California to Panama in a T100

[RMP&O]

Ya the CA border crossing are a part of the adventure that is for sure! The APHIS form is the way to go in my opinion, researching before my trip was how I discovered it and the process to get it. At every border I would just ask for the AG office and then go in it with the APHIS form in hand along with a certified USDA rabies vac form. Never had any issues besides the process being slightly different a few times. Like at El Amitillo they did a physical inspection of my dog once out of the three times I crossed there. The process was always the same though, pay a fee to the bank and get the APHIS form stamped in the AG office. I believe it is the same for anyone (truckers) transporting livestock.

Sorry if I missed it but do you have any sort of turn around and head for home date?

Cheers

 

[Traveling 2gether Journal]

Well, the Aphis form definitely sounds like the way to go for anyone traveling with a pet that hasn't left the US yet.

We don't have a turnaround date. We honestly don't know what we are doing one day to the next. Currently, we think we will be done in Panama in 3 or 4 months and will probably start making our way north at a leasuly pace. But... we've also kicked around the idea of going to south america and just seeing how far we can get on the cash we have left (without being in a big hurry about it of course).

 

[RMP&O]

We will probably cross paths, we are on the same time line. Open ended!

Hope to see you folks on the road.

Cheers

 

[Inyo_man]

The border crossings are funny. We talk to other travelers that cross the same border on the same day and one says easiest border ever, the other says total nightmare. Being prepared helps a lot, but luck is definitely a factor. I wouldn't say we've hit nightmare levels yet. We just try to be prepared with all the forms and copies we can, then mentally prepare to shuffle around the border zone waiting in lines and make sure you start early so you have lots of daylight to find a safe place to stay when your done.

My wife and I traveled south through Central America back in the early 1990's and had very similar experiences...

Boarder crossings are the luck of the draw. We brought a large stack of surf stickers (compliments of a friend's surf shop) to give away at the boarder crossings. These helped speed up the process many times.
Crossing into Honduras headed south we tried to get through a bit too late in the day, and got stuck in between the two countries over night! Very sketchy!! Slept with my machete in hand all night, and the dog tied to the rear bumper acting as our look-out!

It's a trip of a life time, and with all the ups and downs of traveling...we'd do it again in a heartbeat.
Wishing you both pumping surf, and off shore winds!
Cheers

 

[Traveling 2gether Journal]

Thanks for the well wishes Inyo_man. I would have been stressing sleeping at the border too. We crossed into Honduras pretty early in the morning and it looked pretty apocalyptic with the buildings going to rubble and a few dumpster fires sending up plums of brown and black smoke and a handfull of people that looked like thay slept/ passedout in the fieled that night and were'nt happy to be waking up that morning. But the building that was in use was in fine shape and it was the ususal wait, stamp, copies, wait, stamp... and off you go.

It's a small price to pay to gain access to another country full of adventures.

 

[Traveling 2gether Journal]

Nicaragua has been interesting. Amie and I have both spent a bit of time here, so we are constantly trying not to fall into the trap of comparing it to "how it used to be".
It's a bit more crowded than it was 6 years ago and there seems to have been an increase in petty theft against tourist according to the warnings we have received, though we have not had any problems yet.

We have seen some cool wildlife, got to see the lava in Volcan Masaya at night, went on some adventures with new overland buddies, and have had some fun surf. I would call it a success so far and we are planning to renew our CA4 visa for an extra 30 days so that we can meet up with a friend from Maui in a couple weeks and explore more of Nica with them.

 

[paddlequest]

Hey guys! Welcome to Nicaragua. I am based here with an NGO and have driven my Tacoma down here. I am in Costa Rica at the moment on a visa run but will be rolling back into Nicaragua on Sunday to get back to work Monday. I get out of Managua as early as possible every weekend and head to somewhere new and/or fun. It would be cool to catch up.
I did my last visa extension in Managua and it was a breeze. I will add a photo of my truck so if you see me you can wave me down...kayaks are a dead give away. Oh and I brought in 3 kayaks with no issues at the border...aside for forgetting one at a friend´s place before I crossed into Costa Rica on Wednesday and giving them an opportunity to try and extract every dollar from my pockets...again Cordobas not accepted...of course!



I will buy you guys a Tona when we catch up!

 

[Traveling 2gether Journal]

Thanks for the invite Puddlequest! Hope we can meet up. Nice rig by the way.

 

[paddlequest]

"Puddlequest"!!! hahaha....I love it! Intentional or not I don´t know....but it puts funny imagines in my brain of semi floating my kayak on a dirty little puddle of water in every country I visit!! Haha...puddlequest is go!

