Hey Everyone,

While researching options to cross the Darien Gap I stumbled across this site and forum. I thought you guys might be interested in my current adventure. I set out eight months ago to drive from Prudhoe Bay to Tierra Del Fuego in my stock 2000 Jeep TJ.
I've completed 30,000km so far and am in Costa Rica.

I've been blogging the entire time with a ton of stories and photos.
If you want to read from the start, the first post of my trip is here:
An adventure begins | The road chose me


Everything has been going great so far, I'm having the absolute time of my life.
No mechanical issues and I've only paid one bribe when I was actually speeding

Fire off any questions you have and I'll be glad to answer them as best I can.
If there is some interest, I can update this thread regularly with my progress

-Dan
The road chose me

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Around Africa: The Road Chose Me
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I spent some time on Isa De Ometepe, a beautiful place



Full story and photos at The road chose me

-Dan

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I've crossed the much maligned border crossing into Costa Rica without too many hassles.

The road chose me

-Dan

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Made my way down the Nicoya Peninsula on the Pacific coast of Costa Rica.
Really hot sun, humidity & beaches galore



The road chose me

-Dan

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I went flying through the treetops in Monteverde, Costa Rica...



The road chose me

-Dan

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I've crossed the border into Panama, country number 10



Into Panama | The road chose me

-Dan

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I spent a while on the island paradise of Bocas Del Toro getting my PADI open water SCUBA certification, then moved onto Panama City...



Bocas Del Toro to Panama City | The road chose me

-Dan

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Hey Dan, I'm not sure what it is that you're expecting to happen here. Comments? Travel companions? Questions? Suggestions? Maybe if that part were more clear you'd start getting responses of some sort.

I haven't noticed any "headlong leaps into random ridiculous adventure[s]" either, but maybe I'm missing something.

enjoy,

Mark

Hey Mark,

I'm not really sure myself. Comments & suggestions would be cool, and I thought some people here might be interested in the information about border crossings, places to go etc.

-Dan

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I've begun the insane process of loading the Jeep into a shipping container and shipping it from Colon, Panama to Cartagena, Colombia to cross The Darien Gap.



This is going to take a while...

I'll be sure to post exact prices and contact information before the story is done.

Shipping across The Darien Gap Pt. 1 | The road chose me

-Dan

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Hey there,
looks like your having a ball, A quick copy and paste of your text into this report would help following you a bit.
Also people here are looking for info, road conditions, security,border crossings, interactions with locals, places you stayed costs ect.
For isntance you say you left your jeep in secure parking for $3 a day was it still there when you got back, who you used ect would help the next folk.
The fact your using a standard unmodded vehicle is also interesting, how its coping, what kind of offroading [or only roading in some places] are you doing.
Take care,
garry

I spent a few days in Panama city and checked out the Canal before flying to Colombia!



The road chose me

-Dan

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Hey Garry - thanks for the input.
A big part of my stories is the photos, so I don't usually copy and paste the text around without the photos and it's a pain to put them all into this forum.
I've been pretty detailed with border crossings and some other tricky bits (shipping across the Darien) but to be perfectly honest, I find those things pretty mundane and they are by no means the focus of this adventure for me. Driving around is not particularly hard, and things like road conditions can really only be assessed at the time by asking locals.

With regards to secure parking, etc. I think it's crazy to try and describe it all. We actually had a few different guides for the process required in Panama City and both were hopelessly wrong in so many ways. These things are constantly in flux and the experience is never going to be the same for two different people. (ie shipping from a differnt port, paperwork problems)
In your specific example, the secure parking for Bocas Del Torro - there are about 10 places you can use and they're all identical, trying to descrive that I used the "one with the white building 300meters past the red ferry terminal" is not helpful when there are 5 different ferry terminals.

In terms of 4x4ing, it only depends on how far off the road you want to get. Even a Jeep TJ in stock form will go very very far off the road, to the point you wind up at a place there is really no point in going to (done that a few times). Any place worth going has a road that locals are driving all the time in stock 4x4s and plenty of sedan taxis. I've met plenty of people doing this trip in minivans and front wheel drive sedans, so a 4x4 is not at all required.
Later I'll do a big post on my thoughts for vehicle recommendations.

-Dan

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The whole episode of shipping the Jeep from Panama to Colombia around the Darien Gap has come to an end.
Final price was $770.



Shipping across The Darien Gap Pt. 1 | The road chose me
Shipping across The Darien Gap Pt. 2 | The road chose me
Shipping across The Darien Gap Pt. 3 | The road chose me
Shipping across The Darien Gap Pt. 4 | The road chose me

I'm happy to answer any questions you might have about the whole process.

-Dan

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Did a bunch of cool dives to get my PADI Open Water certification in Taganaga, then hiked and camped in Parque Nacional Tayrona



Diving In Taganga & Parque Nacional Tayrona | The road chose me

-Dan

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Around Africa: The Road Chose Me
WikiOverland.org - Travel Overland across a country, continent or the world.