Add'l info on the road South
 

Below is a cut and paste job from an e-mail I received from Gonzalo - it's got a lot of good info for folks heading South from the States:


1) No carnet or libreta is needed. We have covered about 40.000 miles
in Latin America on various trips and never used one.

2) Darien gap: most common is to airlift to Colombia or Ecuador. Use GIRAG Cargo from Tocumen Cargo airport in Panama city. They have done it a million times. USD 250 per bike to Bogota, Colombia or USD 500 to
Quito, Ecuador. Dimensions and weight of bike dont matter. Fixed price. Contact
Rene Peredes (speaks good english) , airport manager for Girag, tel. 238-4326 / 4397 / 4289. Rene might have retired (was about to) but Girag is always there. Paperwork is a piece of cake.

3)Borders I recommend: (a) Mexico-MEXCICALI (do NOT use Tijuana as vehicle
entry papers not available), (b) Guatemala -LA MESILLA (c) Honduras -EL FLORIDO (d) Nicaragua - LAS MANOS (e) Costa Rica -only
one possibility on Panamericana (f) Panama -same as CR. Stay away from all borders with heavy truck traffic unless you want to spend time and money on bribes. In addition, look for my post entitled "Official Panamerican
Border fees" on the Horiz. Unlimited Bulletin Board. Those are the CORRECT
prices/entry fees for Central Amer. borders. I posted this info in May
2001. South American borders are much more straight forward and free of charge.

4) If your bike enters Quito by air contact fellow ecuadorian biker Ricardo
Rocco (speaks excellent english) at tel. (5939) 722 408, e-mail
aroundforpeace@hotmail.com You will need his help to get your bike out
of Customs. The process is a pain in the ass, they will initially ask for a
Carnet, but me (and many others) have gotten our bikes out without one. Be
patient and talk to Rocco. Or ship your bike to Bogota (much easier) and go
for it.


[This message has been edited by waward (edited 25 November 2001).]

I had a good experience crossing into Mexico in Juarez last year. They have a very organized setup for getting vehicle papers when you leave the frontier.

Kurt

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Kurt:
I had a good experience crossing into Mexico in Juarez last year. They have a very organized setup for getting vehicle papers when you leave the frontier.

Kurt<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>
I travelled throught tiaguana in Oct hard to find location for bike paper work but they had everthing there and got it done in about a hour, travelled the Baja to La Paz and ten took ferry to mazatland, with no problems.

GIRAG certainly seems to be the best airline to use for shipping a bike over the Darien Gap. Every MC I have talked to used them and were completely satisfied. However, in November of 2001, they told me they did not ship to Quito. I dont know if that policy is different now or it could be that at the time I was there they didnt have any flights to Quito. I used Copa, which has its offices a couple 100 meters from GIRAG's offices at the Cargo airport. They charge $400 for a shipment to Quito and I was not completely satisfied with their service. Copa assured me that the bike would be there on Wednesday and did not appear until Friday at 4 just after customs went home. I didnt get the bike out until Tuesday, almost a week after I originally thought. There are some delays in Quito, but talk to Ricardo Rocco; he seems to have all the necessary information.

What about sending moto by boat. The fee by air sounds ridiculous regardless of how many have done it. Anybody looked for and found better arrangements over water? What about the cargo boats going through San Blas islands from Colon?--Porter

ps--By the way, don't make the mistake of getting as far as Panama City and think you've seen the country. From there south to Yavisa, Darien(end of road-start of Gap) is a VERY interesting trip. Was there about this time last year and was told 3 times by military checkpoints in Meteti that I wasn't permitted to continue on to Yavisa(Col. guerrilla activity)but kept asking them and others and finally got permiso. Tis is a good lesson to remember--If at first you don't get the answer you need, keep at it. No gas station in Yavisa, but individuals sell from drums. Most is pre-mixed for boats so make sure your gas has reddish tint not blueish--Porter
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on the road(almost)
and lovin' it!!
KLR650-A13 'BURRO'

[This message has been edited by MotoDiver (edited 19 January 2002).]