2aroundtheworld said:
DMC,
I met a guy once who travelled down with his Westfalia diesel. He actually shipped his truck from Costa Rica instead of Panama. They went down to Panama but then found out it was much cheaper to ship on a boat from Costa Rica. It's one of those Japanese super mega giant boat that carries cars. If you have ever seen one you will remember for sure, it's like a huge square floating tank. The boat drops a bunch of cars in Costa Rica before heading down to South America. He was able to put his car on it for really cheap.
I have long lost his contact, but that might be something worth looking into.
Let us know what you find.
How random, I just bumped into this forum, doing some product research for my next Pan-American overland adventure, and I see this reference to my previous trip USA-Argentina. The contact information for the mentioned cargo boat is obsolete, but I might be able to dig some helpful information, if anyone is interested. After having done USA-Argentina twice, and preparing for one more in 2009/10, I do believe that the crossing from Central to South America is the adventure's most challenging (and frustrating) phase. For a look at our past experience (the second trip), visit
http://torlasco.tripod.com/. I am now getting ready a VW Vanagon Syncro Westfalia TDi with factory 16" wheels and lots of mods and improvements. This, in my opinion, is close to the optimal vehicle for such a trip (if you enjoy sleeping in your vehicle, that is). Regards,
Cris
