The book is a Bill Bryson-style travel memoir of me getting into stupid and sometimes dangerous situations driving from Los Angeles to Panama, including getting stuck on the wrong side of Nicaragua during the uprising of 2018. It also contains a ton of historical information on ancient Mesoamerica and some of the modern politics of Central America—basically, anything that piqued my interest in the year+ I spent researching. Also, I eat a lot of delicious food.
Anyone curious about this part of the world should get a lot out of the book as part of a hopefully funny, entertaining read. I hope you enjoy!
I better post this before I get banned for welching on my bet and posting in DC. If I'm banned and anyone wants to go for any part of the trip - PM flopnuts or BRC - they know me on twoplustwo.com and can contact me. More eyes and ears are always welcome. I've got one guy who wants to go - but he'd have to quit his job, so obviously nothing is guaranteed.
I just got back from a photo trip in Patagonia, where we drove a lot. I LOVE the region and South America in general. Never been to Central America but I've had some great trips in Mexico.
I have two jobs and I'm sick of both. I don't think the side job will last much longer, and the day job is about done for me. I probably need to stick it out until the end of year to get my bonus and pay off some 401(k) loans. But unless I get plugged into some interesting projects - I'm gone. I figure there has to be some advantage to dying alone with no kids. This would be the adventure of my life. I'd try to live-blog it as much as possible.
Our photo tour guide from the Patagonia trip is planning a 20-day partial boat tour next May that he's calling "an expedition". We'll get into some fjords in Southern Chile that hardly any one's ever been to - much less landscape photographers. So that's my parameter - be in Patagonia by mid-May.
I've done some cursory research, and it seems pretty doable.
You have to ship your car across the Darien Gap - which is a PITA.
Very rough plan is to drive to Cabo, then take the ferry from La Paz to Mazatlan. Then head South. I'd probably zip across El Salvador and Honduras as fast as possible, enjoy myself in Costa Rica and maybe Nicaragua. I've been to Peru, Columbia, Chile and Argentina and know they're pretty safe. I feel like I'd want to avoid driving in Brazil, Venezuela (govt might seize my car) or the Guyanas. Paraguay, Uruguay, Bolivia should be fine. I know not to drive at night in sketchy places and find secure parking for my car.
I plan to mostly camp and stay in hostels. I can sleep in my car in a pinch. Maybe splurge on a hotel when I want some extra security for my car. On the way back I may either sell my car or ship to LA or Florida from Colombia.
Prerequisites:
Must learn reasonable conversational Spanish. I know a lot of words but no sentences, etc. I am using this online thing called duolingo. Looking for an an immersion program in LA. There are some Spanish classes by me but they don't start right away.
Lose at least 30 lbs. At 257 - I'm 40-50 lbs over-weight right now. It's just no fun in a lot of ways. I won't enjoy myself unless I get below 230. Plus I hope to get laid a decent amount with my fun story and mad Spanish skillz.
Maximize my social media footprint so hopefully the blog picks up some traction and has a lot of viewers. IE - finish photo website (pretending to sell photos), get active in 500px (2p2 for photographers), start blogging, get active on forum for people doing these driving adventures (forget the name), FJ Cruiser forums, Instagram.
Figure out what modifications if any I want to do to my car. A flat roof rack with a pop-up tent seems really cool. But as I'm going to be jobless maybe I should think about limiting spending. Or maybe some kind of hidden compartment to hide camera gear/computers/etc?
Research, get permits, visas etc. ahead of time.
Big question is whether or not to take my FJ Cruiser or buy an Outback or something for $5k:
Pros:
Great car, nice and high so I can see things developing.
Built like a tank to protect me in a crash.
Can get into fun places like camping on the beach.
I pan to blog the whole thing - so me and my FJ is a fun angle. Me and my Camry lacks the same zing.
Cons:
Everyone says try not to draw attention to yourself. Big ginger beard with CA plates in that car does the exact opposite. (I'm hoping people will think I'm ex-military or something lol)
I am stupidly emotionally attached to my car, and have put some customizations into it. It's got 100k miles so it could easily last me another 10 years. I really would have a hard time selling it at the end, even though supposedly you can get good money in Brazil. Also I know there's a very real probability it doesn't come back from being totaled, or stolen. I have to be ok with that.
15 miles to the gallon/15 gallon tank (yeah wtf) - but I figure I can carry extra tanks.
Any thoughts or advice is mucho appreciated.
I am fine with the idea that I could have everything stolen and have to limp back with my tail between my legs. You don't have an adventure w/o risking something. If I get killed I had a good life. My biggest fears are getting kidnapped or paralyzed in a car wreck. Both seem fairly low probability. [Reply]
I seen you have All Terrain tires on your FJ, are you happy with that? Would you have rather had Mud Terrain tires on? Would you want a different vehicle if you did it again? Like a 4 door Wrangler or an Toyota 4Runner?
What would you change about the vehicle you took l, if anything is mostly what I’m curious about [Reply]
I love my FJ. But it might be nice to have a little bit longer vehicle with a bed in back. That's the only downside.
Yeah I've been buying Goodrich All Terrain T/A since the first crappy set of street tires wore out. I'm very happy with them. I'm not sure I'd want mudders in most normal situations. I'm guessing they're pretty loud on the highway. These A/Ts are a good balance for me. Although it's about time for a new set at $800 a pop. [Reply]
I was curious if it would be a little small for such a long trip, even mostly being solo.
