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Canada to Panama leave on the 26 dec 2018
I will be heading out on a vfr800 from Victoria Canada.
I will be on the Westcoast 101 for most of the USA, then take the Baja down, cross over to the mainland and tour around Mexico, and still not sure if i will drive Central America or not, will see, but then plan to backpack South America. I would like some company once in the states and for sure in Mexico. |
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I am in Coos Bay Oregon, right now, will be in Eureka CA this afternoon.
I will be taking the 101 then turning off and taking hwy 1 to San Francisco. I agree definitely, would be wise to partner up South of the border. |
arrive 22nd january
hi
my bike is currently en route from Ireland and due to dock in Veracruz Mexico on 21st January. I then intend to ride to Panama and then on to Columbia. May be too late for either of you but let me know Brian |
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Ya man, where are you at? I am in Santa Monica right now,
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I am here in Monterrey Mexico heading south for the next five months through Mexico if you want to link up and ride a few miles.I'm happy to share my experience all the way down to Tierra de Fuego if you need any help!
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I am crossing over at lukevile border today, then probably heading to Puerto pensco, then South.
It's cold here, I wanna get to the warm weather and relax for a few.. Hoping I can find tires along the way.. |
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Just re-evaluating my plan. For some reason it cost me 1000cad not including my permit to get from the border to Mazatlan, I was getting 100km less per tank then the USA, and it's 30 cad to fill up. 7 days 1000, not good.
It cost me 305cad for insurance in Mexico, that's just for liability. The drive from Mexicali to Mazatlan is flat boring farm land.. The drive from Mazatlan to Durango on the free road is one of the best, twistiest roads ever. But just going to hang here for awhile and re-evaluating, what it's worth to me. My friend just went through Belize, Guatemala, etc. And he said he got scammed $50- 100 usd at each border plus the fees.. With permits, a new rear tire, 5( $65usd hotels) It cost me $2800CAD to get here, and that was budget everything, no booze. Seems expensive to me.. So |
Sounds to me like you're indulging in a series of missteps, for unknown reasons.
To start with, it's not a requirement to get "scammed $50-100 at each border." That's purely optional. It's so easy these days to look up the legitimate fees and procedures for any border crossing in Latin America--most of the time with photos and even videos telling you which window to go to, where to park, who the ripoff artists are, how much you should pay IF you choose to hire a helper.... Nor is it mandatory to spend "$65usd" on hotels in Mexico. I don't think I've ever spent that much, even when so desperate I took whatever I stumbled across without worrying about the price. Of course, I never stayed overnight in Puerto Penasco. Or in Mazatlan. Something's maybe wrong with your approach....? Or are you living more luxuriously than most? It's true that aside from el espinoza del diablo up the hill from Mazatlan, you chose one of the more boring routes from all those available, but you don't have to keep on doing it that way. On the other hand, if your goal is to stay warm you're looking at generally chilly mountain weather during the chilliest time of year from Durango south. Personally, I prefer the mountains over the coast--better riding, better people and sights, fewer tourists--but there's no denying there's lots of attractive coast between Durango and Guatemala. Just try not to pay tourist prices for tourist lodging. Sounds like you paid an appropriate price for a full year's worth of insurance. That's good, and it's a one-time expense to be amortized over a full year. You'll get your TIP deposit back when you leave the country, if that's included in your budget. But tires are best purchased before leaving the Land of the Free, not in Mexico or Central America. Same AFAIK with other consumables, much less serious repair items. I've been too impatient to buy tires in Texas on my way south--I'm always impatient to leave Texas--and then paid the price later on, but I figure that's a choice, not a necessity. The 800 or so miles (sorry: I mean 1300 km) from the border to Mazatlan ought to use about 60 liters of gas, right? At just over a (US) dollar per liter, same as you pay in Canada? 30CAD should buy you 22 liters of fuel; you must be running it dry if you spend that much per fill-up. Do you have a particularly twitchy throttle hand? Or is the VFR so much less economical than my weary old KLRs and DL? I'm not here to criticize. I'm really just trying to offer food for thought as you contemplate your trip. I'd be alarmed at the amounts of money you're describing, too. But I'd wonder what you were expecting: would a hundred CAD per day satisfy you? That's what you're really spending, insurance aside. Or $75? You could achieve that by backing off on the hotels and fuel consumption. Lower still would require some hard decisions, but it can certainly be done. Hope that's helpful, and hope it's taken in the constructive spirit in which it's intended. If not, please just ignore. Mark |
