RnR on the Baru Peninsula

 

I have been told by Chris that his family is anxious for updated postings on the blog for which I have been somewhat remis in posting of late and apologise particularly to Stephen and Valerie.

From Mompox we drove to the Baru peninsula about 35km south of Cartagena and a popular holiday and beachside home destination for the residents of the city. We had found a funny small resort which has about 8 rooms, no catering but advertised safe parking for three cars.

 

We set off after a leisurely breakfast and within 10 minutes Ham’s Lagonda, having had its radiator filled up that morning was boiling over. We had only got to the outskirts of Mompox so this was not a good sign at all!!. A quick examination showed a significant crack on the bottom of the radiator which we managed to do a temporary mend by putting K-Weld in the rad. This is a solution which includes small slithers of copper which bind to the radiator as they are being expelled through any crack, thus temporarily closing up any leak. If the damage isn’t too severe the K-Weld should seal it, at least temporarily. If it doesn’t you’ve got a much bigger problem which will involve removing the radiator completely to mend it. We were lucky the K-Weld seemed to do the job, stopped the leak and we were off once again.

 

 One of the side effects of a solution like K-Weld is that it can block up some of the pipes or any filters within a radiator and make it less efficient. This seemed to be the impact and although Ham’s Lagonda didn’t overheat it was definitely running hot for the rest of the day. Something needs to be looked at when we have the time.

 

Otherwise the journey down the Baru Peninsula was pretty straightforward except firstly from the traffic police and perhaps for the last 10km when we drove down a testing, very rough track. This of course is not what an already damaged radiator really needs and it probably took its toll once again on Ham’s.

 

The traffic police hauled us over about 50km from Cartagena initially because the first policeman of the three man team thought Nigel looked like Harrison Ford, his favourite actor. Bumble informed him that their daughter has cooked for Harrison and this information was sufficient to allow them to be waved on their way. In the meatime Ham and Chris were stopped by his two colleagues who wanted, for the first time in South America, to see their vehicle insurance. Unfortunately the insurance that was purchased for the whole of South America did not list Colombia. The police said that there was a problem but eventually waved the cars on their way only to stop them immediately and  inform them that there was in fact a 'fine' to pay. Fortunately between their inablility to specify the 'fine' and Chris' abject refusal to even consider paying one they considered the whole thing far too difficult and waved the cars on their way. Since Ham cannot convince Chris that its worth paying for extra leg room on the flight to Panama, there was absolutely no chance of the police convincing him that there was a fine to pay!

We stopped at the last village, about 35mins from our destination for some supplies and stocked up before the last few kilometers along the dirt track. We were met by our host, Fernando who, with his wife, had built the small resort. Despite having already built two bars he was in the process of building a third, all for 8 rooms with no catering or drinks, other than those we supplied ourselves. Strange to say the least but perhaps Colombians really love bars!

 

The cars were crammed in a small area opposite the resort but at least they were vaguely secure and we would deal with them in the morning. In the meantime I gave Fernando 150000pesos to buy shrimp and his girls cooked us a delicious meal of fresh shrimp and rice. It was just what the doctor ordered. We had the sea to swim in the pool being out of bounds (the chemicals weren’t in balance yet!), we had beer to drink (which we had supplied ourselves) and comfortable rooms to sleep in. We had made Cartagena from Buenos Aires (10,000km!) which is no mean achievement. We slept the sleep of the righteous.

 

Day one on the Baru peninsula was car servicing day and we set too early to try and avoid the savage heat of the day. The only place to service the cars was on the dusty, dirty, hot track outside the resort so that is where the cars went. Nigel went at his Lagonda with a vengeance and during that one day managed to complete almost everything on his list including gear oil, diff oil, engine oil, points ……….. Ham replaced his spark plugs for the first time despite the colour of his existing ones being that light biscuit colour we all like to see! He cleaned but didn’t replace his points, cleaned the air filter, greased (a filthy job!), checked gear and diff oil, tightened everything he could get near and by lunchtime felt absolutely exhausted by the heat, dust and filth. Chris as always with the Rolls took a more pragmatic approach and simply did what he deemed to be absolutely necessary which included the vital reattachment of his wings which were falling off the old girl.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

By lunchtime we had earned a break and after a shower retired to the hotel Aura next door for cold drinks and fresh fish. It had rarely tasted so good, although there is a definite tendency to cook everything to oblivion.

 

Upon our return to our little resort we were met by Luis, our shipping agent, that Nigel had managed to be introduced to. Luis had driven out from Cartagena to sort out and collect all our paperwork which has one significant shortcoming. The border entry point through which we arrived in Colombia had failed to complete our online Temporary Import Permit (TIP) and without it we are unable to export the cars since they shouldn’t be in the country in the first place. Fortunately we had photographed ourselves with the border staff and remembered their names. Fingers crossed that Luis can sort this out.

 

By the time we returned to our little resort one of Ferdinando’s guys had delivered 24 litres of 20/50 engine oil for the two Lagondas. In the spirit of ‘never say die’ Nigel set too for a fully engine oil change that very afternoon. All credit to Nigel, he literally never stops.

 

We returned once again to the Aura Resort that evening for supper and at last Chris and Barbara got to enjoy lobster and Chardonnay whilst Bumble and Ham shared a very passable paella.

Extraordinarily after dinner the waiters told us that they had been told by their manager to walk us back to our resort next door. Since the dirt track was totally dark and there was absolutely no one about we weren’t sure if the security concerns were genuine or they were looking for a tip. Either way we passed on the escort and made it safely down the 100m to our resort. To complete a successful day Ham managed to get locked out of his room but luckily the staff were still awake and we didn’t have to rely on Chris’ Chartered Surveyor’s (is that part of the qualification?) house breaking skills to get him back into his room.

 

Our final day on Baru peninsula was spent with Ham and Chris completing a Lagonda engine oil change on the dusty old road and then around 11:00am setting off to our AirBnb in Cartagena. We waved goodbye to Ferdinando and set off down the dusty old track once again. Unfortunately after about 30 minutes Ham’s Lagonda boiled over once again. Chris was worried that the head gasket had blown but fortunately this was not the case. We refilled the radiator and made it into the centre of the old town of Cartagena where Barbara had booked an amazing AirBnB perfectly located in what is a really vibrant and colourful city. Worrying how two days running the Lagonda has overheated early on in the day. What could be the cause of this problem? We hopefully have time in Cartagena to investigate.