I have thought about finding an older 4Runner and traveling around the Rockies for a couple months. Following your trip and watching YouTube has given me lots of ideas.
I think I would go with a MT on mine though, love AT but if I didn’t have a winch I would want a more aggressive tire while out traveling [Reply]
There is no mud tire gonna get you out of a wet ditch bank. He was sitting high centered on top that ditch bank. That guy dragged him 15 feet on his frame before he could get a bite to climb out. Winch would be a necessity on a trip like that and hope you have something to hook to. [Reply]
Originally Posted by srvy:
There is no mud tire gonna get you out of a wet ditch bank. He was sitting high centered on top that ditch bank. That guy dragged him 15 feet on his frame before he could get a bite to climb out. Winch would be a necessity on a trip like that and hope you have something to hook to.
If you notice what really got me out was when he yanked left instead of pulling me forward. I think he was waiting for the other car to pass.
I agree I probably wasn't getting out of there. But I was able to back up from the front of the ditch to the back - so the car was moving and I wasn't completely stuck on the frame. Then I clanged against the drain pipe in the back and at that point the car dug in and wouldn't go back forward.
I really wish I'd tried a couple things just out of curiosity:
1) I forgot to turn on rear differential lock until the end when we had the tow strap on. Maybe that would have made a difference as the high-side left tire might have grabbed more.
2) If that got me moving forward with a little speed, I'm really curious if I could have rocked it to the right to climb up the side a little bit, then pulled hard to the left and used gravity/momentum to get up and out to the left.
Probably not but I'll always wonder if it might have worked. There was a small part of me that wanted to get back into the ditch and try it after the guy pulled me out - lol.
And yes that's the problem with a winch. Unless you're traveling in pairs, you never know for sure you're gonna get stuck somewhere with a nice tree or big rock to tie off to. I guess you can bring stakes though. I go out in the CA deserts a lot where it's mostly sand. That could get really difficult. And if you are traveling with a buddy - a strap is usually as good as a winch.
On the FJ the only way to do a real winch is with a custom bumper. So you're talking about $3500 for a good bumper and winch, not including labor, and a bunch of extra weight. [Reply]
My last two Panama posts are up. These have the longer stories of checking out the edge of the Darien Gap, and crossing the Panama Canal in a small sailboat - really cool experience.
I sort of followed this at the time, but didn't really have time to dig into the blog.
Read a random FB post earlier about the entire Pan-Am trip, which led me down a rabbit hole of the road trip and Darien Gap, etc... and remembered this trip.
Didn't really have anything unique to add, but loved the detail and can appreciate all of the research that went into a trip like that.
I saw a mention of being a digital nomad at some point... I've researched a bit on that lately, and especially as more countries get on board, it's more and more enticing. It would completely change your world, where your day-to-day is the vacation and you take a little PTO to head back to the US or off to another country. [Reply]
Originally Posted by Bearcat:
I sort of followed this at the time, but didn't really have time to dig into the blog.
Read a random FB post earlier about the entire Pan-Am trip, which led me down a rabbit hole of the road trip and Darien Gap, etc... and remembered this trip.
Didn't really have anything unique to add, but loved the detail and can appreciate all of the research that went into a trip like that.
I saw a mention of being a digital nomad at some point... I've researched a bit on that lately, and especially as more countries get on board, it's more and more enticing. It would completely change your world, where your day-to-day is the vacation and you take a little PTO to head back to the US or off to another country.
I've worked with a lot of people who do this and I have done so on a few occasions. Had one guy on one of my teams where we didn't know where the hell he was going to be calling in from. Who cares where you are, just do the job. Shoot, sometimes you are legit on vacation and still dialed in so what's the diff? I'd rather hear the ocean in the back ground over a barking dog or crying kid. [Reply]
Originally Posted by Bearcat:
I sort of followed this at the time, but didn't really have time to dig into the blog.
Read a random FB post earlier about the entire Pan-Am trip, which led me down a rabbit hole of the road trip and Darien Gap, etc... and remembered this trip.
Didn't really have anything unique to add, but loved the detail and can appreciate all of the research that went into a trip like that.
I saw a mention of being a digital nomad at some point... I've researched a bit on that lately, and especially as more countries get on board, it's more and more enticing. It would completely change your world, where your day-to-day is the vacation and you take a little PTO to head back to the US or off to another country.
Agreed, this thread was a serious piece of work by suzzer
He documented it like a genuine blogger with tons of well written reports from locale's large and small, tons of great pics illustrating it all [Reply]
Originally Posted by eDave:
I've worked with a lot of people who do this and I have done so on a few occasions. Had one guy on one of my teams where we didn't know where the hell he was going to be calling in from. Who cares where you are, just do the job. Shoot, sometimes you are legit on vacation and still dialed in so what's the diff? I'd rather hear the ocean in the back ground over a barking dog or crying kid.
Yep, all you need is reliable internet and a VPN. I've seen several programs where it looks like they go all out in trying to set you up with living arrangements and what not, but I don't mind just doing the research, either.... granted, with travel visas, I think it would be a different move every ~3-6 months, but that should be made up pretty easily with the differences in cost of living. [Reply]
