Central America Expedition IN PROGRESS

[gjackson]

Coincidentally I was talking to a coworker this evening who made the trip to Puerto Cabezas in RAAN a few years ago. He followed more or less this route. About 215 miles, in the dry season, in a 4WD on unpaved roads that big trucks travel, no break-downs... and it took 24 hours of driving time.

BTW, where did you get that map of Nicaragua?

That is the route we were taking. Much of it under construction at the moment. The maps we were using are the ITM maps from Canada. Not very good. The maps I had for the Garmin were much better and even routed us all the way to Puerto Cabezas.

cheers

 

[LaOutbackTrail]

Where/what was that hacienda that you guys stayed at in the Costa Rican cloud forest?

 

[NoLimitX]

We have finally had a chance to stop moving for the moment and chime in about the trip.
The Expedition was great, it showed us a side of Central America we had not yet seen. Our goal is to travel to places others don't and on this trip we achieved that in spades. The more of these unique areas we travel to, the more we reilize how special Central America is.

As reported by Graham, the Mosquito Coast is a tough nut to crack! With all maps being incorrect and going solely on local intel, it's not an easy undertaking. At the end of the day we came to the conclusion that if we are to attempt it again we will need to add a few things to the kit list.
1 - Six mules
2 - Enough lumber to build two barges to float the trucks 90% of the way
3 - A licened Cartographer
4 - Finally to blend in with the locals we will all carry a 9mm hand gun

The rest of the Expedition was filled with beautiful locations, stunning camps, colonial cities, volcanos, welcoming locals and lots of cigars & rum.
We will add more later with photos.

We would like to thank everyone that was involved in the Expedition especially our clients who were a great addition to the team.

James
No Limit Expeditions
http://www.nolimitx.com

 

[Scott Brady]

This is serious adventuring! I love it :wings:

 

[gjackson]

Where/what was that hacienda that you guys stayed at in the Costa Rican cloud forest?

Villa Blanca. It really is awesome.

cheers

 

[NoLimitX]

Here is a photo of the complete side of a mountain that gave way. You can't really take in the magnatude of it in the pic but to put it to scale - look middle left...that white little dot coming out of the treeline is a semi truck. The faint line that is the road used to be at the top of the mountain.

The second photo has a person in the middle to give scale.....Amazing what gravity & a little rain can do in Guatemala.

 

[NoLimitX]

Here are some additional photos of Costa Rica. We will upload more photos country by country.

Our first camp near Cano Negro....it was getting late and they had beer, why not.

Cano Negro Wildlife Reserve did not dissapoint

Find the crested lizard

 

[NoLimitX]

Costa Rica also had some of our best camps. It might be tough sometimes to get off the beaten path in CR but when you do, it's the best.

You can't beat a remote beach without a sole on it but you.

The track into Guanacaste NP was ideal.

Dinner with a view

Up next Nicaragua.....

 

[NoLimitX]

As stated before and in other venues, our time in Nicaragua was cut short. The political situation with Costa Rica and the fact that US troops were on the ground made things feel...let's say less than comfortable. So in true overland fashion we made the best of it. We drank tons of rum and smoked loads of cigars in San Juan Del Sur and Granada.

Sunset San Juan Del Sur

BIG surf town!

On to Granada......

Then we found Mombacho Cigars...highly recommended

Just another Tuesday in Granada

Honduras coming soon.....

 

[LaOutbackTrail]

Granada was a cool town... but, while I was there, I couldnt stop thinking about the poor horses that pull the carriages around. Needless to say, we didnt take a buggy ride.

Enjoying the pics so far.

 

[catfish]

What an awesomely beautiful places to visit. :victory:

 

[NoLimitX]

In Honduras our plan was to run a questionable track from southern Honduras to the North East section of the Mosquito Coast.

The track supposedly ran along the boundry of the Rio Platano Biosphere Reserve. The reality is the track runs to a village that has had the bridge washed out for 8 years and even if you could cross the river you are looking at verticle climbs that are only passable by mule. Please keep in mind that this is listed as a secondary road on all of our maps with no break for the mountains.

The reserve is now all coffee plantations and farmers, you could drive into the reseve but it would take two days before you get past all the farms.

So we are two days into this area and have to turn back, oh well it was a fun road trip anyway.

We ended up at a fantastic camp spot on the river and got to explore some amazing caves.

More to come....

 

[NoLimitX]

It took us a while but we finally made the coast! We only had time for a brief stay but we ate great seafood and took some great beach shots.

On to Guatemala!

 

[RMP&O]

Cool pictures....

I looked to see if you have a build thread so I could ask this question there but I do not see a build thread for your trucks.

So.....I am curious why did you decide on RHD vehicles for doing these trips? As I understand you can not take these trucks into El Salvador because they are RHD. Also all of CA, in fact I think all of Latin America uses LHD vehicles. So I am really curious why the RHD Rovers?

 

[LaOutbackTrail]

They aren't RHD, they are LHD and the image is just mirrored.

Honestly, I wasn't looking in the cabs of the trucks and never saw that detail.