A Man, A Plan, A Canal, Panama: Crossing Through to Colombia
13. Nov, 2008 
30 Comments
The other day I talked about our itinerary up to Panama. I stopped there. Dead. That’s because there’s an interesting thing about Panama when heading south. You can’t go any further. Not by car anyway. Can you pay a fee to cross? Nope. Bribe an official? You can try, but no. So how are we going to get our car, two adults, and two large, slobbery dogs from Panama to South America? To find out, I did a little research.
First of all, it’s called the Darien Gap. It’s a 100 mile long swath of land between Panama and Colombia and because of the rough terrain, there are no roads connecting the two. The Pan-American Highway stops at the gap and restarts just after. If that wasn’t enough of a deterrent (and for some it’s not, someone famously crossed it in 1975 and wrote a book about it), there are also reports that some Colombian rebel groups live in the area.
Instead, most people hire a shipping company to transport their car to Cartagena, Colombia and fly into the city to meet their vehicle. Average price? About $1000 for the cargo ship. Each way. The flight? Around $100 for us, around $200 for each dog. Total cost round trip: $3200. This is probably why more people don’t attempt this sort of trip.
So now, the big question: is the straight path to South America really the best one? Here are our options:
1. Leave the car in Panama, fly to Colombia, buy a car there (that we later sell) and travel around until we reunite with our vehicle in Panama.
2. Rent an apartment in Panama. Kiss the husband and puppies good by for a few weeks at a time and do the South American piece solo.
3. Find some travel partners that have a vehicle big enough for all of us, travel the South America leg of the trip together and split costs.
4. Bite the bullet and pay for the cargo ship.
I don’t have an answer yet on what we will do. My instinct is telling me to not worry about it now, go to Mexico, and start driving. When we get near Panama, many things could change. We might fall in love with a place and want to stay. We might meet really cool people we want to travel with. Or we might find some alternative method from other travelers or locals.
Six months ago, I would of had a spreadsheet with exact shipping times, vendors and costs. I would have worried a few nights in a row about the dogs, the weather, the car or any number of things out of my control. Today? I’m going to Panama. And I don’t have a plan for what happens next. Could this be progress?
Weird! I knew about the Darien Gap, and I knew about the Pan-American Highway, but didn’t know that one interrupted the other. So all those people that say they’ve driven Alaska to Tierra del Fuego… there’s an asterisk on those tales, huh?
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Holy crap, I’ve been reading about the Darien Gap lately also. Like I mentioned to you before, I want to do a road trip to South America, and I’ve read that the cargo ships are quite expensive also. So, since I won’t be doing that little ride any day, I hope you go through with it because if I can at least read about someone else doing it, thats good enough for me (for now that is!)
I read that removable parts go missing on boards these ships.
Be sure to remove your windshield wipers…
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Where’s Columbia? Is it near Colombia, because Colombia is pretty good place to go.
Kyle: Good catch! To be fair, I only misspelled it once, but yes, I’d like to go to Colombia, not the Columbia House with all their great CDs.
Another option would be to leave the car in Panama and travel South America via bus. I know that most folks think of buses in South America as being chicken-buses, but in most cases the buses are comfortable, affordable and quick.
Whatever you decide, I am sure it will be a great adventure. Looking forward to reading about it.
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That sounds like progress to me Christine! Worrying about the details takes away from the adventure. Personally, I’d think about sharing a ride with friends or taking a bus ride (more adventure!) like Greg suggested.
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File this under things I didn’t know previously. I think your plan – or lack thereof – sounds marvy.
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Could you sell your car on one side of the gap, then buy another the other side, the do the same in reverse and by some fantastic turn of events (that’s intrinsically linked to the economic crisis) you actually get a better car out of it in the long run?
Or.
Write a new book called ‘Car. Gap. Shed.’ or simply ‘I Lost my Car in The Gap’
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A knotty problem indeed!
I suppose selling your car at Panama would pose import duty problems?
Do you have to drive to Panama? Maybe taking a bus there, flying to Colombia then buying a car would be a good way out of it?
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It does sound like progress, and the fact you are not freaking out is commendable. And on the bright side, at least you didn’t get there and figure it out and not have any sense of a game plan in mind.
It just seemed strange to me you can’t get from Panama into the bulk of South America, but I guess a quick look on wikipedia explains it all. It’s still weird to me. You can drive from France to England underwater, but 100 miles over land is impossible.
You’ll figure it out, definitely. You could always get there via car thefts along the way and have a really kick ass travel story.
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Christine,
You wrote that there are “also reports that some Colombian rebel groups live in the area.” This is a bit of an understatement. There are.
I am not an alarmist when it comes to travel. I have lived in Colombia (Cali in the south of the country, 12 hours from the Ecuadorian border), Mexico and Spain (where I am just as likely to be relieved of my wallet as in either of those other countries) but I would recommend strongly that you avoid the Darien Gap.
I thought you’d be interested in this video which explains a bit more about life in the Darien Gap:
http://current.com/items/89001263/end_of_the_road.htm
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That link is awesome Monna, pretty much covers the problem Gillian faces!
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I am really glad that you are going to Colombia. Most of the travelers are afraid of it but there ara a lot of misconceptions about my country, now is safer than it used to be. You have to visit a small island in middel of Panama and Colombia its called Capurgana its magical. you will love it!
BTW in spanish its called el tapon del darien
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I do smell progress in them thar hills. You’re almost in vacation mode!
I vote for biting the bullet and paying for the cargo ship. You may not be able to find a trustworthy location to leave the car in Panama. (I love Panama City but it is NOT the safest city in the world.) Relying on the fact that you’ll be able to buy a car in Colombia or meet up with folks who’d be willing to travel with 2 (I’m sure wonderful) dogs, is a bit dicey.