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Here is an attached picture of my monthly expenditures breakdown. These numbers are within $20 actualsexcept for the transport. I use my card every time to fill the bike up with gas so that's pretty easy to track. Reach out to me on the mobile application WhatsApp (You download the app from Google play or the Apple store. It's pretty much what the rest of the world uses for messaging) I'll be more than happy to help you with your trip! My number is +14054102359 and my name is Nate Allen. This is my seventh time visiting Mexico and my second time bringing a motorcycle. The first time was when I road to Tierra de Fuego, Argentina for two and a half years I spent eight months here in Mexico. Currently I'm in San Luis Potosí Mexico enjoying waterfalls and caves [emoji1][emoji7]https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...52d41fa6af.jpg Sent from my SM-G892A using Tapatalk |
This is why I stopped to figure out why it's costing so much in Mexico.
So I left Canada on the 26th, I spend 9 days getting through the USA, on Costal roads, Hwy 1/ 101.. It was cold in the north at nights, which I expected, and I got $60usd hotels for 2 of those nights. I didn't expect it to be 0/-1 degrees at the border of Mexicali at night, so I got 2 nights of hotels there while getting a rear tire and going over the bike before Mexico. So recipts for USA are. 180USD gas 549usd food and hotels 111usd rear tire.. So that's an average of $20 usd a day gas!! And an average of $61 a day food and lodging!! That's not including the tire. So that's pretty good I think, and I saw allot, plus I was ripping up the canyons in Malibu.. So for Mexico, rather then keep the recipts I was just going to monitor the withdrawals, assuming it would be cheaper.. I spent 2 days in Mexicali, getting my phone unlocked, sim card, eatting and adjusting my route, since it was to cold to carry on to Tucson and enter at Nogales as originally planned.. Insurance on the Mexican side was 305Cad(227usd) for 3 months liability only!! I went to 8 different insurance places, and becouse I am Canadian, they say it's international ( apperantly not for Americans) 305 insurance 530cad permit/refundable My withdrawals were a total of 847cad which equals 7 days@ 121Cad per day!! More then the USA. I went from filling up 1.5 times a day in the USA and getting 300km per tank to all of a sudden getting bad gas filling up 2 sometimes 3 times a day!! And only getting 200km per tank!! Why I don't know, yes I am driving faster here, but, still that's crazy, I know for sure I got a few tanks of terrible gas.. 7 days accomodation 2600 pesos/ 181cad $25 per day!! So 121 per day minus 25 a day lodging leaves 96 per day for food and gas!! I was not eating that good, and I didn't drink.. I was getting nailed on gas for some reason, that's why I stopped to reassess why am I blowing threw $$.. so what miss steps did I take? |
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I paid $360 for 6 months of full coverage insurance on my BMW X challenge 650 from a company names Chubb. I bought the insurance online and it started the day I entered the country Nov 17. They're based in Mexico but speak English as well. My American insurance is not valid outside of the country so I cancelled it. For the lodging I would highly recommend staying in hostels and guest houses. I'm in a beautiful place in Queretaro Mexico right now for $10 USD a night. They have coffee and breakfast in the morning with secure parking for the bike. I can't answer the question about the bad gas or less kilometers to the tank. I usually ride about a hundred +or- kilometers an hour and get about 22-26 km to the liter here in Mexico. Wind is a huge factor as well as your load on the bike. Also I would recommend opening a Charles Schwab Bank account as they reimburse the ATM fees and do not charge currency conversion fees. You have my WhatsApp number if you need any more! Please let me know if you need any more help and ride safe Sent from my SM-G892A using Tapatalk |
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