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Central and South America, When and where to go tips!?
Hi I'm a Brit planning a trip from USA (I rode the TAT last year ) right down to Argentina's Tierra Del Fuego.
Trying to plan a route is difficult, every time I start, I get caught up in the details of other rider trips! Can anyone give me advice , on two things – When to set off ?! I can be riding through central Americ in May / June finishing maybe in September... OR wait for the rainy season to end and be riding through there in October onwards!? How bad can the rain be?! What route to take? Any must do trails / roads you can share with me, a list of some I've read about below! I'm happy to wander but like to set off with a plan and destinations in mind... Does anyone out there have sections of a sat nav route I can look at as a starting point? Mexico Copper canyon Batopilas Zacatecas Palenque San Cristobal de las Casas Mérida Guatemala Chichicastenango Sacapulas Cobán (avoid Guatemala city?) Belize beaches !? Xunantunich Caracol Hopkins village Xunantunich Honduras Copan Ruinas La Esperanza Nicaragua volcanos?! Granada COSTA RICA Lake Arenal Río Chiquito Arenal Volcano Sixaola PANAMA Road to Chiriqui Grande Panama City - bridge Americas Fly bike to COLUMBIA The Rock of Guatapé Salento Tayrona National Park, Santa Marta Ecuador PERU Fortaleza de Kuelap Cajamarca Chachapoyas Sacred Valley Cusco Arequipa Chile / Argentina carretera austral |
Hey there!
Sounds like a cool plan but isn't the list a bit too long? I believe some of the places you wanna visit deserve a visit longer than 2-3 days. I wouldn't add anything else to your plan- all those places are already on my bucket list. Mexico City and Palenque are a must! |
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Thanks Michael, I have no return date so I can take my time! Any options on the weather - have you ridden out there?
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hey man,
i live in belize. hopkins and placencia are nice beaches. caracol is a nice ruin to visit if you like more of an adventure. it is located on the pine ridge along with several waterfalls. my wife and i went last year and loved it. you can cool off with a swim in "rio on pools" on your way back. you can also check out "1000 ft. falls" when you are up there. its a beautiful waterfall that i think is actually 1600 feet high. no swimming there, only a scenic overlook. hope you enjoy your trip. |
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May/June is beginning of rainy season ... sometimes you can have NO RAIN until July. Also varies. But May and June are HOT ... really HOT and humid ... and many Brits get straight back on the plane and fly home once they suss the reality of what real heat and humidity are. Horrible. By October, things cool off and heavy rain subsides. (varies) Baja is a good place to kill time ... hot in Sept. but its a dry heat, more tolerable for most. You could also spend time in California Sierra until mid to late Sept. then head South. Nice weather, good camping, many good roads both ON and OFF road. In DRY season the Caribbean side of Nica, C.R. and Honduras can be a real adventure, great snorkeling, remote and not too touristy. I don't know S. America roads well enough to advise. Meet riders/travelers on the road, get ideas, build routes as you go. Colombia fabulous riding, Ecuador too. Peru' well documented inland routes. Keep reading ride reports, gather data. Take your time, plan rest days between marathon riding days. Take it all in ... and enjoy. bier |
Dont miss this
On may way from Chicago to Ushuaia I rode the Canyon del Pato in North Central Peru following the River Santa. Fabulous ride on rocky narrow winding track through many many rock carved tunnels.
And don't skip Bolivia. It's stunningly beautiful. My 2 cents. Enjoy. |
In Ecuador,
Take route E45, east of the country.. Those rides in the middle of the jungle, surronds by tropical 5 meters high green grass, indian people tribes living on wood houses next to the road, a car passes once a hour, for 700 kilometers, you hears birds all along the way, the fog of the morning slowly gone, every tree is so greenish, This was one of my best rides of my life in 13,800 km trip in south america, And most riders skip this route and riding in the middle route of the country.. Dont miss Sky |
Very nice comprehensive list you have there.
