Notes From the PanAmerican

[jorgec]

Colombia in 2 weeks

I jump here and give you some ideas, I am from Colombia living in the USA now. Colombia in 2 weeks, very difficult.

My son just came back from 3 months school and vacation so I ask him, his answer, you need a live time.

But here is our impute, Cartagena, Taganga, Tayrona, Riohacha, Maicao, Valledupar, Bucaramanga, Canon del Chicamocha ,Barichara, Villa de leiva (http://colombianhighlands.com/index.html) A Must, In Bogota Anders Carne de res a restaurant in Chia can’t miss that. Armenia (http://www.fincaixobel.com/), Cali, Popayán, Pasto and adiós Colombia. That would be basic ruta I would do. Let me know if you need any help at all I have friends a relative scatter around the country.

Good luck

Jorge

 

[rockandroll]

Shipping Delays

Our original plan had us shipping to Colombia on May 1st. The ocean god of Darian shipping had other plans. Panama Passage has been our base camp/home for 2 weeks now. Panama City was nice to spend a weekend in, but being an expensive city with daily heat indexes of 120 degrees, we are ready to move onto the altitude of South America. Luckily bad luck comes in three and we've already experienced our trifecta of bad luck.

#1: In April we contacted Tom and Jan of Adventurous Spirits (their ExPo) and made plans to ship together in a 40' High Cube container together the first weekend of May. Tom fell into an abandoned well and fractured a couple ribs.

#2: We then planned to ship with a German couple in a beautiful pop-top 110 landy. They had a breakdown in Costa Rica and wouldn't make it in time.

#3: We opted to ship with Tom and Jan one week later on May 9th. We opted to go with Julio (with PSLI - Panama Soluciones Logisticas SA) on the recommendation of Panama Passage. We went through the multi-step process without a hitch, Julio leading the way. We leave the port of Colon by 1:30pm on our load day in high spirits planning on flying out the next day.

We get a call at 8:00PM that night letting us know that they are sure the trucks will fit. They will not load them as it is a risky loading the trucks themselves. We are not allowed on the port, so we can not load them. They will not be loaded onto the ship departing on the 9th one way or another... Back to square one.

Apparently we are the first pop-up truck campers to ship around the Darian Gap.

Julio has come to bat for us and tomorrow we will head back to Colon and attempt to load from a different port (there are 3 in Colon) and attempt to load the trucks ourselves with Julio's assembled team. If we don't fit we'll be loaded onto the $3,000 Wow1 RoRo ship to Ecuador later that week.

 

[rockandroll]

Central America Statistics

• Distance Traveled: 5,800 miles
• San Francisco to Panama City
• Average Mileage: 15 mpg
• Number of Flat Tires: 0
• Attempted Bribes: 3
• Bribes Paid: 1 for $10
• Bandits Encountered: 0
• Robberies: 1 pair of hiking shoes – Guatemala border, 1 rosary – Colon Port
• Breakdowns: 1 taillight out, 1 suspension airbag adjustment, 1 broken suspension bolt
• Average Gas: $3.55/gallon
• Percentage Miles on PanAm Proper: 32%
• Average Cost Per Day: $39/person (gas, food, lodging, tours, etc)
• Total Nights: 130
• Nights Camped: 110
• Nights in Hotel/Hostel: 20
• Average Distance Two Americans Drive in 130 Days: 10,200 miles

Also,

Here's a video of the container loading process made by Adventurous Spirits:
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zsu59Ii6hQ8"]YouTube - Shipping Panama to Colombia, Loading Container[/ame]

 

[clinnet]

Very effective snapshot of what it takes (of an individual's experience) to overland to Panama City if someone was to contemplate about a trip down south.
Great post!

• Distance Traveled: 5,800 miles
• San Francisco to Panama City
• Average Mileage: 15 mpg
• Number of Flat Tires: 0
• Attempted Bribes: 3
• Bribes Paid: 1 for $10
• Bandits Encountered: 0
• Robberies: 1 pair of hiking shoes – Guatemala border, 1 rosary – Colon Port
• Breakdowns: 1 taillight out, 1 suspension airbag adjustment, 1 broken suspension bolt
• Average Gas: $3.55/gallon
• Percentage Miles on PanAm Proper: 32%
• Average Cost Per Day: $39/person (gas, food, lodging, tours, etc)
• Total Nights: 130
• Nights Camped: 110
• Nights in Hotel/Hostel: 20
• Average Distance Two Americans Drive in 130 Days: 10,200 miles

Also,

Here's a video of the container loading process made by Adventurous Spirits:
YouTube - Shipping Panama to Colombia, Loading Container

 

[Ruined Adventures]

looked like both vehicles had some VERY tight clearance at the top :Wow1:...

Any ideas on your total cost thru Central America?

 

[rockandroll]

looked like both vehicles had some VERY tight clearance at the top :Wow1:...

Any ideas on your total cost thru Central America?

I can give you a rough estimate. Here we go...

Fixed Costs

Health Insurance: 600
Auto Insurance: 1,000 (Sanborns)
Property Insurance: 150
Tundra: 10,200
Camper: 5,200
Mods & Maint: 5,200
Gear: 1,800
GAS: 1,400 (it helps for budgeting & planning to think of this as fixed)

Total Fixed: $25,550

Total Variable Costs: $8,840 (for 2 people, 130 days)

Included in variable costs: propane, lodging, food, booze, border fees, tours, souvenirs, everything.

Cost to Overland to Panama: $34,390

Estimated Resale Value of Truck & Camper: (13,000) - Post Trip Resale Value

Net Cost: $21,390 @ 130 Days

 

[Ruined Adventures]

I can give you a rough estimate. Here we go...

