The Ultimate Road Trip & The Pan AM Bum Rush!

[SNLC]

In 2009/10 I drove my 04 Tacoma down to Panama from Wyoming. I did 15,000 miles in 13 weeks, spent all but a few weeks of that living out of my truck.

Here is my blog from the trip with pictures & video and all that jazz.

Rocky Mountain Patrol & Offroad • The Ultimate Road Trip! |


Then in 2010/11 I did a fast drive down the Pan Am straight for Panama. I had a house rented in Santa Catalina, Panama and wanted to get there before Christmas. I left on the 12th or so of December and arrived in Panama on about the 21st of December. I didn't do a blog on this trip but you can read about it here, along with pictures and video.

Here....

Rocky Mountain Patrol & Offroad • View topic - Panama - spilling the beans!

and here....

Pan Am Bum Rush!!

There is also tons of videos on my youtube page....

PortalPatrol's Channel - YouTube




BTW, this is not a build so if a mod wants to move the thread by all means go for it!

 

[Rallyroo]

Subscribed. When I have more time this evening, I'll read through your blog. I did a quick scan and noticed some familiar places from your photos.

In 2010, I drove from Belize to Panama. Early 2011 was my most recent trip down to Baja and I am driving down again in early 2012.

 

[VidereStudios]

Spent some time reading your blog entry regarding the first trip...very nice. Thanks for the video links as well...good to see the craziness at the border as well as general driving conditions. I will refer to your blog a lot during my planning stages.

I am taking a 100 series LandCruiser down there in probably 2014, depending on finances and the economic climate. I plan on taking about a year to a year-and-a-half to get down to Panama before crossing the Darien and exploring South America.

Thanks for the share...any plans on your next trip?

 

[Tapage]

Been Panamenian and living most of the time down here .. I'm still amazed with the kind of situations that you could found along Central and South America .. very very impresive the lacks of culture or the better what we call here " juega vivo " dunno if there will be any close translation for that concept ..

 

[SNLC]

David what do you mean by lack of culture? I am not sure I understand what you mean by that...

Some of these countries things change fairly fast, Honduras being the one that comes to mind first.

Watching a few of my own videos on youtube last night led me to a bunch of other videos on youtube. I ended up watching at least a few hours of videos on gangs in CA as well as the cartel problems in Mexico. I found it interesting because one night in El Salvador we sat down with some MS13 or 18th Street gangsters and drank beers for a few hours. It was a little sketchy but I am glad I did it. I also spent a few weeks in Dangriga, Belize hanging out with the locals a lot. Having always avoided Belize City it was pretty interesting to see how crazy the gangs are there too. Mostly because I found the people of Belize to be so welcoming and cool to hang out with.

I have seen some pretty crazy stuff in Mexico too. Like a road block made up of 50 machete wielding pissed off farmers who were collecting a road "tax". I have also seen burned up and shot up cars on the roads in Mexico.

I never really had any bad problems while traveling or living on the road down south (other then problems with the cops) but a few things like I mention plus watching some documentaries last night really puts things in perspective.

Glad the trip reports are still useful and enjoyable for people!

My next trip? ASAP!! I would have liked to head down this year. However, I have a new truck for the trip, a v8 FJ60. I am not sure I am confident in the truck yet to do the drive. On top of this I had the worst year money wise this year then I have ever had. So don't have much funds to do any trips at this time.

FYI, it cost me in the super charged Taco a little over $2,000 in fuel and expenses to drive straight from Wyoming to Panama. So round trip is $4-5k in expenses without spending much on side trips. Down south is cheap but on trips like this fuel will always be your biggest expense. It cost me around $1300 or so in fuel to drive straght to Panama in the Taco which only got about 14mpg on average.

My biggest piece of advice I could give to anyone doing these trips is....stay under the radar.

 

[VidereStudios]

Yeah, that is good advice. Do you feel that your Taco drew too much attention? While it didn't seem too expedition-like, it certainly wasn't the average looking vehicle. It definitely jumped out at me amongst the vehicles I saw in the videos.

I am going to 'distress' the 100 a bit before I go, but you really can't hide sliders and bumpers. Other than roof rack with spare tire, sliders, rear bumper, and front bumper (with winch), there will be nothing else hanging off the rig. Nothing to make it look more capable than it is. Keeping it dusty but otherwise free of mud is another good piece of advice I have heard in the past.

 

[SNLC]

Yeah, that is good advice. Do you feel that your Taco drew too much attention? While it didn't seem too expedition-like, it certainly wasn't the average looking vehicle. It definitely jumped out at me amongst the vehicles I saw in the videos.

I am going to 'distress' the 100 a bit before I go, but you really can't hide sliders and bumpers. Other than roof rack with spare tire, sliders, rear bumper, and front bumper (with winch), there will be nothing else hanging off the rig. Nothing to make it look more capable than it is. Keeping it dusty but otherwise free of mud is another good piece of advice I have heard in the past.

yeah dirty but not covered in mud is good advice. Keep the interior tidy too as it looks better when you get stopped by police/military.

