Is a RTT too conspicuous for the trip to TDF?

[ducatiman81211]

Good advice

Finally good common sense. I wish the fear mongers would zip it! Thanks. I travel constantly now in the bJ74, and yes it's all about respect...

Enjoy!

I've been to Tierra del Fuego and back and can attest to the fact that standing out like a sore thumb is unavoidable. Being noticed does not necessarily make you a target for thieves. Rather it's a combo of luck and how you carry yourself. Take whatever you need to be comfy and have a blast!

 

[lostworldexpedition]

You must be carrying a fair bit of cash as I imagine accessible banks are few and far between?

There are ATM's in just about any large town and definitely in all large cities, plan accordingly... Once in Guatemala we forgot to get cash and drove out to the country... long story short we had an Engel with a 12 pack of cold beer and we where in a town with no electricity, we sold all our ice cold beers and had enough to pay our way to the next ATM Now we carry as little cash as possible, but there is a small stash somewhere in the Landcruiser, not much just enough to catch a bus to the next town...

I'm guessing there is an overlander 101 I should read...

The best "overlander 101" is reading other overlanders blogs, asking questions here on MUD, on OverlandExpo and DrivetheAmericas.com (unless Africa is your cup'o'tea)

May not be a bad idea to have one account with a low balance that would be the "emptiable" one and another where you keep the big bucks and the card for the latter to be hidden carefully someplace not obvious in the vehicle.

e9999 has a few valid points, any amount of money you carry is a ton of money for most folks outside North America. The minimum wage (and average wage) for most Latin American countries is between $250 and $350 a month, but most people we have met are very honest, friendly and giving. There are rotten apples everywhere. Be conscious of were you are and what you look like (meaning cameras, watches, etc.).

There are several problems with ATM's. There are a few scams that can be avoided by being careful. The most important thing is what e9999 mentions: keep most of your money in an account that cannot be reached by ATM. Keep some money in the account... transfer as needed and hope no dirtbags are reading MUD and learn my tricks

 

[RIDEitINTOtheGROUND]

^^ Thanks

 

[Volcano cruiser]

Thankfully our borders are no where near as bad as Texas' yet.

Finally good common sense. I wish the fear mongers would zip it! Thanks. I travel constantly now in the bJ74, and yes it's all about respect...
Enjoy!

Gentlemen,
I just moved back to the USA after living and driving in Centam for over three years. For me this is not an academic discussion. I had to leave my rig down there for a bit more work and I will need to go back down and get her back up here one way or another. My plan, in admittedly slow development for most of my time there, was top drive back up. I have known lots of folks who have done it various times and all went well. These folks were US, Canucks and various Centam buddies. This all changed over the last three months due to increased violence in northern Mexico. Thus far not one person who I know who made the trip regularly for either business or pleasure thinks that is safe for me to make the trip back traveling by road from El Salvador through Mexico and back to the USA.

In a completely random occurrence I just had a conversation day before yesterday with guy who just got back from motorcycle ride from Colorado to Cost Rica a month or so ago. Upon crossing the border into northern Mexico they encountered three separate shooting scenes on the highway, complete with bodies on the road. The first was a fake checkpoint robbery deal gone bad, two dead stretched out beside the car in thew middle of the road. The second was similar. The third was a SWB lifted 4x4, very much like my 40, doors open , middle of the road the occupants shot dead and left on the side of the road. As my colleague put it after getting through that stretch of road, with doubling back several times, hiding out in parking lots, behind buildings etc. things mellowed out. The rest of the trip through Mexico and on down to CR was great. His advice to me was the same as others. Everybody gets that I have been planning this ride for three years but they ask me is it really worth risking my life over.

