PAN AM Learning Lessons

Sitting here sharing an evening with another overlanding couple, the conversation naturally turns to the highlights and low-lights of the last 2 years of voyaging between Canada and Argentina.  There is a random staccato of ideas and methodologies to possibly make for a smoother trip resounding over the dinner table.  So for future PanAm overlanders, here is what I learned:

1.  START at the end.  What this is to mean is that it would have been more fun to finally arrive at ‘home’ rather than arriving at the ‘end of the world’ and THEN have to face the stresses and concomitant costs inherent with either selling the vehicle or shipping the vehicle back home.  Particularly as the trip winds down and overlanding-fatigue sets in how much nicer is it to have in the light at the end of the tunnel to be an anticipated arrival with your family?

Speaking of overland fatigue; imagine running out of time or money or motivation, it is always easier to make a decision to ‘skip’ a country by considering visiting ‘another time’.  Not so easy living in Canada to visit Argentina another time, but the nearby USA is possible.

Finally, it is so much easier to arrange for shipping your vehicle from Canada (Europe) to Argentina in your native language then it is to undertake finding and coordinating a container share or risking RoRo shipping FROM Argentina.  Furthermore since most Overlanders are looking to offload their expedition tested and proved rig in Ushuaia/Buenos Aires there is a reasonable choice in vehicle should you opt to buy in-situ rather than ship your car.

The down-side is that it is a rather large ‘culture shock’ to arrive in Argentina, buy a car and start the trip as you are far from home in a foreign environment with not much nearby familial support.  Our time travelling the USA and Mexico was a great ‘shakedown’ opportunity and permitted to resolve problems closer to home before diving deeper into the PanAm.

2.  Learn Spanish. Nothing makes life on the road and enhances local contact and by extension the ‘experience’ with a capacity to say more than Si or No.

3.  Go on, take a VACATION!  Well since travelling is such a stress, it is good to schedule a ‘vacation’ from your vacation to reconnect with family and friends at some regular interval– 2 years on the road is a long time to be away.  But mostly, it is a way to transport all the stuff home that you THOUGHT you needed, and return with the things you actually DO need.   Maybe you DO have space for that gas-powered tailgate mounted Margarita mixer???

4.  Vehicle Choice.  There are a million choices on what vehicle to take, and every decision is predicated on ‘needs’ and ‘wants’ of the Overlanders – who often find difficult to distinguish between need and want.  Or more predictably in their excitement of the impending trip, spend too much time trying to resolve solutions to potential problems which never actually arrive (while the unexpected always do).  North American vehicles (both NA brands and NA Japanese brands) are globally a poor choice for Overlanders for a mitt-full of reasons– but it is what we have to work with.

I might suggest the best vehicle for the PANAM would be a Japanese vehicle over 10 years old.  Older is better than newer as older vehicles are less ‘mission dependent’ on electronics, are more familiar to mechanics in the regions being traversed and have relatively easy access to parts. 

North American brands are rare and can only be found in scattered countries along the PANAM and are SUFFICIENTLY different from so called local ‘third-world models’ that engines are frequently different as well as most of the critical parts.  Similarly North American models of Japanese vehicles are also different from these ‘third-world’ vehicles found south of the US/Mex border.  Case in point:  I actually got turned away from Mitsubishi dealerships in Nicaragua and Costa Rica flatly as they believed my van was a North American model, they would not touch it.  No discussion.

Ultimately too much time is invested in mulling over the vehicle choice.  The best solution is to move your current vehicle out of the garage, fill the tank and GO!

5.  Discretion is the better part of Valor.   A vehicle that carries all your possessions and dreams should not stir the interest and dreams of the locals and more importantly the local hoodlums.  A plain, white panel van is the way to go, or at least a vehicle as common as possible to blend into the scenery.

One thing that Bippers was NOT was discrete.  On one hand we loved having people come by for a chat and gawk on Bip Bip.  This opened channels of contact with the locals.  In fact, Bip Bip was SO flashy that we believe it actually provided security as nothing went unnoticed around Bip Bip.  Furthermore, the Right-Hand drive drew lots of interest but since it was such a confused concept to the local psyche, no one could consequently conceive of stealing the van. 

It was, on the other hand, tiring to answer the same questions time and again and, more importantly, extremely tiring to worry at every Police and Military checkpoint to have to ‘inspect’ the van or to play the rich-tourist-backsheesh game.  Low key is better we learned.

6.  Buy as cheap as possible.  Best to go as simple and inexpensive as possible.  Read: better buy a 1990 Isuzu Rodeo for $2500 than a 2010 Toyota FJ for $30 000+.  You can be assured that both will break down on the trip and shipping parts for the FJ would be an additional stress and expense.

