iOverlander is our go-to source to find cheap (or free) camping spots and anything else we may need along the way. The sheer difficulty and cost of building a road through such difficult terrain. It’s hard to reliably find places to tent camp so that would be hard to do. I’m a 58 year old (spiritually about 28!) On average, most people end up driving around 30,000 miles during their Pan-American road trip. I’ve heard of some people that sell their vehicles for next to nothing to avoid the shipping costs, and have known some people that paid a huge premium to get an expedition ready vehicle that was at the right place at the right time. Omdat in Canada en de Verenigde Staten nooit een afspraak is gemaakt welke route in hun landen de officiële Pan-American Highway is, begint deze officieel pas in Mexico. I plan to make the drive from Costa Rica to the states. When you choose container shipping, you drive your own car into a container which gets sealed before getting loaded on a ship. Hey Andy, sorry I misread your comment. For this trip, you will also need a VISA credit card. Google Maps is great because the roads are pretty up-to-date, it gives you accurate driving time estimates, and you can download the map sections ahead of time to use when you’re offline. We’ve seen some really cool 4×4’s that can’t go off the paved roads because they’re so overloaded and top-heavy. Its purpose was to link Alaska with the 48 contiguous states through Canada to help defend against a possible Japanese attack. My wife and I are considering driving from Florida to Panama City in a 4X4 pickup with my motorcycle in the bed. The Panamericana will take us through the path of the Incas and beautiful areas where the team surely will regret not to spend more time. To return I put my car on a ship to Florida, and then drove back home. As for Costa Rica, we don’t have right-hand drive but the common things people do to get through if you do have right-hand drive is to either 1) stop in Nicaragua and head back to ship south from Guatemala or Mexico, or 2) cross the border at night, hide the wheel with stuff, and create a dummy steering wheel on the left side, or 3) pay someone a lot of money to tow your vehicle through the entire country. Lastly, if you’re in a small town or in the middle of nowhere, there’s pretty much 0% chance you’ll find either of those two things without getting to a major city first. How was your experience during border crossings? We just went whenever our van was ready. I truly appreciate it. The only way to ship the car is on a cargo ship but they don’t allow passengers since they’re only for cargo. especially helpful in cities where the cops are a little stricter about camping I’m trying to decide between buying a car in the Southern US and shipping it across the Darién gap when I get there or just backpacking Mexico/Central America and then buying a car in Colombia to drive South with. The paperwork can be in English, it doesn’t have to be translated into Spanish. Before 1980, the border used to be at the Upsallata Pass, which at 3,832 metres (12, 572 feet) made it the highest point on the Pan-American Highway. Your email address will not be published. As far as the actual paperwork and mail, we had that delivered to our parents while we were gone. At 2,850 metres (9,350 feet) Quito is the world’s second highest capital city, exceeded in elevation only by La Paz, Bolivia. I’m thinking moped, electric bike, pocket bike, maybe even a Honda Ruckus with the plates removed… anything that doesn’t fit their idea of what a motorcycle should look like. Ed Culberson, Obsessions Die Hard: Motorcycling the Pan-American Highway’s Jungle Gap (1966) Another import question I have is: tent & bnbs, or camper? I now live in Europe, so I’m not sure when I’d be able to do it. thanks. If people are selling their vehicle at the south end, is it possible to buy it and drive back north? Do you think is doable in 3-4 months starting from Florida? Mil gracias! Over the years it has grown extremely popular and is based solely on reviews left by other travelers. Buying a local vehicle with Chile or Argentina plates is super expensive because of their crazy import tax laws, so the best bet is to find another overlander who’s done with their trip. There are a number of reasons for this including: Over the years, the enormous challenge of traversing the Gap has attracted a number of diehard souls. Colombia’s notorious Pablo Escobar and countless other drug cartel leaders, hid (and had drug distillation industries) at the northernmost tip of South America. There have also been a number of crossings on foot, including that of George Meegan in 1981, who walked the entire distance from Tierra del Fuego to Alaska over a period of 2,425 days! And the elevation changes! There are also a couple of map apps that can make life on the road so much easier. I’m putting together my 1949 F1 ,with a 2003 Lincoln avaitor drivetrain, what kind of documentation is needed for the vehicle to ship to Colombia, I’m in the US right now. As shown on the map, there is an unofficial branch of the highway that continues on down the Chilean coast on Route 5 terminating in Quellón on Chiloé Island. The good news is that we found a cheap workaround from a back entrance that can save you a lot of money. I’m not sure about Mexico, plenty of people take new cars down there and I doubt they all own their vehicles outright. It actually says on their website that less than 1% of users