Driving Central America & South America.
Pippa's trip
November 12, 2006 - 5:29pm
Got any ideas yet on how many people are going/what you want to see?
November 13, 2006 - 5:09pm
#2
are you serious? that bronco sounds completely awesome. I want to see lots of pictures!!!
Sleeping in the car.... Hmmm. Maybe! Your first concern will be comfort, IE, will there be enough room for you both (especially if it's hot). The others I can see:
1) finding a place to park that's safe, ie *not* the side of the road
2) ventillation if it is hot
3) um, I guess that's it.
Plus you'll mos def want a shower after long days on the road. So I guess I'm saying it's totally possible if you find somewhere that's safe, but treat it as a "maybe", and don't plan your budget around not paying for rooms. Plus, you can get cheap places. Pick up the lonely planets and they'll steer you in the right direction. However, there were a couple of nights when we couldn't find a cheap place, so it would have been nice to say, "no prob!" and hit the sack in the truck...
But the curtains sound good, the window security sounds good, the tarp sounds good, heck all those ideas sound good. Well, the bulletproof glass sounds over the top, but I guess if you can roll it down that's cool. Because you'll definitely want the windows down, and your feet hanging out!
November 13, 2006 - 5:12pm
#3
OH, read the trip journals i made as you have time for more info, but Utila was great for learning to dive, Caracol in belize was amazing for a ruin, and it's deserted. If you want to skip belize, that's fine, i'll dig up some names of some untouristed ones in mexico that are just beginning to attract tourists. Tikal in Guatemala was cool, but there were just a ton of people.
November 13, 2006 - 6:32pm
#4
Yeah, the bulletproof glass in the front is mainly just to prevent anyone from smashing in to rob us, not because I plan on provoking someone to shoot at me.
Can I ask - why did you guys take baseball bats, a machete, and spear guns? And what are koozies?
Did you use any of items a lot? Were the bats for protection? My friend says knives and even mace are considered illegal weapons in most countries and that he would walk around with a ballpoint pen in his hand, just in case anyone really wanted to try something.
And hey, what were the months you were there? Im really trying to get some first hand advice on dress code. I dont want to take jeans if its going to be so hot and humid that I can barely wear cloth pants. I made that mistake when I first went to southeast asia - to Thailand - and had to buy clothes my first 30 min there. So then when I went to Cambodia and Vietnam I knew better - I lived in really light pants I bought there and wife beaters. No one looked twice. But Im wondering if that would fly in Central America and Mexico. It's my experience that for every country Lonely Planet says, "The people of _______ take pride in their appearance. Dress conservatively and try not to look like such a homeless slob." Then you get there and it's totally ok to wander around in a tank top and flip flops. So just how much of a vagabond can I be? I'll be traveling Nov/Dec-May, dry season. Does it ever get cold enough to warrant a sweater or jacket beyond a light rain jacket?
Ok Im off to read your trip journals.
November 13, 2006 - 6:40pm
#5
And did you take any travel or vehicle insurance? I definitely want some car insurance for Mexico, but dont know what company to go with. Ive been shopping around on [url]www.drivemex.com[/url], [url]www.bajabound.com[/url]. [url]www.aaa.com[/url], etc, and drivemex seems to have the cheapest quotes to compare, and Im going to ask at the border itself (since I live 20 min from Tijuana), but I dont who to go with. And then I just learned how big a hospital can be from a surfing accident without insurance, so I want some while I travel. Ive usually bought STA's in the past, but that would be exepsive for such a long trip.
???
November 13, 2006 - 7:06pm
#6
And what do you think about the idea of nationalizing the Bronco instead of getting a permit for Mexico? The car isnt registered in California (its all good in Nevada though!) and we dont really want to pay for that, and smog, and then a permit which needs a 200-400$ cash deposit since we dont have a credit card. I just dont trust them to give us the cash back when we leave Mexico through its southern border crossing, or to ever have any record of it were we to bring it back to San Diego.
