Indecision used to be my problem. Now I'm not so sure.

S

My wife and I shook hands (and snogged a little:-) on the following plan:

We're going to spend the remainder of our time in South America, making the most of Ecuador, Colombia and maybe Venezuela (need to do some reading up on that country before deciding).

The decision is based on

1. Money - we simply don't have enough to make it to the states without crippling ourselves financially and begging our retired parents for money - something we're not willing to do, even though they'd help us in a flash. It would be selfish of us to ask.

2. Time - We have definitely slowed down recently, but still feel like we missed stuff (inevitable, I suppose) and we don't want to feel pressured into riding big miles everyday.

Aren't time and money just the two biggest shitters on life?!

In the end, potential border crossing/corruption/police and safety hassles didn't figure in this decision - we have the will to go there, just not the time and money. Most of you loved CA and Mexico by the sounds of it. Maybe I'll make it there in the future, or maybe I'll do some trips around Europe and north Africa, who knows.

Anyway, decision made and now we can really enjoy what time we have left, and I can't wait.

Thanks folks. Hope that wasn't too boring; just wanted to let you know what we're doing and thank you for your input.

Sounds like a good plan.

In exchange for our assistance we demand pictures!

(of the trip, not the snogging )

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SF to Panama and back
How I Nearly Killed My Friends In Baja

I was stationed in Central America, Brit Honduras & Belize loved both would suggest skip America, do the rest, with out rushing if you rush it, it will spoil it

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We are the Pilgrims, Master, we shall go Always a little further: it may be beyond that last blue mountain barred with snow, Across that angry or that glimmering sea.

FWIW - We left Machachi Ecuador on March 28, 2010, and arrived in Toronto, Canada, April 30, 2010. That period included 2 days in Bogota, another 2 in Panama (shipping delays related to the Easter Week)...and 2 days in Mississippi lost to a series of tornadoes!

We certainly weren't exploring the back roads on this leg, but we did enjoy a number of great rides and didn't feel like the devil was chasing us!

This Way UP!

Just noticed you live up the road from me, do you get down to the Dee for a brew or a coffee much on a sunday,

steve

Not recently.....

PM sent

You definitely do not want to ride across Central America in a hurry. I did that and the corruption will start to drive you mad. I swore that I would never ride through Central America again because of the borders. I have never had patience for that type of inefficiency.

I agree with some of the posters above who recommended only exploring 1-2 countries at a time.

From a cost standpoint, if you are wanting to ride South America it is less expensive to ship your bike there directly as opposed to riding it there through CA. The Darien Gap is a $1k hurdle that some riders overlook.

The best way to see South America is to buy another travelers bike in Argentina using photoshop for the paperwork, see a few countries, and then sell the bike for cheap and fly back.

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http://www.journeyrider.net Latin America blog (07-8)

I've always found dealing with corrupt officials to be about how fast you want to get moving again. If you're in a hurry you pay the money, if not you sit it out until they are bored and want rid of you.

Of the 100+ cops that have demanded money off me for some offence or another I have only paid twice and I have been bought lunch twice after a bit of a chat, so it balanced out pretty well.

Yeh, Central American borders can take a little while, but IMHO they are no slower than entering/leaving the United States (both land or air). With regard to corruption, I didn't encounter any. Maybe it was my attitude or possibly I was just lucky.

I believe that if you're fortunate enough to have the time and money (which the OPs say they don't have) then Central America and Mexico are well worth the visit in terms of great riding, sights to see and cultures to sample.
cheers
Chris

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Brighty's website: TheBrightStuffDotCom

CURRENT RR WITH REGULAR UPDATES: The Wife Takes on Chlamydia: A South American Retrospective

The Caribbean coast of Colombia is almost good enough in itself to avoid going in my opinion however the Stahlratte boat trip is pretty damn awesome.

What the hell is wrong with you ???? Bitching about corruption in CA and in the same minute suggesting to brake the law down here by photoshopping your papers !!?!?!?!?!?!?
Did it ever come to your mind that part of the corruption happens thanks to guys like you who think that they can do whatever they want down here and get away with it ???
Would you ever do the same shit back home ???
If you would have more RESPECT for the countries you visit , you probably would run into less problems !!

About CA border corruption. Sure, its there, in some countries, depending on the person doing your paperwork. I didnt have any problems other than a couple of customs guys that just had bug up their ass, just like some of these self important customs people do when you try to come back to the States. You know, the Barney Fife types.

I kind of like going through the CA borders. They are really interesting places full of interesting people living and working there. Its worth your while to talk to some of these folks and learn about what they do and how the system works. And FWIW, I always hire a helper. There are A lot of folks on here that get their panties in a wad and dont want to pay a guy 5 bucks to run the paperwork.

I dont see the big deal. I dont hand the guys my stuff, I just have them lead me around while I handle the paperwork and copies so there is no funny business. I always enjoy talking to these guys and 5 bucks is not going break your bank. But, maybe I'm weird that way. It has always gone very smoothly for me when I used a helper.

Be careful photoshoping bike paperwork. In Honduras, they wanted to see my title. I kept the original title well hidden as I didnt want it held hostage or taken from me, and showed the customs gal a very, very good copy, trying to pass it off as the original. She held it up to the light and said, "no, this is a copy, I need to the see the original with the watermark on it."

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http://www.southontwowheels.com

The lesson being....always do color photocopies and photoshop work on watermarked paper! Simple.

Although Crashmaster is not saying this directly, I'll point out that there is a whole class of riders who find Central America intolerable for corruption, police stops, border hassles and the like. Wherever they go, bad stuff is happening to them. There is an entirely separate group which consistently has little or no problem with the same issues in the same places. Crashmaster is one of the latter (as am I). Mostly it's about your attitude before, during and after.

Note that I said "mostly." Sometimes bad days happen no matter what.

Attitude isn't everything, but it sure does make a lot of stuff tolerable, even fun--and when it's not, at least you've slanted the odds in your favor.

enjoy,

Mark

Guatemala is blinking brilliant, especially if you try and keep off the with the chicken on the bottle. I found Honduras to be the only CA country with border/cop hassles, and they weren't that bad really.

Oh yeah - I got stopped (quite rightly) for speeding in Panama - no fine as he couldn't figure out my UK reg. Apart from that, no trouble anywhere except Hon (where I smiled, forgot how to speak Spanish and eventually got waved on after 15 minutes). Nicaragua is ace as well.

And Pockethead is correct about the Stahlratte... I think... he made me drink so much rum during the boat trip that I have to rely on photos to be sure.

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Simon

London-Cape Town 2004-06
Buenos Aires-Vancouver 2008-10:
http://www.horizonsunlimited.com/tstories/fitzpatrick