Shipping from Panama to Colombia, bike storage, things I wish I knew before

[fle]

Hi there my fellow motorcycle lovers,



I have recently returned from Peru where I left my bike on a long way down and around trip.

During this trip I basically encountered two major problems, which were shipping the bike over the Darien gap and storing the bike till I come back with more $$$ and time to continue the trip.

I'd like to share the intel I gathered to make it easier for people approaching that conondrum.



Shipping the bike from Panama to Colombia:

That was the most stressful part. The initial idea was to hire a boat that would take us through the San Blas islands to Cartegena.
The most and so far ONLY reliable options I could find were the Wild Card and Stahlratte

I met actual people who used their service and they seem to be serious and reliable.
Unfortunately they've been fully booked when me and my buddy wanted to cross, so I found another boat that posted on this forum offering the same kind of service called La Poste . However, they appear to be a scam. We lost our deposit over some excuse and we found ourself in Panama with no boat and 200$ lighter. Later on I met a couple more people with the same experience which makes me believe they are no good and shall be avoided at all cost (maybe even banned from this forum?).

Lesson learned and after reconsidering our options we came to the conclusion that we'll fly our bikes. Less stress for us and the bike electrical system. So we found 2 options. First, Copa Air, which said they don't ship over 200kg, but then a week later I met a guy who shipped with them the same bike I have. Confusing? Welcome to Central/South America

Second was AirCargoPack which we eventually used. 1000$ for the bikes, 130$ for a one way ticket with Viva Colombia.
Everything went pretty smooth, bikes flew out a day later than supposed to, but no big deal. They took care of virtually all paperwork, we just had to show our pretty face to the official. We left all of our gear on the bikes, didn't have to disconnect the battery or anything. Very hassle free I would say.

Worth of the money? Probably not. I think all the options have terribly inflated prices (1150$ for the boat, same price for the flight) because there are very VERY limited options to ship your bikes.
There is also a container option, but that was not our case, because I was running out of time already and the container shipping seems to be the most time consuming, but by far the cheapest (shared containers can come down to 300$!).


Storing the bike:

I had to leave my bike behind for 8 months. Colombia only allows 90 days, Panama would be an option if you cancel the temporary importation, but I wanted to be in SA before going back home. Equador? I could find no information about it. Brazil and Uruguay seem to be the best options, if you need to leave for more than 8 months. But the closest option to Colombia is Peru.

In Peru I have found out that you can cancel the temporary importation and leave the bike behind for an unlimited amount of time. No special reason needed. It seemed all easy on paper. Still, it would be much much more stressful if I haven't found Felipe of Motos del Peru.
He explained me how the process works in real life and gave me a quote to store my bike in their shop. With his help everything was sorted stress free in 3 days. With the level of competence and the fact that they have a well equipped workshop with skilled mechanics I was more than happy to leave my baby in their shop in Lima for 8 months and I feel I can recommend their business to others.
His contact: fmiranda@motosdelperu.com


There, this is my experience. I hope I helped. If you have any questions, feel free to ask.
Also, I hope I didn't brake any rules by providing the links, if so please delete this post.

Cheers