I rode Central America from Boston and back, my favorite countries were El Salvador and Costa Rica. Spent many weeks in Guatemala with a family and must warn you about Guatemala City. Traffic is horrendous, the city is dirty and stay away from the Hyatt or some other high end hotel in the city, bunch of jerks and very expensive. However, I loved Old Guatemala City, lots of tourist but worth the ride. You will see various volcanoes throughout the Pan American road which is the one I travelled on. Wish I had ventured off to see them up close, not enough time. I hooked up with a group of Latin American cowboys on bikes (big mistake) and they ventured to see a volcano in Costa Rica. I stayed with at my friends house to rest as I was exhausted, travelled to fast, too many miles each day and needed rest. When the boys came back, they showed me the most extraordinary beautiful pictures of the live volcano up close, wish I had gone with them, next trip........ It was the highlight of their ride. Oh, getting back to Guatemala, the family I was with warned us quite often about security in Guatemala City with the bikes, they said they are often stolen - an example - Walmart issues you a ticket with your license plate number, in order to ride out you must have the ticket matching the plate. The natives there are also get very upset about taking their photos, they look beautiful in their clothing, had to respect but they all got very angry and said no. Also, avoid Mexico City at all costs, others have had good experiences, but I did not. We were escorted by a group of Mexican riders and the ride through the city was not very pleasant. I went around it on my way home back to the US!! Other than that, Central America is stunning, great fruits, scenery and the people. May ride it again in the future but wish those border crossings were a bit easier, the only other bad side about the place!!! Have fun, you will love it once you overcome the ugly sides of it. |
Hi there.
just following, we start mid May in Anchorage, take the Top of the world HWY to Dawson and go from there to Ushuaia, we got 13 Month to do so... Maybe c u on da road... Sascha |
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If lucky Rain may hold off until late June or even July. As I said above, heaviest rain typically falls in Aug./Sept. This varies year to year. With clear global warming going on anything can happen and typical patterns don't always work out, less predictable. Even in normal years rain always creates mayhem on roads/bridges in Cent. America, with global warming could be even worse. Problem in Cent. America is very few main roads going North/South, so when a main road washes out, it can be MONTHS until repaired (even years). :oops2: Mexico better in this regard. More roads, better road crews, more money. Best months for travel in Mexico and Cent. America are October through April. Fairly dry, slightly cooler temps (it's never truly "cool" in Cent. Am). If you DO ride in rainy season plan to START EARLY each riding day. Typically, mornings can be clear (unless a storm blows in). Stays clear usually until Noon, after that, anything can happen. Typically it clouds up and you can have rain anytime until after midnight. This happens almost every day. So, you typically get maybe 4 or 5 hours dry riding. Make best of it. Rain can last from an hour to 8 hours. Varies a lot. If a storm comes in it can rain, non stop 3 days straight ... and everything can wash away. Been there, done that. :helpsmilie: I lived in Guatemala and El Salvador off/on for 3 years, traveled quite a bit up and down through all the countries. Remember the sub-tropical lowlands have heaviest rain, Highlands the least rain. Good luck, ride safe! :Beach: |
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thank you! Till June we will not make it that fast, we plan of 3-5 month till Panama. So that would be August / September for Mexico, we will take the Baja Route and than cross Central fast to Panama and go to Catagena. About the rainy season we know that from our trip through SEA, same story but more rain I think. And I dont think that it will be hotter than Indonesia in the summer. You just have to take care that you drink enough all the time... But let´s see how it goes, we can not change the time frame we got so we have to ride with it.... Cheers and all the best to you as well! Sascha |
Great news Sascha! Your SEA experience will make things MUCH easier for you. If really HOT in Mexico, consider staying UP HIGH in the central highlands.
Much cooler ... and the best towns are up there! Also ... Guatemala in the highlands is cool, like around Lago Atitlan. I lived there off/on 2 years. Never gets too hot up there at 5000 ft. They call it "Land Land Of The Eternal Spring". I think you are right, SEA is hotter and wetter than Cent. America. Have a great ride, safe riding, buena suerte ! |
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