We often spend years dreaming about the trip, planning and re-planning  mulling over vehicle choice...a van or a SUV or a pick-up, camper or roof-top-tent, toilet or no, ARB fridge or not...the permutations are endless.  Keep it simple, KISS, has always and will always be a sound principle. The more complicated the rig, the more probability of having some sort of 'mission ending' failure.

Ultimately, when the vehicle gives up its last gasp and shutters to a stop in the middle of some inhabited wasteland you are free to ‘shoot the horse’ and move on with your life.

Those of us who poured our soul in our car, constructed and invested in the dream, and truly over-designed solutions for every eventuality  - while we enjoyed and were positively occupied during the pre-trip preparation -  are so invested that it is nearly impossible to take the final and objective decision to part ways with your ride at the appropriate time.  

The moral of the story is JUST GO – fill the tank of the car in your garage and stick it in drive.  Forget trying to fabricate the 'perfect overlander machine'. These exist only in our dreams and maybe in Europe as North American car companies do not even have a basic concept in this market.

7.  Smaller is better than bigger. Having smaller vehicle meant that we got to traverse the narrow roads of Guatemalan villages without too much stress.  We got to park in regular parking spots – even sleep in the car in the Zocalo (Town Square) overnight.  Ultimately travelling as low-key and discrete as possible helps security but also means less questioning at Police and Military Checkpoints.

Finally having a small light 4x4 van meant we spent a whole lot of time visiting places otherwise inaccessible to the larger, heavier and more top-heavy unstable vehicles.  We found that we had more fun and interesting visits to ‘off road’ sites rather than an endless series of town center Cathedrals.

8.  Interior Space.  On the other hand, going small means ‘living beside’ rather than ‘living inside’ your rig.  We lived beside our van for over a year without having any complaint.  Then we got to Ecuador and started climbing higher in elevation.  Days of rain or wind (and even snow) meant we had to find indoor protection.  Living in our van gave us the minimum interior space possible to pass long days.  We learned that these cold windy rainy days would have been hard to take in a tent... so having at least a minimum space in our van meant at least a minimum of comfort.  We appreciated this.

• Permanent Bed.  We learned that having a permanent bed was indispensable   It meant that after a long day of driving we didn't have to reconstruct the bed to sleep.  It also meant we could use it at any time we wanted.  It meant that the mattress was a dedicated mattress and thus much more comfortable than a collection of seat cushions.  Ultimately it meant we could have sheets and blankets and pillows like grown-ups.  From a security point of view, our permanent bed meant we had secure, locked storage underneath which prevented any smash-and-grab hoodlums from having access to our stuff.

• Security.  Having inside space in the van meant we could live and boondock in relatively open environments in security.  We thus could sleep in town squares or in parking lots or in gas stations without risk of being noticed as sleeping inside (au contraire to having a roof-top tent  up).  Boondocking meant we could reduce our daily expenses by not renting hotels (or the other risk of parking the van unaccompanied on the street).

9.  Wrench-it!  Learn how to use a wrench and know the basics of mechanics.  I can say that just about every mechanical problem we had related directly to the (poor) work of the previous mechanic.  Every visit resulted in at at least three more visits to resolve the add-on issues.  This got to be such an irritating domino effect that I finally just gave up on mechanics and did all the work myself. 

10.  Range.  I would have appreciated a vehicle that gives at least 800km (preferably 1000km) on a tank.  You never know when the next gas shortage is (read : Uyuni)...or just how far it is to cross the Bolivian South-West Circuit.

11. Lay off the Gas!  I wanted a diesel powered van before we left.  We all believe that the diesel engine is the way to go, however we got lucky:  it turns out that our gasoline engine helped us on this Pan Am trip.  While we had slightly less fuel economy, we got a more powerful engine that was quieter and had greater access to local spare parts.  More than that, we did not suffer excessive power losses when over 3000 m elevations (common to many naturally aspirated diesel engines, and some like the Izuzu diesel actually goes into limp mode at 3000m I hear!). Nor did we suffer any issues with fuel quality as we heard our colleagues had while in Peru and Bolivia.

12.  Toilet and Shower?  We didn’t have a toilet; and it never became an issue.  Except in moments of intestinal distress, there are ways to work around not having a toilet.

A shower however – though relatively easy to source on the PanAm – would have been nice.  The truth is that inside showers are generally not used by most caravaners due to moisture and humidity it creates so an outdoor shower (with hot water) would have been nice in a pinch.  Downside means having to carry water which increases weight and thus stresses on the already overloaded vehicle chassis but also increases fuel consumption.  Another downside might be that trying to have an outdoor shower on the Altiplano, at 5000m elevation, in full gale-force winds would have been relatively challenging.

