Colombia / Venezuela best border crossing by car
 

I am planning my route from Colombia to Venezuela and am trying to decide which crossing to take. I like the idea of the maicao / Paraguachón crossing but have read its slow and problematic so would appreciate some feedback from others who have done the crossing in a car/van

Im mostly interested in speed and cost of crossing

cheers

Easy crossing
 

I did the crossing at Maicao in October 2012 with a motorcycle. It was an easy crossing as borders go. Immigrations and Customs are separate building, with a stretch of road in between. Arrived late morning and waited for a bus load of people to get their visas. No big deal, maybe 10 and I was on my way to Aduana. I had all my papers organized and might have had copies of all the typical documents, but I seem to remember the official made a copy of something or another. I was out of there with everything I needed in 15 or 20 minutes.

The road leaving the border area makes the big sucking noise, huge pot holes everywhere. Once you get to the main road the surface improves and you need to start watching out for the aggressiveness of Venezuelan drivers and the bad shape of many of the cars. It seemed as if most of the cars had been in multiple demolition derbies and lost every one. The cheap Venezuelan gas is only available if you have a special transponder, so you have to buy over priced gas along the side of the road until you get a distance from the border.

Hi Peter

Thanks so much for sharing your experience

You have filled a big gap in my route planning and now I feel much better about that crossing

I will be driving a car so will fill a few fuel cans in Colombia


Many thanks

:thumbup1::thumbup1::thumbup1:

Taking sand to the beach
 

You don't need to load up on gas in Colombia, just have enough gas in your tank to get close to Maracaibo. It's about 75-80 miles from the border. By the time you get near this major city you should be able to buy gas at a gas station. I'll check a friend in Caracas who just came through border a few months ago by motorcycle.

The subsidized prices of gas are unbelievable. You will be so spoiled, you won't want to leave the country. Depending on how you exchange money, at a bank (only in emergency) or privately (a cambo guy at the border, hotel personnel or a friend...) gas was around 5 cents a gallon. The exchange rate got crazy recently (in your favor), but the prices of everything typically goes up to match. If you are going on to Brazil you will hit what might be the highest gas prices and high ethanol (which mean crappy mileage, just rubbing salt in the wound.)

Here is a picture buying gas on the side of the road just east of the border. I entered Venezuela without much gas and had to buy some to get to Maracaibo.
http://lh4.ggpht.com/-Dx4Gde85_gI/UW...jpg?imgmax=800

Hahaha, yeah Ive seen a few of those bottles in my time, especially in Mongolia and Indonesia

5 cents a gallon!! awesome, looks like Ill be filling up there then ;)

I know its so tempting to cross borders with a virtually empty tank when you know it so much cheaper on the other side and I have been sucking fumes a few times too

So the fuel in Brazil is high ethanol? I didnt know that and its something else to add to the list. I was in Mauritania last year only to find out they only sold leaded fuel and had to cut the catalytic converter out of my exhaust on the side of the road

I will have to check out your website when I have time because I am doing some of the same route from Lima, Ecuador, Colombia, Venezuela, Brazil, Guyana, Suriname and across the Amazon. Im hoping the bridge from French Guiana to Brazil will be open by next summer, one less ferry

thanks for taking the time mate

Even the locals like the prices...
 

I heard back from Cenair, my friend in Caracas. The full story, he and two friends rode from the US to Venezuela, arriving in Caracas a couple of weeks ago. They had to buy gas on the side of the road before finding a (transponder free) gas station near Maracaibo. Yes, they are Venezuelan. No, they did not have transponders for their bikes... He said they almost ran out of gas. Too funny. Makes me wonder if a Venezuelan would lose his citizenship for crime of running a tank dry... Even buying gas on the side of the road is cheaper than the prices at the pump in Colombia, but I don't recommend it.

Looking further down the road...before you leave Brazil, take enough cash in Boa Vista to get you from Lethem to Georgetown. The bank in Lethem, (yes, there is only one bank) Guyana, is a national bank without relationship to international banks. This means you won't be able to withdraw cash from their ATM. Maybe you can get a cash advance on a credit card, but I break out in hives at the mere thought.

Looking further down the road...when you leave Brazil, don't cancel your vehicle importation papers, if you are going re-entering Brazil in a few weeks from French Guiana. Leave the paperwork open and you won't have to do the importation when you get to Oiapoque. Frankly, I am not sure of all of the implications of importing a car vs. a motorcycle into Brazil. The fees and amount of time give, or extensions, are pretty much unknown beyond my personal experience. From other threads on the HUBB it seems Brazil is no longer restricting how long you keep a vehicle in country. If you can avoid the paperwork, then keep it open while traveling through the Guianas. I did and it worked for me. I think I surrendered the paperwork when I exited Brazil and entered Uruguay, so I don't have documents to reference. When I arrived in Oiapoque I only needed to get a visa and I was on my merry way. If you are from the US, then I think you 'll need to get your visa at the Brazilian Embassy in Cayenne, French Guiana. I'm a duek citizen and travel using my Irish passport, so I don't have to worry about getting a visa for Brazil. I think they don't issue visas for US citizens at the border. It might have something to do with paying the tourist fee...brace yourself. ~$160-180.00. I wasn't asked for a yellow fever card when I entered, but I had one. I read on U.S. Passport & Travel Visa Services: Online Application, Visas Requirements. a comment about needing a letter and a bank statement...not sure if this is outdated info. Regardless of the hassles of getting into Brazil, it remain my favorite country in South America. The people are friendly like no other country. You'll see.

