Living on road time

An Overlander recently advised us, “If you make one plan, you will end up with two plans, because plans always change”. 

We have realized that with Overlander travel, schedules don’t work. The van needs maintenance, the road is closed, documents take days to renew instead of the expected hour or so. And then there is another place just down the road that locals tell us we have to see. Our original plan put us in Peru in February. It’s now mid March and we are still in Colombia. Continue reading “Colombia: Quindio the Coffee Region”

The 30,000 km Panamerican highway that we have been following stops dead at Yaviza, Panama. It begins again at Turbo, Colombia, leaving a roadless gap for 100 kilometres. Known as the Darién Gap, this land is home to three indigenous tribes, the Kuna, the Emberà, and the Wounaan. It also hides drug smugglers, illegal migrants on their way north, and enough paramilitary rebels to leave you shaking in your boots. There have been plans to continue the road but all efforts have failed.  A few travellers do manage to get through using jungle trails, wooden river lanchas, and even a short hop on an 8 seater plane. Continue reading “Panama City, El Papa, and the Darién”

We had anticipated an organized border crossing into Panama for two reasons. It borders Costa Rica, and it has had a lot of American influence. But our optimism was misplaced. We stamped out of Costa Rica, bought car insurance for Panama, and went through Migración easily enough. The final stop was the Aduana for the car importation. Continue reading “Panama and Los Dos Amigos”

As soon as we entered Costa Rica we noticed a huge difference from travelling in Nicaragua. We passed lush forest on clean wide highways, with no cows or horse carts on the roadway. Affluence was apparent in the numerous large billboard advertisements for hotels, tours, restaurants or businesses. In the first hour we saw a 3-foot iguana cross the road in front of us, and passed signs for 4 of the country’s 27 national parks. Continue reading “Costa Rica – Pura Vida”

The thermometer registered 95 degrees as we entered Nicaragua, and that heat followed us right through the country.  Short fat trees squatted over very dry pastureland. We could see mountain ridges in the distance but here the land was flat, and the highway wide with smooth pavement and good signage. Bob felt relief from the constant curves and hills of Honduras and Guatemala. Continue reading “Heating up in Nicaragua”

We fully intended on entering Nicaragua at Los Manos, but our entry was denied. The trouble began when we tried to cancel our Honduran vehicle permit. The woman at the Aduana refused to cancel it. She insisted I walk into Nicaragua, and return with a permit before she would process our vehicle paperwork. This is not normal procedure. But then, nothing here is ever normal. Continue reading “Detour in Honduras”