Mike writes: After the relative cool of Bogota it was good to get back to the Caribbean heat of Cartagena last night. The rains had abated and the old town was looking as gorgeous as ever.
The warm up stage is nearly over. And warm is putting it mildly – as the latest member of the team to arrive put it: stepping out of the air conditioned room is like walking into the bottom right oven of a four door Aga.
Today we said farewell to Maria and welcomed Paul. We are very grateful to Maria for looking after Chris and ensuring that he is sufficiently rejuvenated to face the long drive ahead.
Paul may not be as easy on the eye as Maria but he is more keen on driving and better at drinking beer, although obviously not at the same time.
Paul enjoyed a whirlwind tour of Cartagena even though parts of the tour did not involve sitting in bars. It’s a great city which we’ve enjoyed visiting but, after fending off the four hundredth hat vendor of the day, I can truly say it’s time we moved on.
We stopped for lunch at a restaurant called Revoltura, a venue previously rejected by Maria on account of the profusion of underwear inexplicably dangling from the ceiling. She was right. The food was pants too.
The team reunited at the airport where Chris, queso grande de Avis, haggled successfully with Avis for an upgrade to our next hire car – Dodge Voyager SUV.
In order to miss tomorrow’s early morning traffic, we have moved to a hotel on the outskirts of town. We thought it was the Hotel Viagra but we seem to have misread the name. It is in fact the appropriately named Hotel Viaggio i.e. Travel.
Tomorrow’s target is the city of Monteria further down the Pan American Highway.
Our America’s Challenge Drive 