Shipping the Car from Panama to Colombia...the Dreaded Nightmare...and Beyond (Panama)

Yesterday we were busy little bees. I had called the company we are using to ship the car to Colombia and found out a few tid-bits of information that would make getting on a boat at 5am on Monday a bit challenging. We had planned on spending Saturday touring the city, and then all day Sunday prepping for the car shipment. Apparently, and I'm not sure why we hadn't thought of this, the company was closed Sunday, but open for a few hours on Saturday, so that morning, Jared and I grabbed a cab and headed over to the shipping company. Due to terrible street signs, or lack of a street name entirely, the address, (which was literally: this large neighborhood, after this super large street, across from the building under construction) was unfamiliar to the cab driver, and after an hour of searching all over, we finally pulled into a hotel, so I could call.   After getting exact directions, we found the place easily.
A quick side note, if anyone has ever attempted to look into car shipment from Panama to Colombia, you find that information is incredibly elusive. When I typed any version of "ship a car from Panama to Colombia", the most common sites to come up were other travel blogs. I contacted probably 50 different shipping companies, from home movers to oil tankers, before I found our company, The Rozo Group. They were one of the only companies who offer "roll-on, roll-off", instead of the standard container shipment. I actually hadn't found any other blog who had used them before, and all of the stories I had read about the entire process were completely nightmarish, including having to go back to the border, because documents were signed incorrectly, having to wait up to 8 hours for simple paperwork to be processed etc. Needless to say, I was dreading the process, and was afraid it would take much longer than the 4 hours that the Rozo company was open on a Saturday morning. The paperwork processing at the Rozo group was only 50% of what needs to be done (we have to go to the Police Station to have them sign off on us shipping the car out [but they were not open at all on the weekends, and we have to wait until Monday to complete that step]) BUT, I was blown away by the experience. When we came in, a woman gave us a paper to fill out, and we were prepared with all of our copies, completely due to the fact that we had emailed back and forth and were well informed by the company. FYI, you must bring 3 copies of each: Passport photo, License, Title, and Insurance, including the originals. We waited maybe 10-20 minutes before the woman we had been emailing, Jooliet Mancia, came in and explained the next step of the process, i.e. the police station and actual transport of the vehicle to the port. Probably the most shocking part of the whole process was when she mentioned that she would travel with us Monday morning to the shipping dock, about an 1+ hour away. When I inquired why she had to come with us, she said because it wasn't a great area, and she didn't want us to get stuck out there, so she would follow us in her car, and drive us back....!!!! What!?!? That type of generosity, literally, never happens. Anyway, obviously, we were blown away, and out of the office about an hour after we walked in. Again, thus far we are only 50% of the way through the process, but as of now, I cannot recommend this company enough. They were also about $700 less than container shipment. TELL EVERYONE!!!
When we came back to the hostel, the water wasn't working, so we headed out to rent some bicycles along the Amador Causeway for some nice views of the city. We hadn't done anything like that before, usually because it's pretty cheezy, and we don't like spending our money on those types of things, but we all had a really great time, and surprised ourselves with the experience.

We had perfectly planned out timing, so we could return to the hostel at about 4 o'clock, shower, beautify, and head out the dinner with friends of mine from Uruaguay, the US Ambassador and Mrs. Farrar. Did I mention earlier that the water went out?? BOY was that the wrong day to have shower issues!! The hostel was steaming hot, and there were no showers, toilets, or drinking water.  I went outside when it started to rain just to cool off...which also ended up making the massive amount of sunblock I had slathered on earlier turn into super slime. At 5:30pm, the water still hadn't turned on, so we used the half bottle of water that I had saved in case this happened, and used that to literally rub soap on our bodies and rinse off at the sinks. We put a pretty hefty dose of doedorant on, tried as best as possible to look "shiny", not "sweaty", put on our Sunday best, and hopped in the car...late, for the Farrars house. Luckily, Ambassador and Mrs. Farrar were completely understanding, and it ended up being a kind of funny situation.

Dinner was fabulous, and we had veggies, which we hadn't had in a while! Their home is amazing, and we spent most of the night chatting about our families and our trip. I think some of our stories horrified Mrs. Farrar (the brakes, headlights, hygenic situation etc), but she I think she loved hearing them all the same. They seem to really enjoy Panama, as have we. When we returned to the hostel, we were pooped! So, we headed to bed early, well around 11:30pm.
Our hostel is really nice, and very big, but we are in a pretty up-and-coming location for bars it seems, and our large open windows face onto the street...where cabs drop off and pick up their drunken fares. Every night has been a bit of a challenging sleep situation, BUT I was reminded of the glorious wonders of the earplug, and had the first good sleep since we got here. Earplugs...another must for a trip like this.
Today, Nicole and I went out on a jog and a bit of a workout, but I was overwhelmed by the heat, and had to cut out early.  Jared had been feeling pretty crummy since the night before, and waking up in the morning, he was no better: a massive headache and aching muscles, no bueno. He took a not-entirely-doctor's-recommended-but-completely-Kathleen-recommended dose of Ibuprofen, hyperhydrated, and rested a bit. We had planned to have lunch with his aunt, whom he discovered was visiting Panama City just the day before.   After a few hours of TLC, Jared was feeling good enough for lunch, so the three of us headed out to the Mall to meet his aunt, her sister, and her nephew and niece. All of them were incredibly warm, and generous, and intrigued by our trip. Jared and his family have a great bond. We had very yummy Mediterranean food, and said our goodbyes, before doing a bit of shopping for essentials that had run out or been lost (me again). Back at the hostel now, Jared and I did laundry in the sinks. We need to prep the car for shipping tomorrow, and pack our bags to maximum capacity so as not to leave anything in the car. Tomorrow will be a long, possibly infuriating day, so I don't imagine we will not be doing anything super exciting tonight.