Beached As...

It was an early start, Matilda and Christer picked me up at 5.20am to head to the bus station. It wasn’t a long wait for the bus but just enough time to drink a coffee and eat an empanada for breakfast. Then the two or so hour journey to Tocoa. The bus was meant to drop us at the market there and the bus guy said he would but when we got to Tocoa he said no and we ended up walking ten minutes or so to the market.

There we met Eddis who was organizing our pickup to Batalla. It would be 7-9 hours along a mainly dirt road – depending on the condition of the road. By this time it was about 8.30am and we were keen to go. Eddis asked if we wanted to eat, no we were ready to go, it would already be a long day. He packed our bags in the back and there was some discussion with him and his friends. They then loaded four bags of frozen chickens in the back. Then they got in and took off. Twenty minutes he said. So we went across the road and had a coffee while we waited, all a bit confused by what just happened. Twenty minutes passed, an hour passed, soon enough we were beginning to panic. I had my passport and credit card locked in that bag and there was no sign of Eddis or the pickup.

We tried to call Claudia who was organizing everything but she didn’t pick up her phone. Eddis wasn’t answering his either. Tocoa is not really the kind of place you want to hang around at any time and there was a lot of police and military men milling around with large guns and other weapons attached to them. By now we were getting cranky and quite concerned that they’d never come back – and if they did, god only knows what time we’d get to Belen.

Finally Eddis picked up his phone – cinco minutos he said. And sure enough they arrived a little while later with the pickup packed up to the wahoo with all sorts of cargo. So by 10.30am we were finally off. Six of us in the car and three on top of all the cargo.

When we stopped for lunch just before two they said it would be only two and a half hours more and we thought the roads seemed to be pretty good. It would be nice to be able to get the boat from Batalla to Belen in daylight we thought and on this timing we could manage it.

Not long after lunch we stopped at a river crossing which was just a timber pontoon that was pulled across the river by rope. The car boards by driving up on some strategically placed timber slats, not much wider than a car tyre. The driver told us it was best if we stood outside the car, just in case he said. We were a little nervous but it all went smoothly, thankfully.

Another hour or so later and we hit sandy terrain, right by the beach and soon enough we were driving on the beach. It felt a bit like being in the Darien Gap – the roads just end so you have to drive along the beach. I thought it was quite a cool thing to do until we got bogged. They told us this is one of the dangers and can happen occasionally. We spent a bit of the time laughing at the situation – I could not see how we could possibly get the car out of here and it’s not like there’s loads of passing traffic. I had visions of the car getting washed into the surf.

They tried to get some wood under the worst tyre but there was too much cargo and nothing was moving. Eventually they unloaded most of the cargo to lighten the load. This was not an easy process. There were 22 50kg bags of rice alone. I estimated about 3 tonne of cargo. The stock of an entire mini-supermarket – everything was on board.

It took a good half hour to unload then the task of finding wood to put under the tyres started. We got involved to rock the car and help lever the wheel up to get the wood underneath. But just as we got them set a wave would come up and ruin all our good work. Talk about mission impossible.

Finally after over an hour, another car came down the beach and was getting ready to pull us out with rope but just at that moment, with a good push, the car came out. We were hoping we could get a ride with the other car, but no. So then the job started to reload the pickup again, another twenty minutes or so. Finally, an hour and a half later, we were off. The rest of the drive was pretty much along the beach and we were all a bit nervous about it now, particularly as it was now high tide and waves were splashing against the side of the car.

We came to another lagoon crossing involving the pontoon. This time we stayed inside the car. The sun was just setting and it was quite beautiful. Not too long later we hit another pontoon crossing, and shortly after that another one. Talk about the road less travelled.

Unfortunately on the final one the car missed one of the timber slats and got stuck. Unbelievably, we went through the entire process again of unloading everything off the pickup. By now it was dark and it was intermittently raining and quite cool.

About an hour later we’d sorted out that disaster and finally arrived in Batalla around 7.30pm. The three of us were sitting in the pickup wondering what was happening as the motor was still running (as it had been all day, even when we stopped for lunch and got bogged) but the others all got out. Finally one guy was coming past and I asked him where we were and what was going on. This is Batalla he said, the last stop. Yes I see you need some information. No Kidding! Eddis wasn’t really being the heroic figure we’d hoped for in this wilderness.

Much confusion ensued. We would have to stay in Batalla for the night as there were no boats and it was too dangerous. Then we were told that we could get a ride with the Pastor so it would be safe. This yes/no situation went on for a couple of hours so we had some dinner at Dona Pati’s and she gave us a bottle of apple wine called Night Train that you drink mixed with Coke – not bad and we really needed a drink.

We thought in the absence of anyone caring less about helping us, we’d just have some drinks until someone told us what to do. One of the other drivers who’d come in from Tocoa earlier was generously encouraging us to enjoy his Guarita (local moonshine) mixed with pineapple juice – not bad but you don’t feel so good later.

Eventually at around 9.30pm they told us the boat was here but don’t worry we’re not going yet. After a while we went down to it and they were loading the contents of the pickup on this longboat. Somehow we managed to squeeze on and by 10.30pm we were off.

We didn’t arrive to Belen until 1am and it was quite a cool ride but a perfect night with millions of brilliant stars. Our understanding was that we would be dropped at the lodge where we were meant to stay – but no. One of the guys on the boat, after some encouragement, walked us up to the “road” and said walk along it for half an hour. Great.

Okay so its now one in the morning, pitch black and we have no idea where we are going, the only thing we could do is walk for half an hour and then knock at someone’s door.

Luckily Matilda and Christer had torches so we bumbled along, avoiding cow patts, barking dogs and many puddles. At one point my thong broke but we got it back together again.

After about 40 minutes some barking dogs woke a family and they came out with torches to see what was going on, we asked them for help. The said we’d gone too far and tried to help us with directions. But it was impossible to know one place from another and there were no signs anywhere, not even so much as a light on in the entire place. A few houses we went up to and tried to get some help but couldn’t manage to wake anyone.

I was ready to sleep anywhere, by now it was about 2.30am and we’d been walking aimlessly for an hour and a half. Finally Matilda and Christer went off and I stayed with the bags and they knocked at someone’s door and it turned out he was Mario’s neighbour so he took them over.

Mario had called Dona Pati earlier in the evening but she told him we were having dinner now and would stay in Batalla for the night so he wasn’t expecting us.

You could imagine the state of us, mud covered feet, all messed up from the beach experience and nearly 23 hours of travel. We were completely exhausted and hit the pillow at 3.20am with very weary bones.

Yes, it was an adventure.