Return to Colombia and nonsensical Colombian bureaucracy

Hi to all,

As always we hope this finds you all well.

This blog will depart from previous norms as we are starting with the present and working back. 

Firstly, we had for 24 hours been trying to book 3 return seats on a local airline which flies from the regional airport (Olaya Herrera) to Armenia - about a 40 minute flight on a small turbo prop. Our interest was in visiting the so-called "coffee triangle", which is centered on the very picturesque town of Salento which is about an hour's drive from Armenia. Actually the cities which comprise the shape of the triangle are Armenia, Pereira and Manizales. We navigated our way through the Spanish website and all looked good until - the website rejected all 3 of our credit cards. Then, whenever we went back into the site, the price increased! Finally we made an attempt to use our Bancolombia debit card but the amount (roughly NZD600) apparently exceeded an arbitrary transaction limit which we were hitherto unaware of. So, it looked as though we would have to actually go to the airport to book the flights. What a performance in this electronic age!! Then later we even went to the local airport to attempt to break the impasse but all they did was reiterate the ludicrous charges - the equivalent of NZD230 per person return for a 40 minute flight.

However, our plans changed after we had a meeting with a local tour operator, Daniel Castano, who has given us some good advice as he was brought up in that area and knows it well.

In fact, as it turned out, Daniel's wife works for Avianca in a fairly senior role and actually managed to cause the Avianca website to accept our credit card at the originally offered price, albeit with changes, so all is well. Jim in the meantime had opted out of the Armenia/Salento visit and we are all doing a land tour north of Medellin with Daniel. Linda and Jean are leaving the tour in Jerico and travelling by bus to Armenia, from where they can visit Salento and then fly back to Medellin one way. Linda will have seen quite a bit of Antioquia Province  - of which Medellin is the capital.

After our meeting with Daniel we decided to take a 4 day circular tour by car north and west of Medellin starting in a few days' time. We should be visiting Santa Fe de Antioquia, Concordia, Jardin and Jerico. That will be the subject of another blog. That is the tour that Jean and Linda are leaving the final stages of to go to Armenia/Salento. This all seems quite convoluted, but the difficulties of trying to do anything on your own certainly made it so. One does need to enlist local help.

Then and all at the same time, we received advice from our Auckland freight forwarder that our possessions had actually arrived - on the 18th. - a Saturday. No-one even contacted us on the following Monday. It was only that yours truly followed up the advice from our Auckland freight forwarder to American Airlines that we received any confirmation at all of arrival. What would have happened if we hadn't had the Auckland advice, God alone knows.

Anyway, the consignment is supposed to be door to door, but that does not apply in Colombia! It is being held at the international airport and has incurred storage fees in spite of us being unaware of its arrival. Our forwarder in Auckland is going to follow all this up with IATA to hopefully recover some charges. Then we were told that we had to pay a "liberation fee" of COP 259,631 (NZD 119). But it cannot be paid in cash. We had to transfer it from our local bank account to the import agent account. But in Colombia you cannot just go into your bank website and pay a one-off account - as you can in NZ. First you have to register the payee on your bank's website - and all in Spanish. We did this and were told that it would take 1 hour for registration to be confirmed whereupon we could proceed with payment. BUT almost 24 hours later the registration was still "pending", so this morning (22/05) our wonderful friend Clara said she would personally go to a branch of their bank and pay the requisite amount and we would reimburse her. She has also said she would take Jim to the airport once all the bureaucracy was put to bed, so a friend in need indeed.

So yesterday Clara took Jim to the airport. You won't believe what happened next. We thought we had all the required documents and we had paid the necessary fees, but we were blindsided by a request from Dian (Customs) for the Customs form that we filled in when we arrived on LATAM from NZ/Chile on May 11th. Just what that form had to do with a completely separate consignment, which was sent per American Airlines through Los Angeles and which had its own declarations, completely escapes us - but it's just another example of Colombian illogic. It would do your head in if you allowed it. Anyway, needless to say we did not have the form as we had presented it at Bogota on arrival and there was no expectation or advice that we needed to keep it!!! It was left with Immigration/Customs at Bogota Airport which is entirely normal. So Customs at Medellin are contacting Customs Bogota to retrieve the form!! Which in reality is entirely irrelevant. But it could take another 15 days and then they'll all be happy with their little bits of paper  - God knows what will happen if they cannot find it.

They then took us into the warehouse where the items were stored and opened each box. All looked perfect, so that was something, but frustrating to hell that we couldn't take delivery because of all the mindless bureaucratic nonsense. And it's all just personal effects - nothing of real value - except to us.

