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Hi again to all,
We finally left Medellin on the 12th. and felt much regret in doing so. We said a sad farewell to our apartment, which is in the capable hands of Noelia (our new property manager) and were then very kindly driven to the airport by our neighbor, Janet. We had met her and her husband, Hugo, some time before and they are lovely people. One Sunday they asked us if we would like to go up to a country area/town called San Pedro and we had a delicious Colombian lunch with them up there. Another time we all went together to a restaurant complex in downtown Medellin and had another great time at an Italian restaurant. Hugo had lived in the US for 30 years and periodically goes back to work there to make sure he keeps his pension entitlement for when he finally retires. They are both Colombians, but in spite of applying many times Hugo's wife, Janet cannot get a visa so he has to leave for 3 months without her. It seems ludicrous and is part of the US's paranoia about allowing people in - even temporarily. Hugo left for New York just before we left Medellin and we asked him if he could post Spiderman (who had been lost under the couch) to the Peapods in Miami. This was necessary to ensure that their Lego set which we had bought for them in Medellin previously, was complete once more!! Spiderman duly arrived - thanks very much Hugo.
Another neighbor is Juan who is a young architect and who has lived in London and Switzerland. He has been a great help to us also and we had a farewell lunch with him at the Otraparte Café which is part of a small museum about 15 minutes walk from our apartment.
We've been spending a lot of time with our lawyer tidying up the final loose ends with Wills, and the Civil Trust that we have created. This has meant much time at various Notaries to get everything correctly notarised - otherwise under Colombian Law nothing is legal. For instance you cannot just go to a lawyer and get a Will drafted, signed and witnessed. It has to go to a Notary where there is a translator (which you pay for separately) and no less than 3 witnesses who are brought off the street and also paid for! A very convoluted business but of course made more complicated by the fact that our Spanish is still miniscule and certainly not up to the task of translating legal documents. And no Will made outside of Colombia is acceptable under Colombian law, so if you die without a Will made and notarized in Colombia(!), you are considered to have died intestate. In that case any property in Colombia would be forfeit to whatever local body administered where the property was - in our case the Municipality of Envigado. We had not been told this when we originally purchased the apartment.
But everywhere we have been with our lawyer and without, we have found people only too willing to go out of their way to help. It's been instructive and a great experience - even if a little frustrating at times. For instance, before we could form the Civil trust we had to make sure all the property tax was paid on the apartment to the end of the year. This amounts to the equivalent of NZD62 per month. So we had to go to the Palacio Municipal of Envigado to do this and then, because a simple receipt is not sufficient, we had to obtain what is called a "Paz y Salvo" which also has to be notarized and is the only form of legal receipt which is acceptable. When we were at the Palacio Municipal at Envigado, we had written out instructions in Spanish as to what we needed, but there was still some confusion until one guy seated behind a glass screen decided to help in a most practical way. He left his post and said to us "come with me" and lead us off down the road to another office where he spent easily 20 minutes haranguing someone to do the necessary. Then he took us back to his office and we completed what we had to do. Soooo helpful and by no means the only example of people really going out of their way to help us.
The matter with First American Realty (FAR) seems to have gone off the boil but appearances could be deceptive. The two principals of the firm are overseas and the staff have been instructed not to talk to us! This of course has unintended consequences for them because we have received an invoice from the internet/phone provider which was in FAR's name and which related to the earlier contract which we advised them we were no longer going to accept any responsibility for. So, we returned it to FAR and it appears that it may have been for a minimum of 12 months, so they can keep paying for nothing! They entered into it with no approval or agreement from us in any case and they employed 2 contractors to finally fix some of the defects with the apartment and then had the contractors bill us direct! We told them we were not paying but now one of the contractors has been contacting us in Bogota demanding payment! We have told them that payment is FAR's responsibility and to contact them direct. It is an extremely messy and convoluted business but no doubt in time it will all play out. At least with the Civil Trust no-one can touch the apartment and our lawyer will be alert to any attempts to sue us. We have communicated with the contractor concerned by text from Malaysia and advised him to contact FAR - all in Spanish!!
