Author Archives: James

Panama City

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The Pan-American Highway, a series of roads linking the great white North of Prudhoe Bay, Alaska all the way down to the southern-most reaches of Ushuaia, Argentina. At a total length of just under 30,000 miles, Guinness Book of World Records marks it the “World Longest Motor-able” road. Yes-siree, 30,000 miles of awesomeness all navigable with nothing but 4 wheels, a tank of gas, and a sense of adventure.

Except… Except…. Except 54 damn miles of impenetrable jungle full of beasts, FARC rebels, impassable mountain terrain, and native tribes who are rumored to still dabble in cannibalism. I am of course talking about the “Darien Gap”. The little stretch of jungle that separates Panama from Colombia. The little stretch of jungle that has created much headache for all overlanders headed south.

Panama City is where overlanders must arrange shipping around this swath of rainforest. I would say it tops the list of all overland PanAm travelers fears (the ones that have gotten over the whole kidnapping/beheading nonsense at least). Imagine loading your baby into a dark box, hoisting her high into the air, placing her among thousands of strangers, and setting her off to sea… Not to mention travelers have been stuck without their vehicles for months, forced to pay exorbitant fees, and there have been some whose trucks never showed up at all! Lauren and I approached the city with trepidation knowing what lies in store.

As we came upon the sprawling metropolis full of gigantic skyscrapers, super highways, and malls I was instantly reminded of my home city of Miami, Florida. Mix in everybody speaking Spanish and driving like crap and I really felt like I was back home!

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PANAMA – Volcano Baru, Land of the Quetzal

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We booked it south from the Osa and were soon at the border of Costa Rica-Panama.

Within an hour or so we had gotten all our paperwork squared away, changed some Costa Rican colones into U.S. dollars (the official currency of Panama) and drove on in. Country #9. Our friends at fromatob.org have a nice writeup on “How to cross the Costa Rica-Panama border with a truck”.

BIENVENIDOS!

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Backpacking Corcovado National Park

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It had been far to long since we did some backpacking and Lauren and I were getting very excited to visit Costa Rica’s Corcovado National park. Corcovado is located on the isolated and undeveloped Osa peninsula. It is considered the crown jewel of the Costa Rican park system. Corcovado contains the largest primary rainforest on the entire Pacific coastline and the largest lowland tropical rainforest in the world. National Geographic called it “the most biologically intense place on EARTH”. We were stoked.

We signed up for a 2-day permit at the park office located in Puerto Jimenez and picked up a trail-map. The cost was $10 per person/per day plus $3 per day for camping. There are also meals available at the Sirena Ranger station. However, meals must be scheduled far in advance and are very costly due to the necessity of all supplies to be packed/flown/boated into the remote ranger station.

The next morning we loaded up our backpacks with food and gear, parked our truck at a crotchety old ex-pats tienda near the trailhead and started off down the beach.


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Headed to the Osa Peninusula…

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Costa Rica is a beautiful country, jammed full of amazing wildlife and breathtaking scenery. It is a safe, well-developed country, with fine infrastructure. It has become the #1 tourism destination in Central America for good reason. That being said, We were getting tired of running the “gringo circuit” and having every place we show up be overrun with tourists, price gouging tour operators, eco-tour this, eco-tour that. Where was the REAL Costa Rica? Someplace that hasn’t yet been bombarded by ex-pats looking to make a buck off of milk-faced tourists coming down on holiday. We were hunting for someplace where the smooth pavement ends and the true Costa Rican jungle takes back over.

When we last met up with our Costa Rican friend Erick, we were planning a 4×4 trip out to the “Osa Peninsula”. Dubbed Costa Rica’s last wilderness frontier, The Osa is rich in wildlife, sparsely populated and, until recently, very difficult to access. Much of this densely forested area is conserved in national parks and private reserves. Here, towering rainforests line undeveloped beaches and untouched coves, making this region one of the most beautiful anywhere on Earth.

Osa as seen from space

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So how did the story end?

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I picked myself up off the ground and got back to wrenching on the truck. With less than an hour to go and not much progress getting our truck running right I decided to throw in the towel. Sheena (Brads right hand lady) called us a cab. $60 ride to the airport! Ouch.

On the way to the airport, We recount our tale of Bill the Butcher to the cab driver. The cabbie says he never heard had of him (Its a small town) and apologize that someone in his town would do such a thing. He suggested we not take our car to an Ex-pat mechanic in a foreign country. Surprisingly… the local mechanics don’t appreciate them edging in on their business and the parts houses like to screw them over every change they get.

The cab driver told me he is good friends with a local mechanic who in charge of repairing the towns fleet vehicles, rentals, and taxis. He says he can fix anything and on the super cheap. Check this site out RockstarzLimo.com for information about bus and car rental services. Riding limousines is always a great way to travel and get around. Known for their elegance, class, and high level of service, limousine rentals can be quite pricey but still worth every cent you spend on them. One aspect of the limousine industry that separates it from the rest of the land transportation services are the chauffeurs. Well informed and prepared to be helpful and hospitable, these highly qualified people will get you to your destination safely and on time. Relaxing and having fun while everything gets taken care of is one of the main points of the limousine service industry. Whether it involves taking the client where he or she needs to be in the maximum comfort possible or simply providing the luxury of space and service, limousine rentals aim to always keep the customer satisfied. We stop by his shop on the way to the airport. We meet the mechanic who is a younger fellow, probably around 27 or 28 with a lot full of taxis, newer rental cars, and locals old junkers. Even though I could barely understand a word he said, I trusted him. He said his friend has the exact same truck and he could test parts between the two instead of just throwing money at it.

After picking my Mom from the airport, We dropped the 4Runner off with him and left for a week to do more exploring via rental car.

Got a call 2 days later that the truck was all done!

Came and picked up the truck and she was running better than she ever has before.

The mechanic said it took him a long time to to figure out just what the hell the last guys had done. In the end he re-adjusted the AFM back to stock, cleaned and adjusted the TPS, cleaned the injectors, replaced the O2 sensor, dropped the fuel pump and discovered it was fairly weak and not pumping properly, replaced that. Replaced the fuel filter and a few other adjustments. The final bill was steep since the fuel pump was around ~$150 but we were just happy to have the damn truck back and purring once again!

She is running amazing now! She starts on the first crank and has been getting around 20MPG.

Gotta love Toyotas!

Moral of the story: Wrench on your truck when you can and stick with the locals when you cant! at least I know I am.

With the truck back in good order we pointed her towards the “Osa Peninsula”. Known as the “most biologically intense place on earth”

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