Driving down south from the States?

[Fiveo]

Has anyone taken there rigs to Mexico and beyond from the States? I was curious about drive time? I'm very familair with Mexico and even driving there. But only in rentals. And almost all of my time down there is from Mexico City and south.

I was curious how long it would take to drive to the Gautemala border? And has anyone gone all the way to South America? And if so did they bypass Columbia? And if so how? I lived in Venezuala for two years and would love to go back. Anyone been there?

 

[sseaman]

i would love to hear a full report when completed

 

[Gallo Pinto]

It really depends on what you want to do and see while travelling, but I met some El Salvadorans that would go from Matamoros to Tapachula in about 3-4 days
You can go all the way to Panama, El Tapon de Darien (Darien Gap) will stop you there, overlanders usually ship their vehicles to South America from Panama.

 

[dmc]

from arizona you could get to the guat border in 3.5 days easy if you took all the toll roads. it would add a ton to the expense of the trip but if mexico is a place you've been there would be no need to spend time there. i am in Colombia now waiting for my truck to get here from Panama. I've only been here 3 days and have a lot of country ahead of me but I would NEVER skip Colombia. this place is amazing and the people are the nicest i've met since baja. do some research. you'll find the danger is more reputation than reality. I have however, at the advice of locals and my own research, decided to skip VZ. far too unsafe for a single gringo in a fancy truck.
dmc

 

[e9999]

you could do the Darien and become famous...!















































or dead...




























or both....

 

[sandcruiser]

From AZ you could drive to Brownsville TX on USA pavement (faster). I don't know how long that would take "in a hurry" but from Brownsville you can blast through Mexico on non-tolls in about 2 days (two very very long days) and cross into Guatemala on the 3rd day, spending the night in Antigua or Guate City. From there you can drive to and through El Salvador in one very long day (starting pre-dawn and maybe finishing post-sunset). if you don't know where you are going, driving at night isn't very smart, and can be dangerous, you so you might prefer to make that a 2 day trip.

You'll probably have to spend at least 1 night in Nicaragua.

From there you can make it into Costa Rica the next day.

You can traverse the entirety of costa rica in one looong day.

but at some point, you're going to have to rest. 5 or 7 days of all-day driving in Central America *will* wear you out to the point of being a dangerous driver.

Take a look at Central America Travels- Sandcruiser.com (my site). We drove up from Costa Rica to TX in about 5 diving days. It was pretty rough. Search for "Texas" and work your way back from there, it should offer some description.

Or, you could take the slow route: we spent about 9 months getting to Costa Rica from California. It was a lot more fun.

 

[cruiser_guy]

When do you want to go? We do that trip EVERY summer! From Nogales it can be done in 4-5 days driving in the daylight only. I've never done the Brownsville, TX way (miles of Texas dirt doesn't sound interesting at all and Mexico is cheaper).

 

[sandcruiser]

for certain: west texas isn't particularly beautiful to my eyes.

But for raw speed, I think that using the interstates to cover the eastward portion, then rolling fast down through Veracruz, is about as fast as you can get through Mexico.

regardless: I'd rather spend a week or two and enjoy the mexican portion- there are some wonderful stops along the way.

 

[Fiveo]

I'dont have any real dates. It is just ai'd like to make. I am just doing my homework and planning.

 

[Vanny]

3 1/2 years ago I did Vancouver, Canada to Belmopan, Belize in 7 long days. We cut through Texas to McAllen, TX and down the east coast of Mexico to Villahermosa to Chetumal, Mexico. We spent 2 nights in Mexico. Total trip was 7000km (some one with better math can convert to miles...I think divide by 1.6). I loved the drive and culture. My wife, kids and I are hoping to drive to Argentina in 7 or 8 years when the kids are 9 and 10. I hope to learn a lot on this forum in the next few years.

I think Cruiserguy has a lot of experience on the west coast. He is a trustworthy guy to take advise from.

 

[ranma21]

Man, that is something I planned to do 2 years ago until my bro in law got laid off, we cancelled the trip. Hopefully you can do it soon

 

[JohnnyDoyle]

Probably not a huge help, but a friend and I did Denver to Guadalajara (ish) and back in a 84 VW rabbit. Our experience with roads is that the toll roads are EXPENSIVE (some close to $20 US per toolbooth) and not hugely faster. Of course, we were in a little car and could go a lot faster, and didn't need gas as often. Never had any problems with the public roads being 'dangerous'--if anything, I liked them better because of better scenery and lots of great, cheap places to eat along the way. Took probably 6 or 7 full days of driving for ca. 5000 miles--thats an estimate though, we stopped a lot, and our car broke down on more than 50% of our total road days. Luckily, 80s VW parts are plentiful in Mexico.