But in spite of all the above we have been continuing to enjoy life in Medellin - from our almost daily routine of 2 delicious Colombian coffees and a Parsianita (for Jim) and an Empanada Argentina (for Jean) at our favourite café, La Lolita at the La Frontera Mall just 10 minutes walk from our apartment. Lovely girls in the café and we have got to know them very well - even to the point of exchanging very basic Spanish. Usually COP16,000 which is the equivalent of NZD7.60. Another unintended consequence of that is that Jim has put on 5 kgs. which will have to be dealt with. That's one thing about Colombian food - it's delicious but they always give you big helpings and there is a lot of deep frying generally, red meat and much pastry which comes with the empanadas! We will need to be more disciplined when we live there.
We purchased 2 Rattan tub chairs for the apartment as there was a shortage of seating since we returned the horribly ugly lounge chair that FAR had earlier purchased on our behalf. Arranged on a Friday and they were made and delivered the following Tuesday - COP1,500,000 - NZD714 or NZD357 each. They really enhance the apartment and can be used in conjunction with the outdoor or indoor furniture. Very versatile! A pity we could not stay to enjoy them but airline tickets were beckoning.
Another thing we had to do arose from a difficulty in making our original bookings with Turkish Airlines. The website was difficult to deal with at the time and in an effort to get the best fares we inadvertently booked dates which resulted in us staying for 92 days when our visa only allowed 90 days. So, all for 2 days and after our lawyer Astrid had tried to get the visas extended on the phone, we finally had to go to Migracion Colombia ourselves to do the necessary. It isn't a problem in itself to get a 90 day visa extended to 180 days so we trotted off to MC. We were told that we needed an appointment but we hadn't been able to get one and time was running out. As is usual, by turning up in person one can normally achieve the desired result. So it was in this case. We had copious finger prints taken and there were forms to fill out and of course the payment of money which in the end is what these processes are all about. We then had our 3 month extension but there is a footnote. When we were leaving the country at Bogota, Turkish Airlines told us that, as our stay had exceeded 60 days (completely legally), we had to pay an additional COP 83,000 (NZD 41) each in order to leave the country. This came as a complete surprise and, as we had depleted our cash reserves of Pesos, we then had to go to an ATM and get some more! This situation would have applied whether we had stayed for any time over 60 days. It was starting to remind us of Thailand!! Once we are in a position to live permanently in Colombia, we will initiate the process of applying for permanent residency so will not then need to worry about these petty bureaucratic rules.
The flight to Bogota (the capital) was uneventful on Vivacolombia, except that, being a law unto themselves, they decided for some inexplicable reason to leave 30 minutes ahead of the scheduled time! Bad luck if you were cutting it fine. At least it wasn't as bad as when we arrived when the flight was delayed 10 hours. From the air the extent of Colombia's cut flower business (2nd largest in the world) was apparent with many acres of plastic houses. Even around Bogota as well which is another 3,500' higher than Medellin. Bogota is situated on a high plain and so does not have the rugged hills around it that Medellin has. It also has a much greater population of somewhere around 12 million. It is a very cultural city which was founded by the Spanish conquistadores in the 1530's. So, it's in the order of 480 years old. Medellin itself is also of a similar age but wasn't developed nearly as quickly - probably due to the more difficult terrain. We stayed in the Bio Hotel in the Usaquen district of Bogota - in the east of the city. Many restaurants within 10 minutes walk including one just along the road whose owner is an artist and his work which is impressive adorns the walls. Average prices around COP 1,000,000 (NZD490). Lunch was COP 13,000 each (NZD6.30) and included delicious Colombian soup and a main of either fish, trout or chicken with plantain bananas, rice and a salad bar where you could help yourself. And coffee and a cake at the end. How good is that? We also found an excellent French restaurant - La Boucherie - where we had dinner one night. Excellent food and still not expensive for what it was. It would have rivalled the French Café in Auckland but at a fraction of the cost.
The hotel was quite new and emphasized its commitment to the environment. But its claims rang a little hollow for us as they didn't turn on any heating so it seems that they sacrificed personal comfort for some dubious environmentalism. Bogota, due to its higher altitude is much colder than Medellin and we were very glad of our jackets. Jim even reverted to long trousers (of which he had one pair) as shorts were definitely chilly.
