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slowdriving.us Summary After the 2006 trip to the end of the road in Alaska, I felt the urge to see what the other end of the road looked like. I drove all the way to Panama City but did not try to find my way to the actual end of the road another 270Km farther south in the Darien region. The road does not go between Panama and Colombia, this area is known as the "Darian Gap". I did not have good information about gas stations and lodging in the Darian region The CAR I did not do any modifications to the car from when I made the Alaska trip in 2006. The car ran very well the entire trip, just a couple of minor incidences. I did have to disconnect the speedometer cable in Juchitan, Mexico due to excessive noise from the bushing inside of the speedometer. This occurred on the Alaska trip too. I have a GPS installed which I used to keep track of my mileage (km) so the speedometer was not missed. The engine misfired a couple of times on the way back as I was driving through Nicaragua, so I changed the condenser. This did not help, I then reinstalled the first condenser, and discovered the distributor points setting had vibrated almost closed. This was corrected quickly and the car ran fine for the rest of the trip. I had my first ever flat tire on a dirt and rock road along the coast in Costa Rica. When I first put the car together I wanted to use steel valve stems for original looks, so I cut off the standard valve stem and replaced it with a steel one. I did this for all four tires and the spare. This was my second set of tires, using the same tubes. Apparently the valve stem pulled out of the tube and the tire went flat, there was no damage to the tire, and I had a spare tube. Flat tires only happen on a dirt and mud road in the rain, and it had been raining for several days. By the time I had the wheel off the car and was removing the bad tube a couple of road workers came along and helped hold the tire open as I installed the new tube. I then pumped it up with the hand pump, (I purchased at Wal-Mart in Yuma when I discovered I had forgotten to bring along my other one), I then thanked the men and reinstalled the wheel and was on my way. This event was slower than the crews at a NASCAR race but went much better that I expected when I first stopped along the muddy road. Oil changes have always been a problem for me. I hate to open the plug and let the oil drain onto the ground. I have tried several methods while on trips to collect the oil with limited success. This time I took a 2gal bucket and put a 2 1/2gal zip lock bag inside the bucket. When I drained the oil into the baggie the bucket kept the bag upright and unbroken. The bags will tear if 200 degree oil is drained into it, so I always let the oil cool down a bit before draining. Oil is expensive in Central American countries, I did not have a problem leaving the used oil with someone who would use it again. Prior to leaving on this trip I decided I need an easy to read vehicle identification number location. The Model A ford has a number stamped into the top of the frame about under the drivers door. To see this number I would have to take the body loose, raise it up a few inches and use a mirror for them to see the now rusted over numbers. When the car was assembled the engine had the same number as the frame, so one could check the engine number. By now most cars have replacement engines and the frame number is different from the engine number. This would be a problem getting across so many borders, as my engine has been replaced with one with a different number than the frame. Some people modify the engine numbers to match those of the frame, this is fine but I decided not to alter the engine numbers. Instead I cut a piece of sheet metal into the shape of a tag. Stamped the frame numbers into it and riveted it to the bottom of the frame. I felt I could sleep good with this idea, I had not altered any numbers, just placed a copy of the exact numbers on the frame in a more easily readable location. This turned out to be a good idea, I don't think I could have even gotten into Mexico without those numbers showing. At every border crossing they wanted to verify the numbers, most were unhappy that they had to lay on the ground to see the numbers, but they did look under the car for the numbers. LODGING I found it time consuming locating reasonably priced lodging that I wanted to stay at. I probably was too cautious looking for secure parking. When I did stop the car I was usually approached by several people wanting to look at it and learn where I was from and where I was going. This made me apprehensive of leaving the car on the street where I could not see it. So I often drove much farther than I would have liked to, in order to find a town large enough to have a good hotel with a closed in parking lot. I did give up a time or two and parked on the street. I then put the car cover on the car, it sort of blended in with the dirt so no one could see it. I had no trouble with anyone messing with the car. BORDER CROSSINGS Another time consuming event was when I was at border crossings, where