You can get showers at trucks stops or gas stations in Canada, USA, Peru, Chile and Argentina and I am sure the other countries.  In Central America paying for the odd campsite or hotel will not break the bank (and besides all that time on the beach who needs a shower???)

13 Brrrr Coooold.  Skip the fridge - we spent almost 2 years and never felt at a loss for not having a fridge.  It is a big investment that gobbles storage space in the truck and makes you electronically dependent- thus you need a big investment in solar electricity, or run the engine to charge the batteries or find a way to plug in (ie paid camping).  Costs nothing to stop and stop every couple of days for food and gives you a reason to mingle with the locals.  You can throw away tonnes of spoiled food before you match the price of an Engel or ARB fridge.  Ultimately this is not Africa where you can go weeks between (empty) markets.  And if you need that ice-cold beer - do happy hour at a beachside bar.

14.  Document Management.   Make good scans and color printout of all the important documents – Driver’s License, Passport, Vehicle Registration.  Never give your real documents to Mexican or Central American cops.  If they demand the originals then you KNOW that they are trying to hold you hostage to some false accusation.  The response is to offer to show the original documents AT the police station.  This will end any further discussion as the cops do not want to be ‘outed’ at the station for trying to rip-off a tourist.

Second to this, make 20 copies of the DL, Passport and Registration along with the originals and put them in separate pockets/sleeves in a binder.  When you go into a Central American border post you will look organized and prepared and that, in itself,  will limit phony ‘fees’ charged.  Central American customs guys seem to love copies so better to be prepared than have to run around making copies (to the profit of the copy guys because to be realistic the customs guys don’t really need or care for the copies...).

Other Interesting Reading:

Nightmare in Peru 

Selecting an OVERLAND Campervan

Hindsight 20-20 What did you wish you had left behind?

Top 10 Used US Vehicles suitable for OVERLANDING

Forum discussion regarding vehicle choice for Pan Am

Resources

Drive the Americas

Pan Am Camping Lists
Blog: Dare to Go. Good list for camping spots
Blog: From A to B. Great for camping spots and border Xing
Blog: Live Life Remotely. Great for camping and border info
Blog: PanAm Notes. Camping info, SW Circuit Bolivia

Trip Statistics

Our trip is winding down...I suppose it is about time.   So let's look at some interesting statistics.

578 Nights

Thanks to Bippers, we had a home as well as a set of wheels.  Being in the shape of a van, we got a little more interior space than other 4WD alternatives and so we were able to take advantage of boondocking (free parking/camping) opportunities as we got more and more comfortable with the idea.  For example our as we started out in the USA we opted for more paid campings and when we finished - Chile and Argentina - the ease of finding a highway rest-stop with shower, clean toilet and wifi meant that we never ever had to go to a campground.

And if you want to see a photo-representation of the above breakdown go to Bip Bip 1001 nights

DAILY EXPENSES

It was interesting to see our daily expenses...This includes everything from laundry, to internet, to customs and border crossing fees to food and gas and camping (and to the odd restaurant).  It must be pointed out that we did not start tracking our expences until we hit Belize and thus it is a shame we don't have costs for Mexico.  We liked Mexico but have no more than a gut-feel that it was cheap.  Food was great and that goes without saying.  

There are a few notable comments -

1) Panama was expensive, as most developed country in Central America...but mostly because we sped through to catch up with our shipping partners.  Thus the daily tally includes the $1200 shipping of Bippers AND the $1100 for the 5 day 'cruise' from Portobello to Cartagena (noted as 'hotel' above).  Stink!

2)The daily average for Chile shocked me, but probably because I liked Chile; it should not have been such a shock as we had heard that it was an expensive land.  I found the landscape reminiscent of Canada, and the people calm and respectful (as opposed to the loud and sometimes hot-headed Argentinians).  But as you will see below, daily costs are directly related to price of gas and Chile was expensive in gas.

3)Argentina came in the bottom-half of the collective.  Not surprising since we were able to capitalize on the black-market exchange for US dollars.  While the 'official' rate for the period we were there was 5 pesos per 1 USD we were able to get 6.3 (in the early days) to 8.3 pesos per dollar.  Thus more than 60% more purchasing power.  Oh and the fuel is subsidized to half-price south of the Patagonia line and that is where we spent most of our time.

4)Rate of travel - faster you go the more costly it is.  You use gas (#1 factor, did I say that already?), you cannot find the cheapest restaurant, you cannot set up camp on the beach with your neighbourly aligator,  you cannot develop a relationship with your favorite Nene in the veggie market....

