Panamericruiser - An Overland Journey through the Americas

[Ruined Adventures]

Sorry Christian, I've officially derailed this thread

I was looking for a nice small unit that could fit in the back of our car, but didn't really find any. Do you guys know of a unit that could be a good alternative? (just curious about size and features...)

unURBAN
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From what I've found, scanner/printers aren't really produced with the traveler in mind. They're some reallly nice (really spendy) scanners & printers that are very compact, but nothing with both features in the same package.

We considered a small portable Canon printer that digital warriors use, I even tested it out. Pretty nice. We thought about using it in combination with a Neatreceipts portable scanner, but in the end it proved an extra expense we could not bear. It would be nice to be able to print photos for people along the way, especially local kids who still love our digital camera. It would also be nice to have the scanner for receipts and hotel cards, even personal cards of other travelers we have met (I highly recommend making cards with your website and email).

We decided a while ago that we are definitely bringing a compact camera printer. Since they're somewhat of a novelty item, they really don't cost much. They can be had for under $100, even as low as $25 used. I feel it's worth the investment for the same reasons you mention Luis...giving pictures to kids or family's who've never had a picture to keep for themselves. The personal cards is a great recommendation. Good way to swap info with other travelers...

Here's a couple affordable mini camera printers if anyone on the portal is interested:
Not exactly a hi-def printer, especially @ 2X3 prints, but for pictures you'll be giving out for free it's not a bad price...and I LOVE it in this color
http://store.polaroid.com/products/0/354649/Instant_Digital_Printer

Up to 4"x8" photos that are water resistant & supposedly last "100 years", little more of an investment though
http://www.adorama.com/ICACP2BL.htm...ping Site&utm_campaign=Other&utm_source=gbase

 

[coydogsf]

I just found this Panasonic Printer thread and... wait, Panamerica Cruiser?

Well, anyway, I'm a geek too and thought long and hard about bringing a printer, scanner, etc. I'll tell you right now that I think we're packed with everything we might need but not OVER prepared and we're pretty tight. I still wish we had like 10% less stuff so the truck didn't look quite so cluttered and "full" when we park it in a town and it was just a little easier to keep it neat while camping.

I finally just thought about where the hell I was gonna put the thing and that made the decision for me. As it is, everytime I pull out my laptop or a hard drive and feel the hot, muggy air or think of the sand on the seat getting into it, I wait for it to give me some click of death and stop working. Plus, you gotta think about ink, paper, etc.

I agree that a photoprinter could be a fun way to make friends/connect and something small and cheap like that Kodak you sent the link for would be cool but IMO, forget the scanner and doc printer and spend your money and time on a few more Spanish lessons. Finding the copy shop and starting a conversation with the clerk might be the start of your next adventure.

Watching Christian in action for only a few days, he's a master at this. Everytime you turn around, he's made a new best friend. And I'm sure that's had a huge effect on the success of his travels.

Dave

 

[Christian P.]

The words of someone who has not experienced a bad border crossing... YET. It will come my friend, it will come.

I agree though, patience and a smile are of utmost importance.

Luis,

Sorry I was not trying to negate the bad experiences that some people have had. I just don't want people to think that it is always a battle.
People mostly report when they have had problems and you never hear from the people who went through without issue so the overall impression is that it is always a mess.

As you may remember, it took us about 5 days to get into Egypt from Sudan. Corruption, drunk or missing officers, angry Germans, fights on the boat, we had the complete package. It can be extremely frustrating and costly - but the ultimate goal is to make it through, so if you have accomplished that you are successful!

 

[Christian P.]

Another note regarding the specific border crossing between Honduras and El Salvador:

Yesterday we met with yet another traveler who went through Western Honduras - the short stretch - and crossed at El Amatillo, between El Salvador and Honduras.

Just as RMP&O and LostWorldExpedition reported, he had an horrible experience, ending up also paying also a $200 fee, down from $400 initially. The true cost is $35.
He told us stories of them threatening to send him away to El Salvador or keeping his truck.

That sounds like pure extortion. It would be interesting to have more reports and figure out exactly who is in charge and who is managing this "deal".

Furthermore, he also said that they had to pay numerous "fines" at the various checkpoints, on the order of $30 or so, all for bogus reasons.
Apparently on one occasion, the officer even turned off his lights himself by reaching inside the car and then went on to argue that his lights did not work.

So at this point, I would strongly suggest to anyone to entirely avoid this border. Sometimes you can't win. This is why we have this forum and we can provide information.

The easy option in this case is just to go around through Copan and actually have a pleasant experience.

I do believe that in most cases border crossing can be made much easier with patience and positive attitude, but in that specific case it seems like there is a real racket going on.

