gps devices are awesome. navsat’s is no exception…and is definitely worth the extra money if you rent a car in costa rica…and are planning on visiting san jose…especially, if you have to travel to 3 or 4 random offices spreadout throughout the city….like i had to do today.for those unaware, the darian gap is a 100km stretch of jungle separating panama from colombia. it’s supposedly very hard\/dangerous to drive through.
\nso, the first company i went to (evergreen) seemed a little less professional than the second one: hapag lloyd. either way, it doesnt matter too much….since you end up doing almost everything with a immigration agent. i found one, who seems pretty nice….although we’ll wait and see. she just sent me quotes for a number of ports (leaving from puerto limon, costa rica). here are a few to consider:<\/p>\n
cartagena, colombia = $1,700 (6-8 days)
\nguayaquil, ecuador = $1,775 (8-10 days)
\nrio haina, Dom. Rep = $2,006 (3 days)
\nlondon, england = $3,166 (22-24 days)<\/p>\n
so why so much? well, ~$250 for loading\/warehouse, $350 for paperwork and another $250 for unloading. the shipping itself costs about $1k. i always knew it would cost around that much (i was hoping about 1-1.5k), but now that i’m here…i’m starting to question whether it’s worth it. it’s not so much the money ($2k is affordable for most americans), but whether that money could be better spent somewhere else….like building a library in nepal (www.roomtoread.org). i’ve already learned a bunch…and maybe i’ll get more than 2k of value out of the remainder of the trip. what should i do? i just enabled comments, so please leave your feedback on the site! (…there may be some bugs still)<\/p>\n\n\t\t