nikita

I have done some homework and been thinking there must be somebody out there who has done it!
After living in Mexico for some eight years I don't expect any problems down to the border of guatemala.
I will avoid driving at night, take the Pan-American Highway and a map, possibly a GPS, and hopefully find some company to avoid the single female troubles of travelling.
I speak fairly well spanish, but I am wondering about the rest of the trip and areas to visit in panama. Actually I am thinking about moving there since all I have read so far sounded just great to me.
Any input will be appreciated! Saludos, nikita

GordonS

If you're depending on GPS, my advice is to make sure that GPS maps are available for the areas you're planning on travelling through. I suggest that you might want to join AAA and see if you can get real paper road maps for that trip. Don't trust the electronics everywhere! It would be scary to run out of battery juice or signal in the middle of an unknown city or town with roads running in every direction!

__________________
Gordon and Randy,
Canada

nikita

thanks gordon, will do!
I will rather depend on a real map anyways and have the gps for backup only. thanks for the tip joining AAA - I am checking this out now!

Still hope to hear from somebody who has done the trip. anybody?
cheers, nikita

Barbara

Hi! About a year ago, we completed our drive to Panama from the States. The main purpose of our trip was to find a new place to live; we wanted to concentrate our trip in Central America. We entered Mexico from Brownsville, Texas and spent a week driving the Mexican coastline and then darting across the Yucatan to enter Belize. We spent 10 days in Belize (way too long!), and then headed over to Guatamala via Tikal (fabulous!). We travelled around Guatamala for almost a month, and then headed south, finally picking up the Pan American Highway and driving it all the way to Panama. We have a van, which we had converted so that we could sleep in it but not cook, since we wanted to eat in local restaurants. This meant that we were always on the look-out for safe camping/sleeping spots. Although the trip was not an easy one, we are ever so grateful to have had the opportunity to do it; it was the trip of a lifetime. So, I don't know if our experience will help you, but please feel free to ask me questions.

GeekZ

Another idea would be to use a cigarette plug adapter for your GPS device. A lot less chance of your GPS running out of battery then.