For me, if the situation stays as fluid and dangerous as it currently is then no, not worth dying for. BTW my 40 is registered with Salvadoran plates, not covered in stickers. When covered in dirt it blends right in in the most dangerous of places. I travel all over Latin America for work, am completely fluent and am never mistaken for American, normally mistaken for Colombian, Venezuelan or Nicaraguan. Knowing me and all of the above my Central American friends are adamant that it isn´t safe and petrified that I might go anyway just because I´m stubborn. I have not made a final decision and remain open and very interested in hearing trip reports from those who have made the north Mexico crossing in the last 60 days. Subscribed.

 

[lostworldexpedition]

I am by no means saying that it is not dangerous, but I know of no less than 10 overlanders that have been through Mexico in the last 60 days. Maybe the fact that most of them avoid Sinaloa by driving through Baja may be the key?

Sadly, none of them are MUD members... In fact there is only one Landcruiser in the bunch.

We spent 4 and a half months driving around Mexico on our way to South America starting November 2009, so things have changed quite a bit...

 

[ducatiman81211]

Mexico and baja

I went down to Mexico a week and half ago, drove first to Guaymas for the ferry over to Santa Rosalia-high winds on Sea so no ferry there running. Onto Los Mochis-no problems at all-caught the ferry. Military on both ends-normal!
Did the tour around Baja and East Cape, hit Todos Santos, Cerritos, back down to surf East Cape, all traveling alone, RHD, and no problems-AT ALL.
Return trip was uneventful as well.
On the return ferry- an FJ Cruiser from Cali., me in BJ74, and a german couple in a TROOPY behind me-all talking about this issue of safety, and nobody had problems anywhere!
The Germans were heading to Copper Canyon, and I headed back Norte, crossing back into USA-no problems at all.
Sure the usual military check with kids with weapons-normal. They at one point insisted I give them my MOTA, but they got bored after a few minutes, and then tried to buy my surfboards from me, and were more interested in the 74, than anything-bored!
I am going back soon on several different trips, both alone and with girlfriend, and sure it is a concern, but not a deal breaker.
If you live in fear, afraid to go-you will wind up regretting what you did not do-versus what you DID!
Have fun, be safe, smile, and enjoy Mexico!
March 4th I will be heading across border from Arizona if anyone needs an escort down as far as Guaymas!

 

[MANUCHAO]

I have a couple of friends that started their trip back on the middle of December (yeah when all that rain was happening here in SoCal).
I been following their blog and just saw they are Toluca, MX.
I think they will be climbing El Nevado de Toluca as they are climbers....
They both dont speak any spanish either.....

They however are not driving but are on bicycles and on reading their blog they havent written about any bad experiences and or witness any violence along the way... (at least not on their blog).
I hope it stays that way for them...

Practice some common sense (i.e. not driving at night) follow your gut feeling and you should be alright.
One thing that most people dont realize is that most of the crime in MX is directly linked to drugs...

Volcano Cruiser if your concern is northern Mx. You could always come up via the Baja side as that seems to be a well traveled area by US residents and Canucks.....

 

[davegonz]

All you need is some camouflage.

 

[Volcano cruiser]

All you need is some camouflage.

Dude,
If I wasn´t painting my car, threw some of that on the roof, Salvadoran plates, no one anywhere would think twice. Nice.

 

[Volcano cruiser]

I went down to Mexico a week and half ago, drove first to Guaymas for the ferry over to Santa Rosalia-high winds on Sea so no ferry there running. Onto Los Mochis-no problems at all-caught the ferry. Military on both ends-normal!
Did the tour around Baja and East Cape, hit Todos Santos, Cerritos, back down to surf East Cape, all traveling alone, RHD, and no problems-AT ALL.
Return trip was uneventful as well.
On the return ferry- an FJ Cruiser from Cali., me in BJ74, and a german couple in a TROOPY behind me-all talking about this issue of safety, and nobody had problems anywhere!
The Germans were heading to Copper Canyon, and I headed back Norte, crossing back into USA-no problems at all.
Sure the usual military check with kids with weapons-normal. They at one point insisted I give them my MOTA, but they got bored after a few minutes, and then tried to buy my surfboards from me, and were more interested in the 74, than anything-bored!
I am going back soon on several different trips, both alone and with girlfriend, and sure it is a concern, but not a deal breaker.
If you live in fear, afraid to go-you will wind up regretting what you did not do-versus what you DID!
Have fun, be safe, smile, and enjoy Mexico!
March 4th I will be heading across border from Arizona if anyone needs an escort down as far as Guaymas!