many people looked at the car, and rapped their knuckles on the fenders to see if it was steel or fiberglass. I had installed an alarm system before the Alaska trip in 2006 but did not use it until this trip. At the borders, people would touch the car and even lay down for a nap on the running boards while I was not looking. All this motion would set off the alarm. Often I was out of sight in one of the buildings getting my paperwork done, when I would hear the alarm go off. A couple of times I had to get out of line, and go outside to see what was going on. A couple of times several young boys (10-12 years old) would say that they would watch my car for $5.00. I was not about to pay $5.00 but often did give them each a couple of dollars to keep others away from the car, I told them if the alarm goes off, they don't get paid. There were a couple of times at a border crossing, I believe I paid a DONATION to a specific cause when I thought it was a required fee which I have to blame on my not understanding Spanish. ROADS The main roads were in good condition. The secondary roads often became gravel roads, which were no worse than in Alaska or Canada. The problem was knowing which ones were the main roads and which ones were the others. Usually as I was driving along, and I found no white lines and no traffic I was soon to be on a dirt and gravel road. I took them anyway if it meant turning around and going back more than a mile or two. I did drive 10 mph or less for over two hours near Guatemala City when I thought I saw a more direct route. Again, no traffic and no white lines usually means a bad road ahead. I did enjoy the peacefulness of the empty road. COMMUNICATION Cell phone technology has reached Mexico and Central America. I purchased a phone from Motorola, that would work anywhere. Then I purchased a Mexico prepaid card, which gave me a Mexico phone number, which allowed me to make calls without roaming charges while I was in Mexico. I was able to use my phone almost every where I drove. After leaving Mexico I removed the Mexico chip and reinstalled the ATT chip. ATT said I could make text messages that would only cost $.50 a message, they did not happen to make me understand it also costs about $3.00 roaming charge for each message. As I drove through each country people would pull out their camera phones and take pictures of the car. All I could do was smile and wave. This was distractive a few times, a car would pass me, pull in front just to slam on the breaks and take a picture, then speed away while I pulled the seat fabric from my butt. In Costa Rica a car load of people almost ran me off the road trying to get my attention, they wanted me to stop so they could take pictures of the car, I did stop for them. I took my lap top computer with me on the trip. There is a great program called "Skype" that will let you make internet phone calls for about $.02 a minute ( yes, two cents) I was able to get an internet connection at many of the hotels. I could call my wife and talk for an hour for about a dollar and a quarter. This sure was a better price than the cell phone. SECURITY At no time did I feel threatened by anyone. No one tried to steal or damage the car. Motels were happy to provide a secure parking location for the car, most had armed security guards on site and fenced in parking areas. Everyone tried to understand my poor Spanish. The Officials at the Borders and check points were polite. I was pulled over with lights and siren in Mexico by a Federal Policeman, I showed him my papers, he indicated he did not want to see them, he just wanted to talk about the car. He was very disappointed when he discovered that I could not speak Spanish. MONEY The Atm's all had screens in English, I tried to use only Bank ATM's. I only once used a private atm at a 7-11 store in Guadalajara to get money. The ATM allowed me to get currency for the country I was in, easily and safely. Bank of America charged me five dollars for each transaction. When crossing a border there were money changers who were eager to exchange dollars for their money. I had looked up on the internet the exchange rate for all of the Central American countries before I left home, then wrote it in a small pocket notebook. When I was in need of exchanging money, I checked my notebook and used my pocket calculator to be assured I was not cheated too much. All of the hotels accepted dollars, but did not always give a good exchange rate. The bigger ones also took credit cards. CONCLUSION Over all I had a good time. The hectic pace of driving and remembering which country I was in wore me out. Traveling alone and not being able to talk to the people was also a source of frustration. I would do this trip again if I had someone along who spoke Spanish, but I would do it much slower next time, thirty two days to Panama and back is a fast schedule. The trip was completed in 32 days. November 19, 2007 to December 20, 2007. I drove 8844 miles at an average moving speed of about 37 mph. The trip cost about $156.00 a day. I encourage those who are adventures to make this trip.
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