It seems the first lesson of this adventure is that detailed communication is crucial. While Jorge and I usually communicate with each other well, we recognize that sometimes communication with others is not as clear as we believe it to be. Many of you know that I am direct and detail oriented. These are not the typical words used to describe Jorge. His communication with the shipping coordinator were not quite as detailed, nor as specific as they needed to be!

In a few short hours we went from dropping the truck on Monday, July 2 for a Friday, July 6 departure to a July 2 drop-off and a July 15 departure You may ask, ‘How did this happen?’ Where shall I begin?

As many travelers before us, we expected to experience some delays and minor issues with shipping a truck to a foreign country. While I was prepared to hit a few snags at the receiving end in the new country, I never expected to experience issues before we even left the parking lot in the United States!

As we speak our Tundra is in a shipping yard awaiting its premier expedition at sea – almost 2000 km from Miami, Florida to Cartagena, Colombia via ocean cargo ship. The replies from the shipping agent were incomplete and it was not until we relinquished the truck, gave our necessary documents – which included the actual title of the vehicle and power of attorney, to the storing agent and drove away that we were told of the long delay in shipping.

Initially, this might not sound like a big problem…however, all our belongings were now safely packed into the back canopy of the Tundra and we were no longer able to access any of it. Thinking that we would be only two nights in Bogota before heading off to Cartagena to meet the truck on Friday, we had only one ‘city outfit’ packed into our small backpacks. The other clothes were beach shorts, bathing suits and tank tops. Our expected stay in Bogota, where the temperatures are considerably different than those at the beach, went from a couple of days to almost a week. While it does give us time to spend with Jorge’s family, we are both anxious to begin the journey. We leave for Cartagena on July 9 and will wait patiently for the slow-moving cargo ship to makes its way. The expected arrival date is July 19, but July 20 is a national holiday and it is likely that we will not be able to get the car out of the port until July 23…at least we have clothes for the beach!

This week’s theme: Communication is important, details matter and patience is essential.

PS – Don’t worry Krista and Scott, we will see you in Quito on August 6. Promise! Even if I must start walking…