 

[Traveling 2gether Journal]

Haha...not intentional. Sorry. Yeah, I was like "who quest for puddles, I guess this guy". haha

 

[The_Driver]

Nicaragua has been interesting. Amie and I have both spent a bit of time here, so we are constantly trying not to fall into the trap of comparing it to "how it used to be".
It's a bit more crowded than it was 6 years ago and there seems to have been an increase in petty theft against tourist according to the warnings we have received, though we have not had any problems yet.
View attachment 393919View attachment 393920View attachment 393921
We have seen some cool wildlife, got to see the lava in Volcan Masaya at night, went on some adventures with new overland buddies, and have had some fun surf. I would call it a success so far and we are planning to renew our CA4 visa for an extra 30 days so that we can meet up with a friend from Maui in a couple weeks and explore more of Nica with them.

Oh, an active volcano, I got to see that!

Hey guys! Welcome to Nicaragua. I am based here with an NGO and have driven my Tacoma down here. I am in Costa Rica at the moment on a visa run but will be rolling back into Nicaragua on Sunday to get back to work Monday. I get out of Managua as early as possible every weekend and head to somewhere new and/or fun. It would be cool to catch up.
I did my last visa extension in Managua and it was a breeze. I will add a photo of my truck so if you see me you can wave me down...kayaks are a dead give away. Oh and I brought in 3 kayaks with no issues at the border...aside for forgetting one at a friend´s place before I crossed into Costa Rica on Wednesday and giving them an opportunity to try and extract every dollar from my pockets...again Cordobas not accepted...of course!

View attachment 393959

I will buy you guys a Tona when we catch up!

Mmm, bribing, I wa told to keep a stack of single Washingtons, for that. Is that what you would recommend?

 

[Traveling 2gether Journal]

The active volcano "Volcan Masaya" is very cool. We went at night and would recommend the same for anyone else considering it. You can reportedly camp at the entrance gate afterward, but we chose to go back to a campsite that we had already been to at lake Apoyo (not too far away). We felt OK driving at night since it was still pretty early, we knew where we were going, and we knew we had a place to stay when we got there.

Mmm, bribing, I wa told to keep a stack of single Washingtons, for that. Is that what you would recommend?

I recommend not giving out bribes. I realize this is easier said than done, but we haven't given out any bribes to police, border officials... anyone. If you give bribes, it encourages corrupt officers and the targeting of foreigners for easy money.

The most common scenario is that a police officer pulls you over asks for your driver's license and probably some paperwork then says there is a "problem". This problem can be speeding, too much stuff strapped to your rig, not wearing a shirt while driving... anythig. They will explain that they are going to take your license and that you will have to go to the police station to pay your ticket and get your licens back. Unfortunatly they will say that the police station is closed, so you will have to come back tomorrow and it is located 100 kms in the wrong direction, but he is such a nice guy that you can give him the money and he will pay it for you and give you your licens back now. (He will not file a report and he will keep the money)

What I recommend doing is giving the officer the requested documentation (some people use fakes/copies, that's up to you). Many cops aren't corrupt and will simply check the paperwork, give it back, and send you on your way. If the cop starts saying that they are going to write you a ticket, politly aknowledge that you understand and that you will go to the police station to pay it. If they say the station is closed, we smile and say "that's OK, we will just camp at the station and pay it in the morning". If the cop was trying to be corupt he now must choose between letting you go or writing you a ticket. If he lets you go, he doesn't loos anything. If he writes you a ticket, then he is sending you to the station where you could complain about him and potentialy get him in trouble.

We will probably receive a ticket at some point and have to deal with it, but haven't yet. We have been scolded in Mexico and Nicaragua, but always given our paperwork and allowed to leave. No harm done other than some wasted time, and hopfully the cop is less likely to do it agian to someone else since he just waisted his time dealing with me asking him how to say and properly pronounce variouse words in spanish and didn't recieve any money for his troubles.

 

[locrwln]

I have read/seen the same tactic from others, who refuse to pay any bribes and so far it seems to be working.
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Have you used any of the "fixers" at the border crossings? I know that others have said not to, but I was curious.
.
Jack

 

[Traveling 2gether Journal]

Hi Jack
I did use a "Fixer" at the Guatemala/El Salvadore border. Because of where we were in Guatemala when we decided to continue further south we decided to cross at the western crossing even though we were told it was the more dificult one. We started off not using a fixer, but changed our minds due to the need of copies. It is common to need copies of documents at the border crossinges, but we had been prepared up to this point, traveling with copies of all of our documents. At this crossing and further south they started asking for copies of stamps that they had just put in our passports. So we had to get them done there and couldnt find a copie shop that was open.
The fixer definitly helped us at this crossing. It was one of the more confusing crossings because of the need to go to difrent buildings for each step of the process and needing copies made several times and these buildings being spread out, often not in sight of one another.

I don't think there is anything wrong with using them, though you don't want to hand over your documents or cash to anyone. Just have them show you where to go and explain anything you don't understand. We feel like most of the borders are pretty straight forward and you can figure them out on your own with some pacience, but if you feel like a fixer helps or it's worth your money to potencialy save some time then that's OK too.

 

[locrwln]

That makes sense. Getting copies of the stamps, definitely makes it more challenging.
.
Thank you.
.
Jack