WOT A BLOODY PERFORMANCE!!!!!!!

However, as a footnote Clara later received advice that the Customs form had been found and that we could now collect our possessions. So today (29/05) Clara took Jim to the airport again and after another round of form filling we finally loaded Jean's massage table plus 4 x 23 kg boxes of personal papers, books etc into Clara's Chevrolet Captiva and finally they are back here in our storage unit pending unpacking and sorting. WOT A RELIEF!!!! 

But then on one of the return trips to town, Clara and Jim took the scenic route with Clara continually pointing out items of interest including the prospect of  what are known as "Senior Apartments" which have the ability to become serviced apartments to whichever degree one might need as the years take their toll. Could be a good idea to buy one and then rent it until we might need it. There is a new complex being built as we speak. There was also a nature reserve which we drove through and which was very extensive and apparently contains native Pumas and small Colombian Tigers. Plus a heap of other biodiversity. Colombia has one of the highest biodiversity of any country on the world. Including very venomous snakes!! And all this is only a few kilometres from the centre of Medellin.

On a happier note, we all arrived at Medellin by LATAM from Santiago, Chile via Bogota at around midnight on May 11th. - 12th. Between us we had 5 x 23kg suitcases plus our carry on bags. However, in spite of us having ordered a vehicle capable of carrying all this paraphernalia plus us 3, it didn't materialise and so we were forced to arrange a 2nd vehicle, which at that hour of the day was all we needed. In addition one of our suitcases failed to arrive so we had that to deal with as well. The tempers were deteriorating by this time!! Incidentally the lost bag did turn up but had been opened (probably by Customs) and a few of the contents were damaged, although not too badly. We were very pleased to finally arrive at Jardines de la Maria and it was also great to see Jimenez - our friend who is one of the 24 hour security. He was obviously doing night shift then. Jean and Jimenez had an uproarious reunion. Not to also mention the beautiful chocolates which had been left for us by our friends and neighbours, Clara and Memo. So kind of them to do that for us.

Now back to the beginning........................................................

Back in Auckland ahead of our imminent departure we spent our time juggling weights in the aforementioned suitcases and seeing family and friends - as well as distributing the remnants of items we might have liked to take to Colombia, but sadly cannot.......

On Anzac Day (25/04) Jim flew to Christchurch to be with Charlotte, Jon, Lucia and Elsie. So good to see them after all this time. Of course the girls have grown and Charlotte and Jon live busy lives with Jon's freight forwarding and Charlotte as an analyst for Dairy NZ. The famous sterling silver tea set which bears Charlotte's previous initials (CD) from 5 generations ago had been badly neglected, so yours truly spent 4 hours polishing it and its tray till it looked a million dollars once more. Very stern strictures to Charlotte about the importance of polishing every 2 months or so and then it's not a big job, but not sure how much sunk in. Anyway, they are moving house so once it was all polished and looking magnificent, once again yours truly wrapped it in real estate agents' magazine pages - a fitting use! - and so it will remain untarnished until it can be unwrapped in the new house.

On Anzac Day just after arriving in Christchurch Charlotte took Jim to a remembrance service at the RNZAF museum at Wigram - moving and very thought provoking. On the Saturday Jon, Charlotte and Jim all went out to dinner in the Oxford St. Precinct on the banks of the Avon which had been badly damaged in the earthquakes 7 years ago, but now largely rebuilt and a great asset to the city. Unfortunately the old cathedral is still in its damaged state but apparently money is now available for the rebuild so hopefully that will happen soon. On that Saturday Elsie and Lucia had gone with Charlotte's sister-in-law, Vanessa (or Ness for short) to the Cragieburn Skifield for a working bee weekend to get ready for the ski season. Jon's father, Max was also there and the day before Max and his partner, Phillipa had come to dinner so it was great to see them again and give them all the news about living in Colombia, but one could sense their doubt about the sanity of the raconteur!! And they have no real knowledge about Colombia; they just have their own died in the wool opinions. But there are many people with those attitudes - and not just in NZ.   All too soon it was time to leave - all the more poignant because this time it could be some time before a return can be organised and at our time of life 12-15 hour flights are becoming harder to handle - both physicaly and financially.

