Glenn's Maps & Info

1/ Documents I started this trip get 10 copies of each regsitation,title,
pasport/ license . You will need copys for every country you enter
Sly ways of getting copys. Go to the DMV and report a lost License
Title, say you lost your title on the car and get a new one
(a good color copy may also pass)
Car permit , get it copied at the first town you come too ,never
give the police the orignal ( as a test case once I gave the
customs the copy to see if they would accept it ,they did)

The only documents I took were

Pasport
License
International driving permit (no one asked for it)
Registration
Title

Never give orignals of any thing to the Police unless it is
absulty necessery , ask the customs and other if you can
use copys . The Police are one of the biggest criminals


2/ Mexico you need to get a permit for the car can not remember how
much it cost , they do take a imprint of a CC/ATM for security
no big deal , do get the Mexico insurance you will need it
On leaving Mexico you will need to surrender your car permit and will
be given a document of export this is everance that you did take the
car from Mexico keep this one if they charge your card this is the key
to getting your money back

3/ Cost of boarder crossing this can vary a little , I do not speak much
Spanish so as a rule in Central America $10 to $20 per crossing no more
if you speak Spanish no need to pay just $5 or$10 for a new permit for the
car , I found that going to small crossing was easy cheaper and quicker
South America is a dream compared to C.A. no hassles very quite easy

4/ Insurance
Mexico ,get it less problems
Guatemala , do not check
Honduras , they sell you some thing at the boarder ? was never checked
have my doubts it was any good
Nicaragua , do not check
Costa Rica , do not check
Panama , do not check
Colombia , get it , you will have to look around and can buy it for a month
(the road between Cartagena and Medellin the police are very bad need
all document perfect they will try to extort money form you )
In Colombia you only need to show copies "its the law"
Ecuador , can not buy insurance if the car is not reg in Ecuador , did not check
Peru , one cop asked gave me a bad time and I was off , did not check
Bolivia , not necessary for the first 30 days is all you need to tell the Police
this is the law there
Argentina , get it , can buy it in most towns for 30 days
Brazil , can not buy insurance if the car is not reg in Brazil , did not check
Venezuela , did not check

5/Shipping Panama to Colombia and other palces I shipped my car
The link here has the info on contact in Panama and ?
http://whereisglenn2.blogspot.com/2006_09_01_whereisglenn2_archive.html

6/Carnet de Passage did not have one and did not need one , though
was asked some times for it , it is not necessary .Because the car
is inported for the sole use of tourisom . Only one time
there was a delay (crossing Colombia to Ecuador on Sunday no one in
customs could give me the permit on Sunday had to wait till
Monday for it

7/ Where to go , good question no matter how much you see , I always
felt that I missed some things , to get a better idea look at my post and
look at the maps for each country

Central America
http://whereisglenn2.blogspot.com/2006_10_01_whereisglenn2_archive.html
South America
http://whereisglenn2.blogspot.com/2006_11_01_whereisglenn2_archive.html

8/Type of vehicle
I chose a 4X4 because it would not matter the condition of road I should
be able to go there and not get stuck , plus I put a high camper shell
on in which I could sleep and keep other equipment good for bush camping
,truck stops and beach camping , other advantages was Mexican Topes some
times are tall and cars have big problems crossing
I also got a Japanese car as parts are easy to get ,the only pace that
I had some dought was Argentina but a quick trip to the Renault/Nissan
dealer with a part no I had what I wanted

9/Navigation (GPS)Road maps , first big town hit the news stands , no
luck there check the book stores
Mexico , news stand at a big super market
Central America could not find a good map just used my
AAA map I found in the USA
Colombia , at the toll boths they sell a tourist map/book with good
maps
Ecquador , found good map in Quito at a tech book store
Peru , IPeru gives out a free map OK
Boliva , did not look
Argentina , at the new stand very good map
Brazil , book store very good map

I also have a GPS Garmin 2610 helped me alot even better when I
found free maps on the internet

Argentina / Chile this map very good even marked gas stations

http://www.aprs.com.ar/modules/mylinks/singlelink.php?cid=5&lid=63

Brazil ,not as good as Argentina but has good city and town maps

http://www.tracksource.org.br/index.php?id=1,0,0,1,0,0

Venezuela , very good map hard to falt

http://www.gpsve.net/

I used all these maps with out problem and as I was driving solo
so the gps was my friend