We collected the car on Monday evening, minus the seat etc. as Hernan\’s \’friend\’ had not wanted to give him the parts, I can understand why, he would not have got as much money from him! So we arranged to return today at 10am, so the carpet, seat etc. could be put back, in the mean time we used it as it was. The cost of the clutch and welding, was much as I expected, I wished it had been cheaper, but don\’t we all! It just means a careful month ahead.
We left home this morning at 9.15am, and as soon as we hit the autopista, we were in solid traffic, and it continued onto the second autopìsta, so we pealed off to try and avoid whatever was causing the blockage, but every road in Medellin seemed to be effected, and in the end, a journey that should have taken us about 35-40 minutes took us two hours.
It turned out that we were lucky, had we remained on the autopista, we would have been stuck there for hours, there had been a fatal accident, further down, and the Motorway was shut. Apparently here they have no Contingency Plan for such occasions, they just shut the road, and you are on your own, and if you happen to be in the wrong place at the time, you could be stuck there for hours. It has been on the News tonight, saying that Medellin totally collapsed today, by that I think they mean it was gridlocked, and they were right.
I find it hard to believe that the Local Authority, of a city the size of Medellin, do not have Emergency Contingency plans, it is ridiculous, you would think that the Business Community would insist on it. Not an Ambulance or a Fire Engine, could have travelled anywhere at more than 5mph for hours. At least many of the Police use Motorcycles, so they were not hampered.
Here as everywhere today is Halloween and I have never known a country take this day so seriously. The shops have been full of everything Halloween for weeks, and today all the children are in fancy dress, and Adults as well, and this is out and about on the street! They almost make more of this day than Christmas, it is strange.
We have had a steady flow of kids knocking on the door, fortunately Marcela chucked a bag of sweets in the shopping earlier, in case. The Town Centre has been shut off to all traffic, so that children playing outside the Town Hall are kept safe, and all businesses effected just have to bite the bullet. Then it is back to normal tomorrow, until Monday when it is another National Holiday.
An Englishman in Colombia 