Need advice. a lot of it.
 

Getting ready to buy a Suzuki DR200 in Guatemala for $2500 and travel to Panama on it.

Need advice on anything from resale value in Panama or Costa-Rica, to routes, to dangers or really any tips anyone cares to post.

This is my first travel experience via motorcycle so I'm thankful for any advice.

Thanks a lot

-Connor

Hi Connor,

Sounds like a fun trip.

My only advice at this point would be to read through the South and Central America threads here on HU. You can glean a lot of information from the posts and if you also follow some peoples trip reports, you will slowly start to put together a general route and a list things you want to see in each country.

From there, if you post specific questions to things that are unclear or not easy to figure out, you will get some specific answers. Happy planning and safe riding.

Make sure it will be legal to leave the country as foreigner on a GUA bike. The bike will be virtually worthless in any country but the one you bought it in due to import taxes.

Roads will be much better in PAN vs CR. Life will be much cheaper there as well.

You won't be able to sell it unless you somehow sell it illegally at the border (after it's been checked out of CR and before it's checked into Panama.

Also - unless you pay dues and import it into Panama - you won't be able to leave the country without either:

Shipping it
Leaving with it to Colombia or back to CR.

Importing and plating that bike will cost about $1500 - that's what a buddy of mine paid to import his XR650 into Panama.

Food for thought!

You could check out my blog at www.scrabblebiker.com. Scroll back to previous posts far enough to see my trip through those areas in early 2010.

I can't comment on the legalities regarding a Guatemala bike, etc. But if you search my posts you should be able to find one about border crossings with a Canadian registered bike.

Just a few personal recommendations.

Guatemala:
Fuentes Georgina near Quetzaltenango
San Marcos on the north side of Lago Atitlan
Touristy but beautiful Antigua

El Salvador:
The side roads through the highlands (Ruta De Las Flores)

Honduras:
Copan Ruinas
The hills just outside of Tegucigalpa (Valle de Angeles)
Lago Yojoa and D&D Brewpub nearby

Nicaragua:
Selva Negra (Black Forest) in the north
Volcan Masay (drive up volcano)
Laguna de Appoyo near Granada
Isla Ometepe

Costa Rica:
The highlands surrounding Lago Arenal
The pacific beaches
The highlands in the south near San Vito
...cross into Panama along a short dirt road from there

Panama:
The northern highlands
The Pacific beaches
Panama Canal
The end of the road at Yaviza

Above all just have fun and be flexible.


...Michelle
www.scrabblebiker.com

Having GUA license plate will make the bordercrossing in Central America so much easyer !! No aduana , just imigracion
If you need any asistance or info in Guatemala , just let me know

Is that true for Costa Rica and Panama as well, or just the CA4?

Costa Ricans were having just as a hard of a time getting into Panama as we did. Not sure about Guatemalans but I can't imagin it being any different for them.

Really depends what borders you use also.

I don't know about Panama , but for all the other Central American countries (including Belize) I never had to get an TVIP for my in Guatemala registered bike .

Conor, one thing I do know that on entry to Panama, your passport will be stamped by customs (Aduana) acknowledging that you entered with a motorbike. When you go to leave Panama (by plane, boat, train, bus, etc...), customs will need to see another stamp beside this to say that the bike has been brought out already or is with you (I cargoed mine home by air from Panama City, so I got this second stamp then, and stayed another two weeks in Pamana). Anyway, I'm not sure what would happen if you tried to leave the country without the second customs stamp, but just be warned that it could be a problem. Costa Rica does not do it the same, there is no record in your passport of vehicles brought in, so I could recommend when you finish in Panama, maybe have arranged already to sell it in Costa Rica, and just drive back up and sell it there. It can also be sold in no-mans land in between Panama and CR (if you arrange this with a buyer to meet there), whereupon you just return into Panama no problems.
Apart from all that, I say that Guatemala deserves the most time of all the CA countries, fantastic place...

You can be fairly certain that you'll have a problem leaving Panama without exiting your bike first.

That being said - if you cross into Panama at Sixaola, there's a funny man named Marlon McKnight that was very helpful to us. He's an Aduana man. He took a particular liking to me. He seems to be a bit more friendly to guys than girls - so something to keep in mind!

Here's a visual...

http://www.panamapassage.com/uploads...4/IMG_0045.jpg