use all 15 GB of the available data so THAT makes me sort of question my life choices. You can email us at funlifecrisis@gmail.com to chat more. Required fields are marked *. Any advice is cc’d welcome and appreciated. Otherwise, you can rent a virtual mailbox in a state to use as your home address and register the vehicle there then cancel the service once you get the registration and title delivered. Usually, you don’t have to pay for border crossings. Het aanvankelijk idee voor de Carretera Panamericana betrof een spoorlijn maar de plannen voor de uiteindelijke weg werden gesmeed bij de Vijfde Internationale Conferentie van Amerikaanse Staten in 1923. It’s pretty rare for people to sell their vehicles in Patagonia since it’s so far south and there’s so little transportation from down there. In fact, I had virtually no problems. I encountered this in Holland : There-was-no-way I could register a car in my name unless I was properly registered in a town’s citizens register, for which I needed proof of registered house ownership or … proof of registered house rental for which the waiting lists are so long one just as well books a burial lot. De schattingen lopen uiteen van 25.000 tot 50.000 kilometer. I have a vw wagon which I converted into a camper…I am not into outdoor life, however, I would like to do some sightseeing and take my time…I am retired and time is on my side. However, there certainly are some places that stand out more than others. Thought – what if we started in Patagonia/Argentina and tried to find a van down there to drive back north? We made some special arrangements for her in the van but overall we found that traveling with a pet through Central and South America is very easy. I have a house in Panama and I’m planning on driving down this time what does it cost and what kind of paperwork do you need to cross ryukahr does it need to be translated in Spanish. If you are thinking about driving the famous Pan-American Highway, here are some tips and things that you should know before heading out on the Pan-American road trip: The Pan-American route is a network of roads that start in Prudhoe Bay, Alaska and from there travel south through both North America and South America until it’s ending point in Ushuaia, Argentina. The final (unofficial) leg of the Pan-American Highway runs for 3,045 kilometres (1,892 miles) from Buenos Aires on Argentina National Route 3 to Ushuaia passing through Bahía Blanca and Comodoro Rivadavia. Also, our overlanding rigs are usually too big to get towed since they’re used to dealing with much smaller cars in Latin America. Will I need to get a new license in Mexico, Peru, etc. Die Panamericana (englisch Pan-American Highway, spanisch Carretera Panamericana und Ruta Panamericana) ist ein System von Schnellstraßen, das – mit wenigen Lücken – Alaska mit Feuerland verbindet, sich also über die gesamte Nord-Süd-Ausdehnung des amerikanischen Kontinents erstreckt. Mexico had in 1950 als eerste land haar stuk van de route af. With the exception of Honduras, its route takes it through the capital cities of each of these countries, namely: One of the most challenging sections of the route lies in Costa Rica, where it rises to 3,335 metres (10,942 feet) at the ominously named Summit of Death (Cerro de la Muerte). This plan is in its early stages so I might add that I am not rushed at all, and that I’m very much looking into networking, forums, and tips that could help over the next months. It does not have to be comfortable and we would pay extra for this want but seek beta from those who potentially have made the journey. The first motorcycle crossing was by Robert L. Webb in March 1975. We have permanent plates from Oregon but if we didn’t then I probably would have registered the vehicle as non-operational during the entire trip. Making Sense Of The World, One Map At A Time. You will need the vehicle title to arrange shipping through an agent on the Panama side. So there were no sick days, no breaks of any kind? Looking to be expats moving to Panama. De Pan-American Highway, vooral in het Spaans bekend als de Carretera Panamericana of Interamericana is een netwerk van wegen die een route vormen over het Amerikaanse continent. from where the route shown continues to Edmonton, Alberta. The Carrera Panamericana was a border-to-border sedan and sports car racing event on open roads in Mexico similar to the Mille Miglia and Targa Florio in Italy.Running for five consecutive years from 1950 to 1954, it was widely held by contemporaries to be the most dangerous race of any type in the world. Most people that we met traveling along the Pan-American highway do it anywhere from 9 months to 2 years. Many people drive Delicas and other cool imported 4x4s that are perfect for a trip like this and are mostly found as RHD. This is one of the topics that we get asked about the most and something that our friends and family were really concerned about when we started the trip. There are many others sold in North America that are also sold in Latin America, like Toyota Land Cruiser, Ram Promaster (Fiat Ducato/Citroen Relay/Peugeot Boxer/Renault Master), Land Rover Discovery, and Mitsubishi Montero, to name a few, but all of these are sold in North America with gasoline engines whereas in Latin America they are only sold with diesel engines. across some of the most rugged roads in Guatemala and through the sketchiest We are saving money for this trip and we want to go when we have enough money.