5)We got lucky and didn't have to bribe any cops or pay  for any accidents.  This could run into thousands....

FILL-'er UP

Today Fanny was driving so I distracted myself with a small analysis of the fuel tracking sheet I have been keeping.  I was shocked, initially by the total amount of money (14 000USD!!!) we spent on fuel on this trip.  Wowsers, I don’t like to think of what the total MAINTENANCE costs were!  However, doing the calcs shows us we spent 24USD per day on fuel (for two people).  That is not so bad eh? Phew.

The ranking of most-to-least cost per country was surprising; countries I thought expensive were actually not so bad (the converse is true...who would have thought that NICARAGUA was so expensive?).

The ranking USD/Litre reads like this:

CHL-BLZ-CR-NICA-PER-COL-GUAT-CDA(!)-HON-ES-ARG(N)-USA-PAN-BOL-MEX-

ARG(S)-BOL(Local price)-ECU

After all that...and two years on the road, the average cost per litre calculating for all countries is 1usd/litre.  I find that interesting.

The photo below gives a short-list (66%less) of our fill-ups.  There are some anomalies to discuss:

1.       We will probably have to acknowledge that Ecuador gets our ‘most favorite country’ now.  Mexico goes down to number 2!

2.       Argentina was quite cheap on gas for two reasons-

a.       Fuel subsidy south of the Patagonian line effectively charging half price per litre

b.      The capacity to capitalize on the ‘blue market’ value of the US dollar.  We got between 6.3-8.3 pesos per USD where the official rate is about 5 which slashed our fuel costs.

c.       Argentinean beef wasn’t that great and we preferred the Chilean wine.  What’s up with that?

3.       While we loved everything about Chile – our daily costs were absurd (100usd-ish per day) and since our daily expenses are directly linked to fuel prices, fuel ranged from 1.6-2USD per litre.  BAM.

4.       In Bolivia fuel-life depended on your ability to negotiate – Local price OR Foreigner price.  Either way it seems, considering the global picture, the foreigner price is middle-of-the-road.  Thus it was not necessary for us to be so critical or anal regarding fill-ups...bummer that the people were less than interested in tourists.

5.       Costa Rica- aka Gringolandia-  was rudely expensive we found, considering what you get and where it is located vis-a-vis its neighbours.  Where the aging pony-tailed staggering drunk gringos outnumber  the poor working and landless peasants, well you can imagine the influence on the local economy.  Thus it is not surprisingly the fuel costs were high.  Too bad the surf wasn’t better when we were there.

6.       Panama doesn’t show up on our short list – we only fueled up 4 times.  However the price per litre is smack in the middle of the range of USA.  Does that surprise you?

7.       Colombia had a black market in Venezuelan gas (read jerry-can peddlers on the side of the road) that took the price of fuel on the border region down to 60 cents/L!  Otherwise Colombia was quite expensive.  Colombia has a trade agreement with the USA now so I wonder if costs will change now.

8.       Fuel costs in Peru are almost identical to costs in Canada. Peru suffers a duality in its economy – the rape of the bumbaclad tourists and the rape of its indigenous.

GEAR

I have seen our colleague travellers on their blogs describe and rank their gear they have taken on their journey as important or indispensable.    Not to be left behind, I thought it be also interesting our take on our stuff.

The battle cry for GEAR by the overlander crowd is that items must be multi-use and have as great a range of flexibility as possible; or be so dedicated that nothing  else  will be useful in any way.   Obvious items on the list - hat, sunscreen, mosquito repellent, super-high-tech-towel and Swiss Army knife are not included on the list as not being obvious inclusion and thus not worthy of discussion here.  Overlanders often disuss interesting high tech stuff like a fridge, for instance.  Or the latest GPS or how to make the Solar System most useful or how big a tire you can put on your bad-ass truck.

Take the fridge:  We travel without a fridge. This was a deeply considered decision and was, for most of the initial planning, included in the layout and design of Bip Bip.    In the last year while travelling there have been very few ‘wish we had a fridge’ moments.   So few in fact that we don’t regret the decision to leave it.  So infrequently we pine for a fridge that we saved ourselves more than $700 (not to mention having extra expenses upgrading our solar system to accommodate the power demands), and we saved on the cargo space would have taken.   How do we do it?  Easy peasy – we do our groceries every two or three days and eat our way down.   A fridge would not store more than that anyway.  We eat our meat the day we buy it, score fish on the beach by passing fishermen and EGGS come in the perfect travel package.