We were going down to see the WRC rally of mexico, by the way--AMAZING experience. I'd love to do it again in my 60.

 

[cruiser_guy]

Our experience with roads is that the toll roads are EXPENSIVE (some close to $20 US per toolbooth) and not hugely faster.

Not always true. If you are in flat country then yes, ie: Mazatlan and north I take the "libre" road and it's not much slower at all. On the other hand I'ver only taken the "libre" road from the coast to Tepic once and that was enough to convince me that the toll there is worth it. It really depends and there is no way to know before taking the road.

If you got time and don't mind a double 40' trailer truck in front of you moving at a walking pace, go for the free road. If that would be enough to drive you to suicide you might still take the free road as you'd soon be suicidal in your passing

 

[sandcruiser]

don't forget: "real" Mexico is on the libres. Great food, interesting people. Plenty of Topes (Mexican speed bumps are AMAZING in both their efficacy and sudden appearances). If you are in a hurry and able to exceed 75mph, then the toll roads are faster. For the most part, we couuldn't go over about 70 anyway unless we wanted to just pour fuel straight through the 2F, so we preferred the free roads.

Regardless of what route you take: people who drive through Mexico a lot appear to agree--- drive in the daylight. The vast majority of accidents happen at night.

 

[Shangaan]

As a matter interest ... back in 1987 a Jeep did manage to drive from Panama to Columbia through the Darien Gap - see www.outbackofbeyond.com/world.htm

Don

 

[cruiser_guy]

As a matter interest ... back in 1987 a Jeep did manage to drive from Panama to Columbia through the Darien Gap - see www.outbackofbeyond.com/world.htm

Don

Definitely possible, definitely NOT SMART!!


Besides "We had spent a total of 741 days to travel 125 miles, from the end of the Pan-American Highway at Yaviza, Panama to the beginning of a road system in Colombia at the town of Rio Sucio on the Atrato River, all on land." they averaged about 1/8 mile per day!!

 

[e9999]

Definitely possible, definitely NOT SMART!!


Besides "We had spent a total of 741 days to travel 125 miles, from the end of the Pan-American Highway at Yaviza, Panama to the beginning of a road system in Colombia at the town of Rio Sucio on the Atrato River, all on land." they averaged about 1/8 mile per day!!

that is a stunning number. Indeed just about what a couple of strong people could cut in a day if they had to hack / chainsaw their way through vegetation...
and probably regrew behind them in a couple of months too...

 

[canucksafari]

that is a stunning number. Indeed just about what a couple of strong people could cut in a day if they had to hack / chainsaw their way through vegetation...
and probably regrew behind them in a couple of months too...

I'd rather bring my friend D9 along for support than a chainsaw. He knows how to hack a wide path and a lot faster.

 

[Bogo]

I'd rather bring my friend D9 along for support than a chainsaw. He knows how to hack a wide path and a lot faster.

After your D9 sinks I'll drive over it.

 

[joshoisasleep]

Did this trip 5 months ago from Vancouver Island, Canada, and yes it is possible to continue South past the Darien gap (no I didn't drive through it overland! My girlfriend wouldn't let me... maybe on the way back with an armoured landcruiser...). Click on the link in my sig if you want to see the route I took... in exact detail.

If you're going for speed, don't follow my route through mexico. It took us about 10 days and we WERE in a big hurry, driving every day. Granted I'm geared a little lower and cruise at 100-110kph max. There were also a bajillion toll roads and it cost a lot. I'd go with others advice and cruise down the east side if you want speed. Our route was beautiful though, I don't regret it. I kind of don't believe that you could actually do it in 2 days, even going the eastern route! I would go with cruiserguy's drive time since he does it all the time.

Yes we bypassed colombia, and unfortunately Panama as well in the process (we will see these countries on the way back). It's not really "bypassing" since you can't go by land, but just deciding which country to land in in South America. We chose to ship from Costa Rica to Ecuador, since Ecuador was where we needed to get to first, and we'd heard this was the cheapest route. You can also easily ship straight into either Colombia or Venezuela as far as I know. If anyone is seriously interested in doing this, you should really contact me by email because there's a lot to it, and I feel like I know it pretty well.