The Taco did attract some attention. In Mexico a few times I got asked how much it cost me. I hate to admit it but I would lie and say around $15k. People asking me how much it costs made me feel uncomfortable. You will find the high profile depends on where you are at, very poor areas yeah you stick out. Some countries like Costa Rica or Panama my truck looked pretty tame and normal, many more vehicles there worth tens of thousands more then a 1st gen Taco. At borders a few times I got compliments from officials, this didn't really make me feel uncomfortable.

If you read the blog from the first trip you will see I had several run ins with police. I was taken by the cops in Acapulco and a border official at the Belize border robbed me. The truck being somewhat high profile may have contributed to these instances. However, I am much more experienced now and my 2nd trip down I didn't pay any cops bribes and only had a few small bribes paid at borders, willingly on my part.

The thing about under the radar. Generally, I was moving to fast to be noticed much. Often by the time somebody noticed me I was already gone. I have been through some super poor areas on both trips. In Nicaragua I walked in a crack house by accident! I am sure you will be like how that happen on accident but it did. In Dangriga I parked my truck fully loaded also with the red kayak on the roof on the street for ten days or so. In front of my buddies house. My friends told me I should worry but I didn't and nobody touched my truck. I find if you make friends with the locals as you travel, give them respect and be polite, they often will be watching out for you. Think about it, most people want you to buy things from them if they have a business and everybody wants you to go home with good experiences. Tourism has dropped off in many countries and as a result people always seemed to really make sure I was well taken care of. That and the fact that Latinos in gernal are extremely nice people. As time went by I definately felt more comfortable. Not everybody down south is out to rob you....

 

[Tapage]

David what do you mean by lack of culture? I am not sure I understand what you mean by that...

At borders .. even me ( and I looks like any other hispano guy ) having bad experiences ar borders with the customs .. I mean why that needs to be that complicated if you have all your stuff by the book ? I used to drive much more to Central America ( and we are planning big trip to Nicaragua this year ) but honestly I really hate when I need to bribe a customs " officer " at any border ..

 

[SNLC]

At borders .. even me ( and I looks like any other hispano guy ) having bad experiences ar borders with the customs .. I mean why that needs to be that complicated if you have all your stuff by the book ? I used to drive much more to Central America ( and we are planning big trip to Nicaragua this year ) but honestly I really hate when I need to bribe a customs " officer " at any border ..

Yeah, I agree. It is like saying....

Welcome to my country, now I am going to screw you over!

I think my lack of fluent Spanish does not help me at borders. They certainly are also not all bad with corrupt officials. I just think it is easy to put a few bucks in your pocket if you work a border and have some power. If you are not paid well, I am sure the temptation to make a few bucks on the side is hard to resist. I dislike the border corruption but it doesn't bother me as much as cops just flat out saying give me money!

 

[sterling]

Thanks for sharing, it was a great read!

 

[VidereStudios]

I think that having a good understanding of the language and a passing vocabulary may be the most important thing on a trip like this. Thankfully I have a few years to brush up the Spanish...thankfully lots of Latinos here in Eugene!

Sounds like you had some interesting adventures and stories to tell. I will read the entire blog this weekend.

 

[SNLC]

I think that having a good understanding of the language and a passing vocabulary may be the most important thing on a trip like this. Thankfully I have a few years to brush up the Spanish...thankfully lots of Latinos here in Eugene!

Sounds like you had some interesting adventures and stories to tell. I will read the entire blog this weekend.

I grew up in Eugene, spent 24yrs there.

Yes as much Spanish as you can learn will be best.

 

[Tapage]

If you are not paid well

then you should move to another job .. get trained, study what ever .. but as you may know the global population concept down here it's the Goverment need to provide .. while it's you who need to take care of yourself ..

 

[SNLC]

then you should move to another job .. get trained, study what ever .. but as you may know the global population concept down here it's the Goverment need to provide .. while it's you who need to take care of yourself ..

I am certainly not making excuses for the corruption bro...

Simply that I understand it and why it is there.

 

[Offroads4x4]

Check this site out. Nick just ran down there on his Expo trip.
http://transworldexpedition.com/

 

[VidereStudios]

Ian, thanks for the write-up, and especially the videos! Lots of good stuff there!

A question...what do you think about towing a small adventure trailer down through Mexico and CA? Worth it or too much hassle?

Petr

 

[SNLC]

Ian, thanks for the write-up, and especially the videos! Lots of good stuff there!

A question...what do you think about towing a small adventure trailer down through Mexico and CA? Worth it or too much hassle?

Petr

you are welcome!

For me it would be way to much hassle to have a trailer. It wouldn't be out in the boonies but much of a drive through Latin America is spent on narrow roads and tight streets, even in large cities. Overall it would just be a big huge pain to deal with the trailer, keep it locked down and safe plus turning it around a lot of the time. On top of this many places I have stayed I could not have stayed with a trailer simply because it wouldn't fit there.

Now just a month long run down through Baja, a trailer wouldn't make to big of a difference to matter one way or the other.

 

[VidereStudios]

Cool, thanks for the reply. That is where my thought process has led me as well. Time to start trimming the weight and every modification from now on has to consider cost / performance / weight / space ratios. The positive side to this is that I will be buying a lot less...more money for the trip!