Sorry to read, but probably the typical downfall with Landrovers: they tend to be unreliable, particularly when compared with Toyotas.
A funny story I read the other day: in the African Sahara the chances of getting robbed and your vehicle being stolen are 8 times higher in a Landcruiser than in a Landrover (even the thieves know which vehicle to trust).
Moral: Landrover - safe but undesirable.
How dare you insult Land Rovers! :sombrero:
I rebuilt most of the Defender so that it would be as reliable as a Land Rover could be. In doing that, everything on the truck is brand new, and usually issues pop up when things are brand new or after many thousand miles. We didn't have enough miles on the truck to be confident that there were no manufacturing defects or other problems with the new parts.
The Defenders are much better off than the Discovery models as far as reliability goes, but still no Land Cruiser. The Defender had a lot of emotional weight in the vehicle decision process and eventually won out. I had a moderately built 4Runner that would have been better for the trip, gas engine aside. More reliable, more comfortable, and less noisy but far less "cool" factor. A 110 has always been a dream vehicle of mine and I feel very lucky to be able to take one on a trip like this.
I got your message that you left for me through the site. Thanks.
Sorry to hear about your gearbox. Worst thing I know is to have other people work on my car...
If you have to wait for a while, get out of town and relax for a few days at Laguna de Apoyo. Great place for a few lazy days and good swimming in the laguna (crater lake). See pics in our blog (under Nicaragua). There is also excellent surfing at San Juan del Sur, but this is a bith further away from Managua.. Better with your own wheels.
And if you keep up the speed, you'll be in Argentina before us....
Hope we can meet up!
Good luck!
E&M
We are taking your advice and tomorrow will be the start of a few days of fun. We were able to hook up with Salvador of
NI.CA.MOTO ADVENTURE. He runs a motorcycle rental company right here in Managua. With his help, we put together a little route that will take us to San Juan del Sur, Granada, and your Laguna de Apoyo over the next few days. Both of us are avid bike riders. I spent many months traveling around the US on a bike as well as doing track days and all that fun stuff and Shawn, my travel buddy, has spent many years racing bikes on both dirt and pavement. We are excited to get our hands on the little 200cc bikes that people ride down here. The adventure starts tomorrow at 8am.
if you stay long enough, maybe I'll see you at Panama Passage! Phil is there waiting for you with some cold beers...I won't be back until around Sept 15th...
That would be great to see you there. I am hoping we make it there before then but you never know what might happen between now and then. I am grateful that my travel partner has much of the same attitude as I do. I don't really get frustrated about things and just take each day as it comes. If it takes a few weeks to get there, oh well. It isn't my original plan, but my original plan isn't really a plan at all. Just a rough sketch of one way the trip may go. While my friends are spending all week in an office doing the daily grind, my bad day consists of me relaxing in a bed and breakfast run by a super nice family, exploring a new city, meeting new people, and eating wonderful foods...in Nicaragua, where many people dream of traveling to. Such a terrible, terrible situation.