I will try to get more information about it and see if there is anything that can be done.

 

[Christian P.]

Costa Rica

From San Juan Del Sur, it is only about 40 km to the Costa Rica border.

I was expecting the border crossing into Costa Rica to be painless...wrong assumption.

I guess our timing was wrong - we got there at the same time as many large buses.
It took us one hour to get our exit stamp out of Honduras.
The line was almost as long as the line I get at the Montreal airport when all the tourists arrive from Cuba and Dominic Republic from their "packaged" tour on Friday evening.

So we put some SPF 50 sunblock on and meet up with other backpackers, even sharing a beer...

We also made good use of this time by hiring Felix, a local helper who looks like he would be very well at home in the Castro District, to take care of the car permit cancellation process.
So when we finally got our immigration exit stamp, Felix was also done with the car cancellation and we were good to go to the Costa Rica side of the equation.

The exit fee was $1 for Nicaragua and car was free, except for the couple dollars we gave to Felix.

The Costa Rica side was simple but did take another hour or so. If you come from Honduras, you can enter through the back door and skip the line at the migration on the other side of the building...

Once you get your entry stamp in your passport (you must always do that step first) then you get insurance (segura) - about $12 for 3 months. There is copy machine right next to the insurance office and a rather large man whose only job is to make copies and talk on his cell phone. As usual, you need copies of your passport with entry stamps, insurance, car registration and title.

The "Vehitur" office is right across the street from the large immigration building, facing the restaurant.

The permit is good for 3 months - they will probably want to check your vehicle.
KTM 690SMC are non-existent in Central America so the officers are always more interested in the bike than in my Land Cruiser. I am a bit jealous.

The last step is the fumigation, which cost $4, the highest cancer induced fumigation cost I have seen.

We pretty much zip through Costa Rica as I have been there on several occasion, even crossing it from West to East on a 4 days mountain bike ride...

We did make the enormous mistake of stopping in Jaco for the night, as it was getting very late and I figured we could find a cheap place for the night.
This has to be one of the worst place on earth - that is unless you are into prostitute, overpriced hotel, getting ripped off at every corner and "basura blanca" as Shaun described it...

The road along the coast is now entirely paved and is in extremely good condition. It was nice to ride the KTM on it.
A word of caution, apparently Costa Rica has now huge fines if you don't wear your seatbelt.

We eventually made it to Dominical, a much better place to relax and enjoy the beach.

We even got to meet a guy from Ohio who is in the process of commercializing sunblock made of BioDiesel.
Here is a picture of his company vehicle:

We then hit toward our last border crossing on this trip...and met with another overlander who reminded us how easy we have it in the truck.
He has been traveling from London to Australia through Asia and he is now on his way down to Tierra Del Fuego....

 

[Christian P.]

Note: In an additional effort to help our members going through the border process, we have put Expedition Portal stickers next to all the main offices...just look for them.

 

[RMP&O]

It might be a pure coincidence but we have developed a few techniques which I strongly believe helps.

-Remove your sunglasses.
-Turn off the radio
-Keep the inside of the truck clean.
-Be polite and prepare to answer their questions.
-Push a couple good jokes.
-Show respect.

My take is that these officers are usually just doing their jobs. They are curious and interested in our story. We have not been searched once and always felt very welcome.

We were glad we decided to take this route...!

Yup, all great advice and spot on. I also remove my hat. I do this not just at police/military check points or stops but at borders too.

Note: I didn't pay a single bribe to any cops on my trip south last month, nor did I pay any on my trip north last March. The only border I paid any bribes at (that I know of) was El Amitillo. I was asked for cash or told I had a ticket in Mexico & Honduras, otherwise nadda'.

I think Scott's advice is also spot on. You walk in an office, open or in my case unzip your briefcase and start dropping quality copies of docs on the table and it shows this is not your first rodeo. As Scott says, it sets the tone....

 

[Scott Brady]

Love the update Christian and the details on the borders.

Interestingly, the only border we were overtly asked for a bribe was Panama. He said $5 to make our process "easier"

 

[RMP&O]

Love the update Christian and the details on the borders.

Interestingly, the only border we were overtly asked for a bribe was Panama. He said $5 to make our process "easier"

ya, correction on my previous post....

I paid a bribe to get in to Panama last month. Hit the border at 3pm on a Sunday so paid a bribe for my dog, bank was closed.

 

[Christian P.]

A few more random notes that may be useful:

When crossing in Mexico at Nogales, the lady at the counter made me get the original Arizona title. I had an excellent copy but her and her manager looked at it through the light and concluded that it was a copy. I assume that they are used to see Arizona title and knew what to look for.