Whatever you decide, I will be totally jealous that I’m not sharing the ride!
Progress would be ditching the car and like becoming an actual traveler who rides buses, trains, and ferries instead of some privileged gringo in a car full of furniture or whatever. Who takes a car full of dogs to South America? That’s moronic.
@cluetrain: LOL, everyone get on the clue train! Because you know, I’m NOT a real traveler. My husband and I should ditch our dogs with a relative, quit our work requirements, and just ride trains, cuz, you know that’s real travel, where as, traveling by car with your dogs and working– totally fake travel. Who takes their dogs to South America? Hell who quits their high paying job to travel? Who trades a safe life for the uncertainty of a writing career? Want to call me moronic? Go for it. I passed moronic 6 months ago. And let me tell you, the waters fine.
I’d agree to some extent that you’d get more from the trip by riding buses, trains, boats etc. but would it be practicable if you took the dogs?
I’d recommend you read Michael Palin’s ‘Full Circle’ if you haven’t already … and, if you get the British TV series, Charley Boorman’s ‘Ireland to Sydney … By Any Means’ that may give you a few ideas. (Not the actual territory, I know … but the principle’s interesting!)
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yeah well you don’t undo half a lifetime becoming bourgy and tying yourself down to a bunch of crap and suddenly become “fearless” just by relocating. fearless at this stage for you would be being comfortable with who you are without buying into a bunch of juvenile travel cliches.
plus, sic, the water’s fine.
Really, cluetrain? Grammatical corrections from someone who apparently is missing their shift key? You seem like kind of a small-minded a-hole, if you don’t mind me saying. Maybe you should try “actual human interaction” sometime, instead of just being some priveleged tool on a wifi connection.
Eva´s last blog post..R.I.P. Dee Dee Warwick
I don’t know everything about travel in Central and South America but i have been there. Lots of people go by sail from Panama to Colombia. (there’s information at hostels in Panama City.) I guess it would be hard to do that with a car, though. I’m a pretty fearless traveler: I didn’t find Panama City dangerous but I would definitely avoid the Darien Gap like the plague.
The reports about rebels or most cases bandits in the Darien Gap are valid. Unfortunately, every alternative seems to have some type of drawback. I guess Panama and Colombia believe in the old saying, “fences make good neighbors.”
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The Darien Gap must be one of the few places on the planet where you can’t cross the land via a road. I suspect that even Africa and central Asia with their turbulence has all their neighbouring countries connected by navigatible roads. Are there any other places anyone is aware of??
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I love it! Gold star for ditching the spreadsheet, that is massive progress as far as I’m concerned. Personally I haven’t been south of Costa Rica, so I can’t give any good tips, but I’d vote along with Beth and keep your car.
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I book marked the site i never seen so many good resources in one place and free.
I book marked the site i never seen so many good resources in one place and free.
Not all those who say we drove the whole way are wrong, we are doing it and we will drive, as far as practicle, remember roads change, get repaired, rerouted so you can never, and you wouldnt want to only ever stay on the pan am and yup you need to frieght over the lumpy bits, I have crossed some rivers in my time and they are as big as some seas, so yes I drove from here to there, as truly as you can, if you could see some sections of the pan am you would pray for an alternate route, one section is called the road to hell, and thats understated
Good luck on crossing the Darien! The buy a car option in Colombia might be your best hope.
I am an American expatriate living in Panama. I write for a living and nose around a lot. There was a fire fight (bullets) at a crossing point a month or two ago when FARC rebels from Colombia tried to pass into Panama.
Panama, which was annexed by Colombia in the 19th century and owes its independence to US intervention (price = Panama Canal) has no interest in a road down which tanks could travel. In fact, there is international funding for studies leading to a connection of the power grids of Colombia and Panama with an eventual interconnection of all of Central America down to Colombia. They are doing to connect the grids with waterproof cable for 50 kilometers so that there will be no meeting of Colombians and Panamanians at the border!
The best way to visit the Darien is to fly in to one of the towns from Panama City. The problem with Colombia is that the rebels are still active. When my, Colombian, wife and I wanted to visit family last year I suggested flying to Cartagena and taking a cheap bus to Manizales a cousin reminded my wife that a gringo on the bus would stand out like a sore thumb and would stand a fair chance of being kidnapped in one of the areas of selva (jungle) between the two cities.
We flew to Manizales where one of my brother in laws talked about the two second cousins executed by FARC for refusing to pay extorsion payments.
Ten cuidado amiga cuando va a Colombia.
Jim
I have so far driven from alaska to the costa rica/nicaragua border. I have used buses etc in the past on other big trips (as one mentioned earlier in this thread)so let me first say that dealing with the responsibility of having a van, border crossings, repairs, inherent driving risks, road quality variations, cattle(!), corrupt police, bandits and hairpins in near zero visibility, etc is definitely as real a type of travel as anything else..in fact maybe more so. No disrespect but cannot pretty much anyone buy a bus ticket, go to sleep and let someone else do the work?
Secondly, the Darien Gap. Yes shipping is the only way to get your vehicle there. I just found out that in central america you cannot legalise a US vehicle if it is more than 8 or 10 yrs old( something like that) so selling may be an issue if its an older car, like my 93 van. As yet I cannot find conrete fact about selling in Panama.
I think selling and buying in columbia is preferable but accepting the risk of trading a car you know for an unknown one and dealing with Colombian paperwork, dealers etc obviously is the potential downside.
Still, you set a goal and then adapt and overcome to achieve it. Good luck Christine!
If anyone wants to know what happens, jfellows691@hotmail.com
I was wondering if you actually did wind up crossing with your dogs and car. My boyfriend and I thinking about doing that exact same thing in a year and are flying down to Panama this summer to explore the options.
Thanks and it looks like you are having a great adventure!
Renee