If we nationalize, we will just get paperwork saying its my (Mexican citizen) boyfriend's car, but not plates in the time we would want.
November 13, 2006 - 11:31pm
#7
I don't understand why you'd need to reg in California? So long as you have the title, you're good to get into Mexico and beyond.
I can't see that nationalizing would help you. You still have to temporarily import the car into each other country, and pay the associated fees. You'll get your money back from Mexico, just keep your paperwork!
Or, just get a credit card! Even with ruined credit you could get a few hundred dollar limit, no? Or a secured card if nothing else.
November 20, 2006 - 8:10pm
#8
Plan for a much longer drive on the pacific side as the mountains are unavoidable.
Also, if you make the truck look like an armored car, you are likely to attract the wrong king of attention. I would just get an alarm and try to make the vehicle look normal.
If you want to sleep in the truck, that is fine, just find hotels with secure parking and make a deal directly with the security guard.
Best of luck
November 13, 2006 - 7:03pm
#9
Jeans are fine. Sometimes it's too hot, sometimes it's too cold. You're going through mountain peaks and jungle floors. Widlely different temps.
I never wore shorts because I'd read that no one wears shorts, and that's true. No one wears shorts, except for gringos. However, Ben wore shorts, and no one laughed at him in the streets, so, it's up to you.
Oh, and just the standard women can't go into a church all uncovered, I can't recall any such stipulations for men.
What are koozies??? Are you from mars? :) I'll attach a photo. I've also heard them called cozies (from an Irish) and stubby holders (from an aussie), and coolies (I forget where).
car insurance through sanborns, at the border.
no travel insurance. the europeans thought we were nuts. probably right.
machetes and bat for protection, just in case. You know, if we rode through somewhere and there was someone in the back, and if someone got smart and tried to steal something or pull something, we'd have a bat. it got stolen out of the back one night, and we didn't miss it.
basically, most bandits are going to have sticks or bats or something, not guns. And if you've got some bats, then you're even, they'll back off, and you're fine. But if one of them has a gun, you're fucked either way. I dunno, we never had any bandit problems. Just don't pick up hitchers, and don't stop for makeshift roadblocks if there are any.
speargun for shooting fish for the eating. see the placencia, belize pics. We didn't use it more than a couple of times, though.
Im going with my boyfriend, so only 2. Our plan is to drive through Mexico from San Diego to see his family (he is from Guanajuato), sleeping in the back of the Bronco as much as possible. How often do you think it will be safe to do that? Our original plan was to drive to the bottom of Panama and then maybe as far south as Peru, then sell the car and fly home, but now I think we are leaning more towards driving as far as we can and back in 6 months.
We want to bring the car back with us because we're hoping its going to be pretty bad-ass when it's ready to go - and then useful for other not-yet-planned international roadtrips in the future. We got the Bronco from a man we met a towing auction, who bought it and agreed to trade it for our salvaged, not driven 95 Ford Probe. He also agreed to fix up the Bronco (headlights and power steering didnt work), but I think he views it as a "project," and is going to cover the back and rear windows with bars and possible police grid (like in the cop cars), replace the front driver and passenger windows with bulletproof (ie rock, bandit proof) glass, with bars that can be installed from the inside when we leave the car, and with a spare on the back and another on the roof, a kill switch, and various other little things like new carpet, hooks along the inside roof so I can hand a net to hold things off the back floor, secret compartments, a retractable tarp that extends from the rear door to the back seats to cover whatever we have back there, and limo curtains along all back windows and behind the driver and passenger so we can have a little privacy when we want it.
As far as what we want to see/do, there is no particular goal. It's really just about the journey itself. Of course I want to see some ruins, and my boyfriend wants to surf. If cheap Id like to get scuba certified. And machete through some jungles. I like a mix of cities and small towns, ones where I dont have to see a lot faces suspicious with overtourism. I would love any recommendations or anti-recommendations.
I guess if we drive both ways we will go down the pacific and head back on the atlantic side, or something like that, zig zagging as we have to.
Any comments, advice, etc would be really appreciated!