We met an American couple from Las Vegas who also staying there and arranged to go with them on a tour to a famous underground cathedral at Zipaquira to the north of the city. Unfortunately Jean wasn't feeling well and so stayed behind and rested. However, Jim went with them.This is an underground cathedral hewn out of solid salt underneath a salt mountain. The local indigenous people had been known as the salt people before the Spanish arrived and the salt mines had been worked for hundreds of years. The miners evidently decided as a result of their Catholic faith devotion, to create the cathedral from mining galleries already hewn, The cathedral is 180 metres below ground and is reached by a gently sloping tunnel which passes crosses in alcoves all hewn in solid salt. The salt is very hard like granite but apparently dissolves when water is applied. This is in fact the modern method of mining the salt on other sites and then of course there is a method of precipitating the salt out of the water again. We reached the choir stalls above the main floor of the cathedral, but from there down there were myriads of steps which Jim's knees weren't up to so he stayed up above while the rest of the party descended. Apparently there is a shallow pool down there which reflects the gigantic cross above the altar which is quite spectacular. However, after waiting about half an hour yours truly ascended to the surface where he waited for the others sitting in the car. Then back to Bogota. Certainly the "salt" cathedral was interesting and unique but not quite up to the image that is being crafted for it - that of no. 1 wonder of Colombia.
We flew out of Bogota on October 15th. for Istanbul via Panama City. We were lucky to be given bulkhead seats as our previous very carefully arranged booking seemed to have gone by the way. We had a 4 seat configuration which meant 2 vacant seats between us so we were able to stretch out and sleep. Still a long time - 16 hours including 1 hour on the ground in Panama - until Istanbul. However, Turkish Airlines (who have won Best European Airline for the last 4 consecutive years) were great and we arrived in Istanbul mid morning on the 16th. Straight to the Steigenberger Hotel where unfortunately we were too late for their wonderful breakfast, but a very pleasant lunch and then a shower and to bed before getting up in time for dinner and then our flight at 0150 on the 17th. This was a Boeing 777 and not such good seats but we had 3 seats between us and reasonable legroom so was quite comfortable. Only 10 hours this leg and we flew over northern Iraq, Iran and then Pakistan and India. Very picturesque looking down on the desert areas of Iran when the rising sun lit up the ground features like a relief map. So arid though and it wasn't until we were nearing the Bay of Bengal that the country of India appeared greener. For so many people water is such an issue. We landed at Kuala Lumpur at 5pm. and were soon through Immigration and Customs. Must make mention of the Malaysian Immigration official who processed Jim. A fat lazy Malaysian who yawned through the whole process and when asked to confirm that he had granted 90 days just yawned again. A quick perusal of the passport showed that indeed he had given the correct number of days, but what a welcome to Malaysia. We are used to this lackadaisical attitude in NZ as it is reminiscent of the fact that this is where the Polynesian people originated but is in fact extremely offensive and not serving their country at all well.
We stayed that night at the Sri Langat Hotel not far from the airport and that was very average but only cost us approximately NZD60. The food was very, very ordinary - welcome back to Malaysia!!!
The next day (18th.) we flew on Air Asia back to Langkawi. Uneventful again except that the aircraft got a flat tire at KL and so there was a 1 hour delay while they changed the wheel in full view of the departure lounge. Why don't they carry out normal maintenance instead of waiting for something to go wrong? Typical Malaysian attitude to "maintenance" - almost a foreign word around these parts.
Then back on the boat at the Royal Langkawi Yacht Club, Kuah. All was well and in fact she was in pristine condition considering the fact that they had had almost 3 months of continuous rain before we left. Paul and Sheila had done a great job of looking after the old girl in our absence. Now cleaning the topsides, putting away everything and generally getting organized for life aboard once more.
We will be hauling out in early January and then off to Thailand for the next big adventure - shipping to Genoa, Italy in March. Although we still want to sell the old girl, we are also looking forward to sailing the Med. and would probably be quite disappointed if someone were to come along with an offer in the interim. Such are the peculiar twists that one's mind can take at times!
Off to dinner with Graham and Lorraine from "Lorrigray II" at Cocos tonight and then a regime of Langkawi living including varnishing the starboard caprail and painting the insides of the bulwarks - which haven't been done since Cairns. All good and keeping us out of mischief!!
Lotsaluv to all and looking forward to your news,
Jim and Jean
s.v. Tiare Taporo III
Kuah
Langkawi
Malaysia.
