Alex and Ana
Name and age: Alex (29) and Ana (28)
Hometown: Currently live in Toronto, Anas from Curitiba, Brasil
When did you start your travels?: Left Toronto September 15, 2010
Reason for taking this trip: Have done some great extended trips in the past, and have a passion for traveling the world. Decided that it would be a great story to arrive to Ana´s home town in our own car and at the same time get to explore everything in between our two countries.
Why did you decide to drive?: Love getting off the beatean path, seeing stuff you can not on a contiki holiday, and have the freedom to go where you want, when you want, not having to adhere to the timetable of others.
Are you also taking along pets? Ana wishes she could have taken her cat, but i am sure it would have been too much for the little guy to handle.
What type of car are you driving?: 1999 Honda CRV (Name: Azulao)
Did you make any modifications to your car for this trip?: Not really, changed the timing belt, water pump, and all of the fluids before we left.
How did you save up or finance your trip?: Sold our house! So no house when we get home.
How long do you plan on traveling? We took 4 1/2 months to get to Curitiba, Brasil and we will spend another 5 1/2 months in Brasil.
Where do you plan on driving? Toronto to California with a stop in Taos New Mexico, then down the Baja California and take the ferry across to the mainland Mexico. From there we travelled down the pacific coast until Puerto Escondido, then up to Mexico City, through the Yucatan and into Belize. From Belize we entered Guatemala, skipped El Salvador, and headed through Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, and Panama where we shipped our car to Ecuador. From there we headed south through all of Peru and crossed the Andes at Cuzco. From Cuzco we headed to Boliva and left Boliva at the border crossing with Argentina. Crossed the border into Brasil at the Foz do Iguacu and made the final leg to Curitiba.
What were your family’s and friends’ reactions when you told them about your trip before you left? Thought that selling our new house that I built was pretty crazy, but when we left at 6:00am with the car packed headed for Brasil my parents thought it was pretty cool. Anas parents were glad we were soon going to be in Brasil.
Did you speak Spanish before you left your home country? Ana speaks portugues, english and spanish and I speak english, and am learning portugues. Ana was able to do all of the translating for us and I could imagine that without any spanish some of this trip would be pretty difficult, especially the shipping. I am currently studying Portugues in Brasil.
Do you have a favorite place or country that you have visited during your trip? We both loved Mexico, even though we drove over 8,000kms there and ate out every meal, it was still the cheapest country we visited and we loved the variety that Mexico offers. However, we both LOVE Brasil. For me it is one of the most interesting countries I have ever visited in my life. The only problem with Brasil and driving is that it is very expensive, gas and highway tolls, but the people and the beaches are amazing.
What was the weirdest thing you experienced on your trip? Weird I am not sure but getting stuck in a river entering the ocean in Costa Rica was an interesting moment. I had to wait on the beach with the car for 2 hours as the sun set and the tides rose, while Ana went to find someone with a tractor to pull us out. It was pretty sureal to sit in the car in the dark and wonder if everything was going to work out (and it did).
What was the worst border crossing? El Florido, from Guatemala to Honduras. It was BY FAR the worst. The only time that we had any problems with the borders, The officials knew it was the end of the day and wanted a bribe to put the paperwork through. We didn´t pay and they kept us there for 3 hours while they fixed and "internet problem".
Do you have any advice for others who may be considering driving the Americas? Go for it! This was an awsome trip, if I was to do it again I would buy a GPS. Everyone said that you would have to buy all of the maps seperately at $100/country, but we met people who downloaded all of the maps for free on the internet. I would also say; be prepared to spend a lot of time and money with the car shipping. This is the only part of the trip I don´t think I would ever want to do again.
Would you do it again? Maybe one day when we move to Brasil
Do you have a blog or a website describing your trip? No - maybe soon, but you can check out my facebook page (Alex Mclaughlin).
