean town. Three taxis bring us to the old town of the city, giving us a first taste of the rules on the roads of Columbia. Happy to have arrived all in one piece, we occupy our rooms at Media Luna Hostel. A lovely place with a wonderful courtyard, a small pool shadowed by palm trees, and a roof terrace showing us the beauty of the old town and the skyline of modern Cartagena.

Would we be backpackers it would have been an ideal place to stay, but with our “move the world” t-shirts, all the equipment and certainly our age we attract a bit of extra attention.

And as to be expected the flyers are distributed quickly and spread amongst the crowd.

We hope that we can celebrate a reunion as quick as possible with our cars to be on the road again – in the true sense of the word.

Filed under: Uncategorized, HOPE Cape Town Association & Trust, Move the world, stefan hippler

1st of May – workers day and public holiday for all.

Filed under: Uncategorized, HOPE Cape Town Association & Trust, Move the world, stefan hippler

Unlimited internet access and enough time to use it. The disadvantage is that you also get the bad news, even concerning oneself: flash floods and mud floods in Columbia with many people dead for example, our next country to reach. That means destroyed infrastructure like roads on the route we want to take. The national police have already inquired about our plans to send us alternative routes as she wants to protect us on our way through the country. Or take the eruption of a volcano in Ecuador. The Tunguarhua is coughing up stones of the size of buses, lava and smoke less than 50 km away from the way we want to use. But there is also good news: we have not felt the earthquake in Panama, just read about it on the internet.

Otherwise we have also simple things to do: washing clothes and beaming up all pictures with persons holding the globe in their hands into cyberspace, of course with the original text, why they want to move the world. Being responsible for the media means to work every day.
We organise food for the weekend and Yvonne like most guests wonder how we can use a holiday facility to work the whole day. And to show her empathy she has cooked a chicken soup a la Panama. A great treat and in the evening we braai. Our grouse Katrin has prepared a huge amount of salad, Guido, our navigator has prepared the table and Lothar, our Lutheran lay preacher and technician shows his skills in bringing meat to a tasteful perfection. And the rest just join in to enjoy the food. Well everybody has a task to perform..

Filed under: Uncategorized, HOPE Cape Town Association & Trust, Move the world, stefan hippler