Driving to South America

[Henry Janzen]

Has anyone actually taken a drive down to South America? I have seen the excellent http://www.well.com/~dreyer/ site, but was wondering if there are any onther sites talking about a drive to South America.

Does anyone have any experiences or links they can share? The site listed above mentions very dangerous parts of Columbia, etc.. Kidnapping, bribes. How many people out there actually do this?

I did send in 1998 a truck and tenttrailer from Vancouver Canada to Lima Peru per container.Flew down and took it out of customs and drove it to Paraguay.It was a adventure to say the least.People are very friendly and helpful.
Roads are rough over the Andes mountains.Broke the springs twice on a 2500 km trip.
My son and I plan a trip next year over Central America and then Col.,Ven., and Brazil to Paraguay.

[Mark Sedenquist]

Roads are rough over the Andes mountains.Broke the springs twice on a 2500 km trip.

Wow, welcome to the Great American RoadTrip Forum! Do you have some photos you can share (and some tall tales)?

Mark

[lhuff]

I would love to hear more about this trip as well.

Laura

[PNW Judy]

Count me in.

[cool]

Count me in too. Some pics, if available would be great!

[mamba24]

Awesome blog...amazing plan..i will definately take some tips and hints from your blog.

I however plan something similar but very different at the same time.

The similar part is driving in south america, the different part is buying a 4x4 in south america and driving around for 2-3 months.

I will be avoiding colombia. Precautionary aswell as my 3 mates who will be making this journey with me, are convinced that the media potrays the truth, hence i have to unwillingly scrap it out.

I have been reading alot into driving around in south america.

From some stating that a car bought in Argentina cant leave the border.
and others stating that Jeeps can be bought in the black market.

I do not understand these concepts, are they talking about a new vehicle or a used one?

In the UK when you go to purchase a second hand car all you need to do is Sign the V5 Document, the owner signs it off and off you go. and the owner will send your details to the motoring authority and they will post the new documents to the adress of the buyer.

How does it work in south america? has anyone bought a used vehicle? Is it complicated?

Can i get a old Jeep for say $2000? i mean it can be 100 years old...all i need is 4 wheels an engine...i can fix a jeep up in no time...but it has to start.

Do advice me on these matters...by the way i just joined this forum and its awesome...thanks for reading.

[PNW Judy]

Mamba24, I don't have any answers for you but we have had some discussions about this issue here and you might use the search function (green bar above) to see what you can find. This discussion might give you a few tips.

[Ramble Writer]

Hi all,

Thank you for the information shared - it has been very useful! I am preparing to drive from Durham, NC, to Buenos Aires, Argentina, in a Toyota 4Runner with my boyfriend and our dog. We are leaving February 2009, and we plan to take about 8 months for the entire journey (with about 2 months cruising through the States).

To read about our travels before and during the trip, visit this site. I will be blogging about as much useful information as possible.

And if anyone has useful info about taking a dog across borders, it would be much appreciated!

Rochelle

{Editor's Note: I just had to add this.... on their site they have a list of gear for the truck they plan to use on the adventure. This item is in that list:

WENCH: to be added

I bet they meant winch... The wench can be seen hanging out of the left side of the truck....

[Midwest Michael]

Welcome to the RTA forum, Ramble!

I think you are going to have to do a lot of homework to figure out what you'll need to take a dog across borders, especially as you work deeper into Central and South America. This is certainly something you'll want to have figured out , prefereably in writing, before you go.

Have you figured out how you'll solve the problem of the Darien Gap?

[tom]

Hey, I just found you guys, we've been driving through North, Central and South America for over a year now and we're having a blast. We probably broke all the rules by going with a smaller car ('91 VW Golf) but we haven't had too many problems and we're in Bolivia now so I think we're going to make it.

Don't worry about the negative stuff you hear about Colombia, it was one of our favorite countries and the one in which we felt most safe! (It's also a better and safer and cheaper option than sending your car to Ecuador) We found a great lady in panama who helped to ship our car around the Darien Gap and made the process very hassle free.

Let me know if you need any info.

Cheers,

Tom