Central vs South America
 

Hi,
I have the time/budget/bike and always had the desire to do the classic South America top to tail thing.
I'm now planning but wanted to ask what may seem an odd question - is it simpler from a border and transport point of view to focus on Central America rather than the larger countries in the southern continent?
Plan to airfreight or ship the bike from UK and looking at 3 month trip.

Any advice would be really appreciated.

Gary

Depends on your interests, of course.

Central America is far more compact, even if you include Mexico (technically a part of North America). 3 months would allow a fairly complete tour if you spend a lot of time riding, but is definitely not excessive if you like to spend bits of time here and there exploring locally and learning up close and in detail. If you're there for the riding itself, you'll find a lot of borders to cross, and in general they're more irritating than those in South America. Shipping to and from England or Europe is less established than it is in South America, but certainly possible. There are seasons, but the weather is not so variable as in South America, altitude aside.

South America is huge, and includes a full array of cultures, landscapes, contrasting lifestyles, even politics. Three months is a relatively brief time (IMO), and although it's plenty long enough to complete your end-to-end tour with some dilly-dallying along the way, you'd finish up with a sense that you'd barely scratched the surface. With just three months it's easy to make a case for concentrating on a specific area--the southern tier, Colombia/Ecuador/Peru, or Peru/Bolivia/northern Argentina or Chile. With a few exceptions, South American borders are mostly much easier and less annoying than those in Central America, partly because they're farther apart. At the moment there are several areas with significant civil unrest, but whether that will be true 6 months from now is anybody's guess. Variations in weather need to be taken into account in a continent which spans almost 70 degrees latitude. Shipping in and out is relatively easy, although financially marginal for a three month trip.

Hope that gives you a start.

Mark

Thanks Mark - very helpful!

Do you, or any other members, know if it's viable to ship/air freight a bike to Houston and then embark on Central America returning to Houston and then doing a mainland USA tour on the same bike? Possible?
I have friends who live there so it's a natural base if I could use it as such.

Sure, subject to all the usual visa/ESTA, time of year, surface vs. air shipment, and budget issues. The US has become awkward to ship into and out of, but only in relation to Canada or much of Europe.