The cost of fuel kept raising until we hit Panama yesterday. Arizona was the cheapest, then it increased in Mexico, then a bit more in Guatemala, and so on, and hit almost $4US/gallon in Costa Rica (570 QTZ/liter). When I traveled through several countries, I am not so much interested to know the current price as to know what is the price in the next country I am entering...so I can decide if I should fill up the 40 gallons of fuel before crossing the border.

 

[Chazz Layne]

I keep seeing the vehicle title popping up. What happens if you don't have access to it (AKA you haven't paid the vehicle off yet)?

 

[Christian P.]

I keep seeing the vehicle title popping up. What happens if you don't have access to it (AKA you haven't paid the vehicle off yet)?

Not sure about that - I thought that you would still have a title but there would be a line at the bottom with the name of the company that owns it?

Maybe someone else have more info.

 

[GlobalMonkey]

I keep seeing the vehicle title popping up. What happens if you don't have access to it (AKA you haven't paid the vehicle off yet)?

As far as I know, you can't take vehicle which you are still paying for out of the country. The bank owns the vehicle and also has the title. It is the banks policy. You could try to get permission from the bank, but I have my doubts. Anybody with more experience?

Tomas

 

[RMP&O]

Not sure about that - I thought that you would still have a title but there would be a line at the bottom with the name of the company that owns it?

Maybe someone else have more info.

I did the entire trip from USA to Panama & back (Mexico & every country in CA) last year on my registration. When asked for the title I simply provided my registration. The only place I had a problem with that was once again at El Amitillo. The problem arose when we were all set and ready to leave the border, the final part of the process is a cop inspection. He asked for my title, I showed my registration and he knew it was not a title. So we ended up paying him a bribe to let us go.

This year I brought my title to avoid this problem. My bank held my title for a credit line I have. So I paid off the credit line before leaving. The title then was taken to DMV where the lien release was stamped and signed, clearly showing no lien was still held on my truck.

You can take your vehicle even if a bank or whomever holds a lien against the vehicle. What is required though is that you have a letter to accompany the title stating it is ok with the lien holder for you to take the vehicle into such and such country. The letter must be on a letter head of the lien holder, ie a bank or whomever. Personally, I would really not want to do that. If the letter is written in spanish that will help tons no doubt....still not something I want to do.

 

[RMP&O]

A few more random notes that may be useful:

When crossing in Mexico at Nogales, the lady at the counter made me get the original Arizona title. I had an excellent copy but her and her manager looked at it through the light and concluded that it was a copy. I assume that they are used to see Arizona title and knew what to look for.

see my above post; to add to this though....what I believe helped me last year with only a registration in hand was that I am from Wyoming. More than likely everyone at the borders I dealt with had never seen a truck from Wyoming.

The last thing I have to add is I carry my registration, laminated. The title is obviously not laminated. Copies at borders are required as previously discussed. Yet, I needed very few copies this trip than the last trip. Last year at nearly every border I had to run back and forth from office to copy booth more than once, sometimes due to my limited spanish. This trip that was very minimal. Plus the copies made at borders always are crap. The copies I carry are very high quality and color. More than once an official asked if this really was a copy. I then produced the original and they were suprised at the quality of my copies. Just one more little thing to give you an edge at crossings and as Scott said....set the tone.

The cost of fuel kept raising until we hit Panama yesterday. Arizona was the cheapest, then it increased in Mexico, then a bit more in Guatemala, and so on, and hit almost $4US/gallon in Costa Rica (570 QTZ/liter). When I traveled through several countries, I am not so much interested to know the current price as to know what is the price in the next country I am entering...so I can decide if I should fill up the 40 gallons of fuel before crossing the border.

Indeed! And knowing that the fuel is of high quality in Panama plus 95 octane runs $3.50/gal I left Costa Rica with about 1/4 tank and filled up in Panama.

Very last thing for me to add.....

Costa Rica is just like Mexico for the vehicle permit. Except the permit is for 90 days not 6 months. The ladies at the vehicle permit office in Costa Rica on this trip reconized me. So they asked if I still had my permit from last trip. I did not bring it because I did not know it is canceled and then used again when you return, I thought it was just a 90 day permit. But since those women are so cool they did not charge me for a new permit since they remembered me from last trip. They also clearly explained to me how the permit works and how I could have just used my permit from last time. So keep this in mind if you plan to do the trip more than once.

All the rest of the countries besides Mexico this is not the case. In fact here in Panama the permit is only for 30 days. You must visit an Aduana (sp?) office before the 30-days is up and re-new the permit. If you fail to do that it is a $250 fine. Also in Panama the vehicle can not be kept in the country for more than 90 days before it has to leave or you have to pay importation tax of the vehicle.