First, thanks for the information. I will ignore the bit about living in fear as you not only don´t know me, nor do you have any idea what I do for a living nor the truly dangerous places I go to or the things that I do for work on a daily basis. That being said I will take a look at your trip routing as you are reporting repeated recent trips with no real drama. Thanks again for the info and if you don´t mind I might want to circle back with you after I have mapped out your routes to get a few more details.

I have a couple of friends that started their trip back on the middle of December (yeah when all that rain was happening here in SoCal).
I been following their blog and just saw they are Toluca, MX.
I think they will be climbing El Nevado de Toluca as they are climbers....
They both dont speak any spanish either.....

They however are not driving but are on bicycles and on reading their blog they havent written about any bad experiences and or witness any violence along the way... (at least not on their blog).
I hope it stays that way for them...

Practice some common sense (i.e. not driving at night) follow your gut feeling and you should be alright.
One thing that most people dont realize is that most of the crime in MX is directly linked to drugs...

Volcano Cruiser if your concern is northern Mx. You could always come up via the Baja side as that seems to be a well traveled area by US residents and Canucks.....

From what I know no one is that worked up about guys on a bike because nobody in Latin America who has money tours cross country or internationally on a bike. As such your buds are not even on anyone's radar screen. Sounds like a fun trip though. I think the key to this is maybe is taking an unconventional route like coming up Baja. Great ideas. Thanks much.

 

[ducatiman81211]

No worries.

Have a great time and enjoy. You are doing the right thing, any help to try and make your trip better will be freely given.

 

[Methusalem]

Another one on fear. My wife and I traveled "all" over the world, as backpackers by train, boat, plane, bus, taxi, foot. We also drove through a lot of countries with our own cars and vans, but also with 4x4's. Oh, and we did some trips by bicycle. Up till now we did almost 40 countries, of which half communistic or/and Third World. And at the moment we live in Suriname, a kind of Third World but developing country. We live in a village with people that earn in a month what we spend on groceries in a week. And we are a white, blond/bold family between all kinds of colours that are a lot darker than ours.
Our experience is that 98% of the people anywhere, are normal, decent, more or less honest people like you and me, whether they are rich or poor. You'll see that when you live among them for a while. And that other 2% - most of the time you only encounter them when you are at the wrong time at the wrong place.
To make a long post even longer: it's all about how you behave yourself. If you don't drive around in blingbling, if you're careful with what you show (big camera, thick wallet, laptop), and when you are not noisy, when you are polite to the locals and have respect for them, you'll hardly have any trouble.
And don't forget that there's rich people everywhere, even in most small, poor villages. One of my 'neighbors' drives an LC 200 and a new Hilux Vigo, for example.
So don't let your trip be ruined by fear for things that don't exist. The biggest risk is not to take the risk at all! Have fun.

 

[Methusalem]

Oh, and about the budget. Google for 'Nicholas Rapp'. He did a world trip with an LC80 with a roof top tent. He started in New York and drove to Argentina before he did the rest of the world. He precisely specified what he spent on everything, almost neurotically.

 

[mattafact]

Good call on Nicolas's web site. I exported his budget and it corresponds to mine fairly well.

Thanks for the tip!

 

[Methusalem]

You're welcome, dude. But don't fix too much on what he spent. You probably travel at another speed, you have a different character, you like other things, wanna see other things, eat different stuff, visit different countries... For example: in Venezuela the diesel costs not even 1 (one) USD cent per liter!!! Gazoline a little more than one cent. While in French Guyana the prices are European = rediculously high.
If luxury is not that important for you, you're not in a hurry en you listen to tips from the many other travelers, that $35K is a lot of money.