Back in Auckland on 30/04 and then a round of visits with Jim's brother, Alec and his wife, Linda (lunch at the Cornwall Park Kiosk and a previous visit to their house in Mt. Eden), and also a visit to Jim's antique dealer cousin, John Mains and Gary at their apartment. Once more the chance to sample John's famous and exquisite sandwiches  - we will always miss those. Gave John a ship's chronometer which is WW2 vintage and which had been given by his father to Jim's father many years ago. A fitting return. John's father, Neil, had been in the RNZN during WW2 and possibly "acquired" the said chronometer during that time.

Visits to Amanda (Jim's eldest daughter) and Dave and dinner out at an Italian restaurant at Greenwoods Corner and depositing of further family memorabilia which we could not take and which were appropriate to leave with the relevant family members. 

We knew that this was make or break as far as our possessions went, and after 10 years of living minimally on the yacht, it was somewhat easier to make the break, although lots of anguish about what we kept or not.

We also had lunch with Lorraine and Alan at the Palmers Garden Centre in Shore Rd., Remuera. Lorraine is the mother of Perry's partner, Tracie. Good to see them again. They are soon going to Miami to be with the family y los nietos.

One interesting thing - Jim had an Albin Martin oil painting. Martin painted this particular one in Italy in the latter part of the 1800's and then came to NZ where he painted a few more. Sadly could not take it to Colombia so it went into the monthly antique auction at Cordys, where 2 descendants of Martin were present. Both quite badly wanted the painting and so the price rose accordingly. Sad for the old lady who missed out. The other bidder drove all the way from Wellington with John Mains' encouragement and in the end was the successful bidder. So, after all these years it's back in the family of Martin's descendants - a fitting end after an estimated 130 years of Owen family ownership.

During our time in Whangarei we made 3 return trips to Auckland with stuff for auction, stuff to give away and stuff ultimately to take to Colombia - in spite of Colombian Customs!! 

We enjoyed our time at Sara and Hamish's property where we had had all our things stored - we cannot thank them enough for putting up with all the paraphernalia over the last 3 years or so. And we thoroughly enjoyed looking after Molly, Winnie, Mozart and Blackie. Can't say the same for the 2 Dexter steers, especially after one of them got aggressive with Jim when we were filling their water trough and he lowered his head and moved forward in a threatening manner! Jim made a hasty exit through the nearest gate.

And we must again make mention of Perry and Tracie's car - a Suzuki Grand Vitara which not only made us mobile, but also meant that we had the ability to carry all the stuff necessary. But it's all finished now - thank goodness. And staying at Linda's was also a godsend. It gave us a base in Auckland and also the ability to do final distributions from there and of course was all the more pleasant enjoying Linda's hospitality.

NZ was starting to get quite cold towards the end of our stay, which we were not used to after our years in the tropics in Asia and also Medellin's moderate temperatures. Just to make all you Kiwis feel really good, yours truly is sitting here at our dining room table in shirtsleeves at 10 at night with the balcony doors wide open and a balmy 23 degrees C!! It is technically summer here now at 6 degrees North, but in reality there is very little temperature difference from one month to another.   

We have been showing Linda around the city with a visit to the Museo de Antioquia where there are comprehensive exhibitions of the sculptures and painting of the well-known and renowned Colombian artist, Fernando Botero. Also educating her in the dark arts of supermarket shopping a la Medellin!! Visits to the Mercado Campesino at Parque la Presidenta on Sunday mornings also. We had lunch with Astrid, our lawyer at Mondongo's in el Poblado and then a light dinner back at Astrid's apartment. We have been to the Otraparte Museo restaurant just along the road from us where we met Dave from NZ and who works here in Medellin. Didn't come to blows over Trump but always close!! We went to Parque Arvi which involved a metro ride and then a metrocable ride up a very steep hill to Arvi.  Spectacular views of the city from up there. Jean and Linda have been to Dr. Oscar for IV infusions of vitamins and other ingredients designed for individual patients' needs based on their medical histories. Jim will get around to it eventually!! They swear by it. Dr. Oscar was introduced to us by our friend, Monica. Have also been to various shopping malls - Viva, Santa Fe, Oviedo. 

A couple of days ago we all did a tour with Daniel Castano to el Carmen de Viboral - which is known for its handmade and handpainted ceramics. Had a great time watching the painting which is fascinating for its skills and colours. Bought some small souvenirs and then travelled on to Guatape which is a town on the edge of Lake Guatape - a hydro lake. Still the same and very picturesque with colourful motifs on all the buildings, but they are constructing a beach on the lakefront in front of the town and bringing the sand from the Pacific coast- which is a marathon and extremely costly business. There is now severe pollution of the lake water from agricultural run-off (a familiar story from NZ - where ameliorating measures are well advanced) and so we have severe concerns as to the viability of the whole project. The white sand could easily go green. Already people have been poisoned by the lake water, so unless something is done VERY soon, we fear the whole project will be in severe jeopardy. There will certainly be NO swimming. On the way back to Medellin we learnt of 2 FM frequencies - 88.9 and 90.5 so we are now armed with Colombian music in our apartment. 