I hired a launch to take me and moto across the river from French Guiana to Brazil. You might want to research overland forums to learn how to get a car over the Rio Oiapoque. I hope the bridge is open when you get there, but it is a good idea to have a Plan B as this bridge has been in the works for a long time. Plan B in this case is the traditional passage across the Rio Oiapoque.

Hi Peter, yes im from the UK so no worries with Visas and I have Yellow fever card as I was recently in Africa but thanks for the tip re Lethem, Ill make sure I get some Guyanese Dollars before leaving Brazil.

Im hoping the bridge over the Oiapoque will be open for next summer but I have recently spoke to a couple that took a car across via boats

What was the road to Georgetown like, I still cant get definite info on how many bridges / ferries there are? I can see the route up the Rupununi and onto the Potaro but then it all gets a bit lost getting over the river to Linden

cheers

Go to Town (Georgetown)
 

They call it the road to town, as in Georgetown. There are lots of little wooden bridges getting there. I suggest slowing down as you approach as there was often a dip in the dirt just before your front tire hits the first wooden plank. There are miles of washboard road north of Lethem. In theory you can ride at a certain speed and smooth out the bumps, but I never figured it out. Without a lot of experience riding in loose stuff, gravel and the like, I tend to get a touch nervous and slow down. A few thousand miles later and benefiting from tips imparted to me by off road riders I have since built skills and more confidence.

It took a while to get all the paperwork squared away with the officials. You'll need to buy insurance for the vehicle in Lethem. They'll let you into Guyana without insurance, meaning you can go to the office above the bank and buy insurance, then return to the customs office to complete the process. I don't know if you can buy it in advance in Brazil.

As mentioned, bring plenty of cash as you won't be able to extract money from the ATM. There is a bank in Lethem that will exchange BR reals, Euros, USD, whatever you have. Ok, no one will give you much for Venezuelan currency once you cross that border. I had arrived late in the afternoon the day before, spend the following day hunting for chain lubricant, a map of Guyana and buying miscellaneous supplies. If you don't have a map when you arrive, chances are you won't have a map when you leave Guyana. Stock up in Lethem, cause there isn't much beyond the basics until you reach Linden.

Make copies of EVERYTHING. The nice chaps at Customs wanted, no they insisted, on copies of the insurance paperwork, along with every typical copy that Customs usually "needs." I had to go back to town, get said copy, and return to the frontier to wrap it all up before leaving town. That was 30 minutes lost that I'll never get back. In total the day was frittered away in the most enjoyable way. It was nearly 5:00 PM when finally started north; that must have been my all time late departure...no that would be Rio de Janeiro, 11:00 PM, but I digress.

The road north is in good shape. I caught a little rain, more like a little stretch of drizzle. The surface of the road somewhere north of Wowetta seems to be mostly clay and slopes from the center of the road. It keeps a riders attention, but it wasn't too bad.

http://lh3.ggpht.com/-rP3gb_2HjQc/Up...jpg?imgmax=800

I rode through in early November and hit a total of two huge puddles. The kind that go edge to edge. Made it through the first by building up some speed and sticking to one side. The second puddle was a little deeper and I drifted into really soft stuff on exit, dropping the bike all together. Had to remove the upside pannier, spare tires, tank bag and duffel bag in order to lift the bike, as the sun went down in the deep woods. The lighting bugs are very different in Guyana. They don't blink on and off. They make a long line, then blink off. Mix that with wild noises coming out of the jungle, I was glad to get the bike righted moving again. Over the next few hours I hit a stretch that was fairly sandy. Occasionally I tested the depth by dragging the tip of my toe, like dragging a stick through snow. I would have been more freaked out riding in sand, but it was dark so I was per-occupied, concentrating on avoiding bumps. Its hard to say how long the sandy stretch is, maybe it was only 20 minutes at slow speed, but it felt like hours.

Google Maps doesn't do a good job of describing the road from Lethem to Georgetown. I recommend this download site Free worldwide Garmin maps from OpenStreetMap which uses Open Street Map data. Free maps, not perfect, but sometimes better than commercial GPS maps. Here is a screen shot of Guyana with my route.

http://lh4.ggpht.com/-I0Z-K6wT-xQ/Up...jpg?imgmax=800

The red flag (center) in the map above is the Esequibo river, where you'll take a ferry. That is the only ferry, until you leave Guyana for Suriname.

Ferry time
 

Ive sorted everything for the border crossing from info I found online, other travelers and on your blog, plus I have alot of maps and the gps map you mention but I was really unsure about the route. I see from your route you took a ferry across the Esequibo just east of the Rupununi and up to Linden, I have spoken to people who have done this but no one could remember or confirm an actual ferry. This is great news because I thought I might have to go up to Bartica and then take a ferry to Parika (which just recently sank in September).

On google maps now if I zoom in on Satellite mode I can see where the Rupununi road forks east / west with the east track leading to the river and the ferry, roughly 180k from Lethem

I hoping its this one
Essequibo Ferry - YouTube