Ok so what are the items important to us?  Ranking from bottom up to the most important:

1.  Combination Lock-  small and barely useful for locking up your fine valuables. But it is pocket sized and can be kept in the backpack for any eventualities.  It does lock and you never know when you need to lock your backpack or your hotel room or your boots to the drying rack.

2.  3 meters of parachute cord – what a deal at a dollar store.  Hang your laundry anywhere, lash your stuff down.  Replace a boot lace. Imminently useful.  Very often the first thing I do when arriving at a campground or hotel room is string up the line.

3.  Petzl headlamp – the kind with spring loaded drawstring.  Wrap it on your head, around your wrist (like a BAT lamp), around your bicycle handlebars.  Fits in your pocket easily ad instantly available to light your way.

 

4.  IKEA solar desk lamp.  Add mood to your late nights.  It is solar powered, what more is there to say?  The flexible neck lets you position it anywhere any way.

5.  BBQ – a $25 dollar investment from any Home Depot makes the camping experience just like home.

6.  Water Pump-the 20 litre water fountain refills.  But as every country has many different suppliers and suppliers are safeguarding their own bottles you have two choices – buy a new bottle at each entry to a country and TRY to get the deposit back before leaving the country or just buy a bottle one time and then refill as you go.  Either way the hand-pump is a way to get water OUT of the bottle without making a mess.

7.  SOLAR Shower lets us carry water, take showers (the 9litres lets us both shower IF Fanny does NOT wash her hair) and ultimately gets more use for washing dishes.

8.  Folding bucket – need to collect rain?  Do dishes or soak your fine dainties?  It transports water as well as greasy car parts with ease.  Can be a useful vessel for marinating those huge Argentinean steaks too.

9. Organizer – This one, a Walmart special located in the baby section for organizing the stroller works very well for all the odds and ends and storing our tooth brushes. 

10.  Baby wipes cuz you never know when you wanna wash up and wipe down.  These bad boys are the bomb for removing grease from the hands and the tools.

11.  Adapter.  You can find light bulbs hanging from all sorts of jury-rigged wiring but it is hard to find a socket.  This baby lets the light shine through but also gives you a place to plug in your electronic devices.

12.  Golf umbrella.  This baby does many things, so many it hard to list: rainshade, sunshade, walking stick, dog beater, pickpocket hooker.  Big enough to cover me and Fanny and the backpacks. Can even  CATCH  rain if you find yourself thirsy.  Best $10 I ever spent.  It has hiked over 2000km by now...Dollar for dollar the best investment possible.

Other nice to have

1. Hippo – gives Fanny someone to talk to when I am driving.  Priceless.
2. Micro table.  A free find at a road-side yard sale.  Actually a child’s toy carpenter bench looks like it was made in Finland.  Nice foot  rest.  Also a nice side table for the beach chairs. Disconnect the legs and you have a fine laptop computer table.
3. ARB 2500 side mounted awning.  Gives us nice shade.  We regret it is not longer but think it is very cool, the attached mosquito tent.
4. GPS – turns out that the Garmin official maps for South America are crap.  But better to have something than to run around blind in say....Medellin!
5. MEC polypro Tshirt/Skirt.   Chris loves the way his shirt wears (despite the stink factor) and that it does not have some ‘No Fear’  or Beer label logo.  Simple.  Class(ier) than cotton as it will not hang to the knees and deform in hot humid climates.  Wash at night wear the next day.  Fanny appreciates, likewise, the comfort and piss-ability of her skirt.
6. Stainless steel wine goblet – adds class to any drink.
7. Hydrogen Peroxide.  I spend a lot of time repairing damages to my head and my hands.  Good thing Fanny is a nurse.
8. Citronella beach candle – adds ambiance and maybe helps the mosquito problem?

Things that didn’t work out

• How to play harmonica....only the  dogs sing along.

ADDENDUM must have:

SHAKEDOWN #1

As we were leaving CULICAN (Sinaloa) we were caught in the ‘classic’ scenario. It was both a Sunday and an afternoon and we were on the edge of town on our way out. 

Cops.  Gilbert Arnulfo #284 @ 1420hrs  24 46'007"/107 21'747"

They stopped us and started the dance.  Their claim was that we ran a red light – but it was two lights ago (a ploy designed to make it long enough back that we can’t remember there being two lights so maybe we did???).  We stood firm, denied the infraction, spoke French and certainly NO Spanish.  Handed over photocopy of the Driver Licence....finally they got tired of us and sent us on our way.

I did offer them to accompany them to the police station – to show our originals and to see the ‘photos’ of the infraction.  This of course was ignored as this is contrary to the shake-down.

The one thing that made this one different is that they wanted our licence plate –instead of our original Driver’s Licence -  as ‘guarantee’ that we would not leave without paying.