Thursday, March 25, 2010

Leaving Colombia Attempt #4

We woke up at 4:30 by a voice shouting in the distance. The word "Pasto" triggered this internal alarm. We got up from our very un-soft beds, grabbed our bags and ran off to the terminal. In the rain, I ordered a coffee with sugar and 2 buñuelos (some round bread ball, made with cheese and deep-fried). For a coffee without sugar I ad to go to the next stool, where it was custom made for this strange outlander that drinks coffee black. I gave the coffee to Mar who was already waiting in the goods compartment of the pick-up truck. Fortunately the bench was fitted with a soft comfortable cushion because the road was everything but comfortable. It led us over a dangerous, bumpy road and our toes started freezing as the fog made it pretty chilly but prevented our fear from kicking in as we didn't realize the conditions we found ourselves in.
In Pasto we hoped to find my bank card waiting at the office of Servientrega, the Colombian Express Post. However, after a call with the hostal in Bogotá for the reference number, we learned that the card hadn't even been sent. Next day, they lost track of the card. Later they found out that the person who was going to send it, was ill and had the card with him. The day after that, nobody was in possession of 2 Eur necessary to send the card (pay on receive wasn't possible). When they finally send it, we found out that it takes two days for the card to arrive and unfortunately the office was closed on saturday, sunday and monday was a holy day, so all official instances were also closed on that day.
Another fine example of the impossibility of planning in Colombia. Instead of passing through Pasto we got stuck here for 7 nights. The morning of the 23th we finally crossed the border without any further problems. My passport in Colombia was valid till the 24th (and it would have costed me a fine of 700 000 Pesos if I had crossed the border after the valid date of my passport....)

No comments:

Post a Comment