Shipments done by Travellers

Bilingual, helpful.

VERY extensive search for exit of Colombia and entrance into Cuba - ALL contents.

an interesting crossing but painful booking procedure.

the crossings are irregular. for instance we arrived at the deoarture poing to be told maybe in 2-3 days. we started the procedure anyway to be told later a freight boat (oil trains) arrives tonight.

the whole procedure tiresome. firstly the ticket purchase was a case of how much could be extorted from the tourist. incidentally the customs were going to impound our bikes at 2200 hrs so the ticket man had some leverage. he used it well and after about 4 hours of recurrung discussions including a request for my wife to provide several sexual services (which she declined incidentally) he settled on the horrible price of $US325. we

Easy to deal with. Drive up, the cost is $450, payable in cash, US dollars only. Panama uses the US Dollar so no problem to get money from the ATM, although none are located at the air cargo terminal. Its neccessary to disconnect the battery and drain the tank. Neither were physically confirmed by GIRAG while I was there. Bike flies to Bogato first then to Quito. 5 days transit. A taxi costs $2 from the air cargo terminal to the regular passenger terminal. My ticket from Copa Airlines (affiliated with Continental Airlines) was $339, one way, tax included. GIRAG will prepare a form that lists the moto as leaving the country, and you get this stamped as you leave the air cargo compound at the customs office there.
In Quito, pick up your HAWB papers at the Air France Cargo offices at the airport (GIRAG has no offices in Quito). Pay $22 to them. Take the papers to the customs office near the airport (ask for the Zona Primera offices). Give them your papers and your carnet (if you have one). 30 minutes later, we walked over to the bonded warehouse, and stamp, stamp, stamp, $20.50 later, you are free to leave. The $20.50 is for storage, and is the basic amount up to 7 days. The whole process was quite painless. There was a bit of discussion on how to correctly fill out the carnet, but they sorted it out in the end without me having to pry too much.