Fixed Costs

Health Insurance: 600
Auto Insurance: 1,000 (Sanborns)
Property Insurance: 150
Tundra: 10,200
Camper: 5,200
Mods & Maint: 5,200
Gear: 1,800
GAS: 1,400 (it helps for budgeting & planning to think of this as fixed)

Total Fixed: $25,550

Total Variable Costs: $8,840 (for 2 people, 130 days)

Included in variable costs: propane, lodging, food, booze, border fees, tours, souvenirs, everything.

Cost to Overland to Panama: $34,390

Estimated Resale Value of Truck & Camper: (13,000) - Post Trip Resale Value

Net Cost: $21,390 @ 130 Days

That absolutely helps, wow. I like how you broke it down...thank you!

Sounds like shipping around the Darien was enough trouble to convince you guys to sell the truck/camper in South America? :sombrero:

 

[washington taco]

$21,390 / 130 days = $165.00 a day, pretty cheep all inclusive trip!

 

[rockandroll]

That absolutely helps, wow. I like how you broke it down...thank you!

Sounds like shipping around the Darien was enough trouble to convince you guys to sell the truck/camper in South America? :sombrero:

We're shipping it home. Seems to be a big hassle to sell a set-up like ours down south and we're assured that shipping to the US from BA is not only cheaper but easier.

Speaking of costs, it looks like I have our final costs for shipping around the Darian Gap: $1,263 on the Panama Side and $440 on the Colombia side (this is our share of 1 40' high cube container). Note that shipping prices for this trip have apparently gone up across the board and that Adventurous Spirits and us paid a premium for a good agent.

Also take note that roll-on roll-off service has become prohibitively expensive. Panama-Colombia costs were $2,100 and Panama Ecuador was $3,000. Trip reports from prior years indicate that both of these options were less than $1,000 only a couple years ago.

I'm glad the costs are of help to everybody! While I was doing my own research for this trip this was the most frustrating aspect as almost nobody wanted to share this info. Coming from a financial background I vowed to make this aspect transparent. Stay dialed in for more info and keep the questions coming.

Lastly the most surprising statistic for me was our camped nights to hostel nights (110 camped out of 130). Not once did we camp in a gas station. The camp spots in Central America are out there.

 

[Christian P.]

Logan and Brianna,

Thank you again for your visit at Panama Passage. I am glad you went with the "premium" fee for the good agent.

We are working hard to develop a solid relationship with Julio in the hope that everyone else coming will benefit from his experience with overlanders week after week.

 

[rockandroll]

Logan and Brianna,

Thank you again for your visit at Panama Passage. I am glad you went with the "premium" fee for the good agent.

We are working hard to develop a solid relationship with Julio in the hope that everyone else coming will benefit from his experience with overlanders week after week.

Christian, I hope our paths cross soon! Over the two weeks, we had a splendid time with Shaun at Panama Passage. We think you're onto something big and are excited to see it grow over the coming years.

 

[rockandroll]

Road Update

After 4 weeks, the trucks are Extracted!!!

Check out our guidelines for shipping here.

2nd broken bolt on our Firestone Suspension Air Bags.

Camping out with unURBAN (Espen & Malin) and ToyoTours (George & Andrea) again in Vilcabamba Ecuador

We heard border crossings only get easier in South America. We are happy to report this is true. The process seems more dialed in down here. None-the-less we made a guide to crossing from Colombia to Ecuador.

Colombia and Ecuador have been outstanding. We've been camping out high up in the Andes Mountains for several weeks now enjoying the cooler temps after our month in Cartagena and Panama City.

Lastly, our friends at Life of Saturdays just posted a painfully through cost analysis for driving the PanAm. Everybody's costs are different, but this will help you in a major way. Check it out here: http://www.lifeofsaturdays.com/costs/

 

[RMP&O]

$21,390 / 130 days = $165.00 a day, pretty cheep all inclusive trip!

You can do it for much less.

I can drive straight to Panama on about $1,200 in fuel. No side trips though, that is straight there. On top of that it will cost me about $1,000 for other expenses, again if I drove straight there over the course of a few weeks. I am also including hotel costs, which you don't have to pay to live in the truck. Yet, parking (camp) for the truck can cost money too.

For longer trips I would budget $20-50 a day plus fuel. So for 120 days it would be about $2500-6000 in expenses above and beyond fuel. I see no probs at all with doing a 120 day trip through Latin America on $10,000, in fact that would be living pretty large with fuel included!

I personally think $1,000 for insurance for 120 days is really high. Not all countries require insurance. Those that do you can buy it at borders for next to nothing. Example, insurance in Panama for 3 months ran me about $60. Even if you have insurance and get in an accident the likelyhood of you using it is slim. Even fairly serious fender benders are usually settled on the spot with cash. Ask me how I know!?

For risk of life and limb, well insurance at that point is a personal decision.

 

[rockandroll]

For longer trips I would budget $20-50 a day plus fuel. So for 120 days it would be about $2500-6000 in expenses above and beyond fuel. I see no probs at all with doing a 120 day trip through Latin America on $10,000, in fact that would be living pretty large with fuel included!

RMP&O is right here. A lot of the costs I listed are gearing up an expedition rig. Insurance, both vehicle (except Mexico and such) and health are optional. If you've got a Baja ready rig and are ready for a long term adventure, just plan for $80/day (total costs, 2 people) and get going!

Mexico and Central America can be dirt cheap.

 

[JCMatthews]

Looks like things are going great keep up the posts.