Speaking of swimming, we have been enthusiastic users of the apartment swimming pool, so exercise is being slowly addressed.

That more or less covers our time in Medellin from when we arrived on May 11th. till now. We had had a good flight to Santiago in Chile with LATAM and had the usual bulkhead seats. Very tiring though as we crossed many longitude lines and all the wrong way - against the sun. We left our large suitcases at the airport and headed into town to the Personal Aparts Bella Artes on Manjitas 744. After what seemed to be an interminable time we were finally installed in our apartment which was small but clean and it had everything we needed - apart from a corkscrew - a major omission!! Small supermarket across the street so everything on hand. 

We decided to take a day tour to Valparaiso which is the port city for Saniago. Roughly a 2 hour drive through very arid country, although things became more lush as we got closer to the coast. On the way we stopped at a winery where we could buy Chilean wine at inflated prices and all sorts of Chilean souvenirs and traditional clothing - all made in China. You would think they would get their act together.

Linda had been to Valparaiso before on a cruise so it wasn't new to her, but she enjoyed the return visit under very different circumstances!

Valparaiso is a lovely OLD city with many pastel colours and the HQ of the Navy (Armada) was beautiful and very well maintained. We visited a maritime museum which was fascinating with accounts of the Chile/Peru War in the late 1800's. Many paintings of ponderous sailing ship actions and canon fire!!  The port is largely artificial being protected inside a massive breakwater in what is otherwise just a big wide bay. We went up a high hill for a view of the whole waterfront - spectacular - and then had lunch at a waterfront venue a little way north along the coast. Great view with Pacific rollers on the rocks right in front of us. The old sailor's instinct came to the fore and Jim was thinking he'd be many miles offshore!!

The place where we were staying was in the old city centre and it was but a short walk to see probably the best of Santiago with a cathedral and many other old buildings - all carefully preserved. However, it was COLD as Santiago is on the same latitude as Auckland, but with the added chill factor of cold winds coming down off the Andes which there are very close.

However, although we were glad that we had seen something of Santiago/Valparaiso, we were looking forward to getting back to the equable climate of Medellin. The 6 hour flight to Bogota was ok and uneventful, then we cleared Customs and Immigration there. Then a short 1 hour flight to Medellin. The landings at Bogota and Medellin were both accomplished in torrential rain and much reverse thrust was used rather than the brakes.    

Well, this brings us full circle - in a quite circuitous manner, but we hope you have enjoyed the blog.

Couple more things to say - 

We apologise once more for not including photos, but yours truly is just a complete dinosaur as despite trying to figure it out, cannot see how to transfer photos from our so-called smart phones to the computer. If anyone feels so inclined, any tips on how to transfer photos from either Android or Apple phones would be most gratefully accepted.

And - cannot let the opportunity go by without some political comments:

As regards American politics, all we can say is we really hope that the socialist Dems do bring impeachment proceedings against Trump. Not only will these fail spectacularly, but they will absolutely ensure Trump's re-election at the end of 2020, after the Mueller Report cleared Trump and his campaign of "collusion" and/or obstruction of justice. And the Republicans would regain their majority in the House. This would be the best outcome possible and finally Trump could succeed in stopping the illegals and the drugs coming across the southern border.

And Brexit - it goes from bad to worse. The Conservatives and Labour were punished severely in the European Parliamentary elections - no wonder May wanted out before those elections! Now she is all but gone and we hope either Nigel Farrage or Boris Johnson becomes the next PM. The spectre of a no deal Brexit has been put about just to frighten people and it would be the best thing for Britain. So that once again Britain would be free of European shackles and able to pursue its own FTA's. One with the US would be priority and Trump is certainly keen for that to happen. And NZ could resume its old trading relationship, but without the slabs of butter and mutton carcasses! Fingers crossed that all of the above happens. 

Well, you will be relieved to read that at last there is an end to this treatise. We hope you enjoy.

With all best wishes and lotsaluv from us in Medellin...........................

Jim and Jean

www.tiaretaporo3.blogspot.com