Reports of Bikes Confiscated in Columbia? Anyone Heard More

[TravellingStrom]

Hi

I have been in contact with Sylvia from the Hostel Wonderbar

She said that 7 bikes have been confiscated in Columbia in the past week.

Can anyone confirm or can advise what is an alternative if this is going to be an ongoing problem? She is not sure whether bikes will be transported by them anymore.

I am in El Salvador and was planning on the 15th Nov for the crossing.

Any help appreciated

Cheers
TravellingStrom

[markharf]

Well shoot, I'm a week behind you and was taking aim at about the same period. On the one hand, if they stop transporting bikes it doesn't really matter why. On the other hand, it'd be good to be able to anticipate whether the reasons for any confiscations which might or might not have occurred (this sounds remarkably vague, doesn't it?) could apply to other bikes, brought to Colombia by other means.

Hope more information is forthcoming, but thanks for the alert.

Mark

(Antigua, currently; thinking about climbing a volcano tomorrow.....or maybe just sleeping late instead)

[TravellingStrom]

Originally Posted by markharf

(Antigua, currently; thinking about climbing a volcano tomorrow.....or maybe just sleeping late instead)

I stayed in Antigua for a week, only left two days ago, I am now in San Miguel and heading to Nicuragua. I have just had a bad report of rip off costs at the ES to HON border.

Climb the volcano, I did, it is hard yakka but worth the effort, have a read here in case you want a preview I did the afternoon hike, 2-9pm.

Cheers
TS

[g&s2up]

We are in San Juan del Sur at the moment heading into Costa Rica then Panama in a couple of weeks, we would like to sail to Cartagena but will probably end up flying to Columbia so would appreciate any info on the above situation. By the way we foolishly used Helpers at the ES Honduras border and ended up paying $80 in total , yes, we know what your'e gonna say and we've learned our lesson. 4 and a half hours with power cuts and the usual administrative BS seems the norm!

Ride Safe - Stay Upright

Graham and Sue

[TravellingStrom]

Thanks for the info, I am getting all my instructions right now and hopefully will do with out any helpers. It looks like a rip off place though, I think I will ride straight through into Nicaragua

Cheers
TS

[TravellingStrom]

Me again, I just got into Honduras. You are totally correct about the wait, but I did it slightly different and it cost me only $62 total.

I paid a helper $12, he did all the work and stood in lines for 4 hours. I sat in the shade and read a book I had brought for the occasion, when it was all done, it then started to rain for an hour, typical

I was happy to pay the $12, no hassle for me, a bit cheaper than you, not much, but it does cost a minimum of at least $50, so I was happy with the outcome.

One note though, make sure you have a warning triangle as the cops 30km down the road will ask for it, if you do not have one, it costs whatever, about $20 probably at least, the triangle costs $6.50

Sorry for hijacking my own thread

Cheers
TravellingStrom

[candohome]

I was on the Stahlratte five weeks ago. As the ship has been doing for years the bikes from Panama were unloaded onto land in the public right of way in Cartegena (small vessel dock). The ship had anchored in the "yacht port" and does not use the commercial port to "import" bikes. We waited a few hours for the ships importation agent to stamp our passports and used this time to transport the bikes off the ship and onto land. A local Colombian charter owner had been harassing other small vessel charter operators and it was suspected that they called the policia. Only after we got our passports did we leave the vessel with the intention to bring our bikes to Aduana for their importation. We were met at the small vessel dock by the policia who escorted all seven bikes and riders to Aduana. At no time other than our escort were any of us riding around Cartegena before our bikes were stamped in. Our bikes were impounded and it took us one day of sitting around the Aduana office until I bothered the receptionist enough to learn to "come back tomorrow" the next day our importation agent was present and the bikes were released after I put a few more some more USA asshole cards on the table. It sucked bad and my only advice is boycott the Colombian charter boats! Aaron Petty www.aaronpetty.com

From www.stahlratte.org: Logbuch

"we had some trouble because of the place where we usually unload the motorbikes here in cartagena because of a denunciation but it was resolved 2 days later and now we have the official permission to unload the motos. we are on maintenance works aand had a big inspection for our safety equippment, so everything is like in new conditions. tuesday heading back to san blas and there is still spots left! ahoi"

w

Originally Posted by TravellingStrom

Hi

I have been in contact with Sylvia from the Hostel Wonderbar

She said that 7 bikes have been confiscated in Columbia in the past week.

Can anyone confirm or can advise what is an alternative if this is going to be an ongoing problem? She is not sure whether bikes will be transported by them anymore.

I am in El Salvador and was planning on the 15th Nov for the crossing.

Any help appreciated

Cheers
TravellingStrom