Driving US to Costa Rica

Never done the drive but I can offer one piece of advice: Whatever vehicle you plan on driving down there--make sure you can get readily available parts for it. The couple people I've known to do it drove an older Toyota diesel and an older VW diesel, respectively.

 

I would ship it before I drove. it IS very dangerous in spots.

 

...but Guatemala, Honduras, and Nicaragua are bastions of peace and prosperity? I'd be more worried about those places.

 

Don't take a gun with you, or if you do, don't tell the Mexican police you have it...
Be extremely careful diving at night through Mexico
Always offer $ to police, refuse to follow them back to their HQ.
Good luck and I can't say I'm not a little green with envy...that's a big move...one I'm not sure I have the kahuna's to do, but it's always been a dream of mine.
Pura Vida!!

 

better than dying which you have a very good chance of doing if you drive, especially alone.

 

never did for the reasons stated above. Did tons of research and EVERYTHING pointed to it being WAY too dangerous. There is more than enough info out there to prove how dangerous it is and I wasn't going to risk my life based on finding 'that one guy' who did it with no problems.

 

Quick google directions gives it 60 hours drive time / 3400 miles from Los Angeles, CA. That's 600 miles longer that LA to NYC. No thanks my friend.

 

I'd be shocked if anybody on this forum has ever made that drive. I'm sure some have driven through parts of those areas, but from the US all the way to Costa? Doubtful, there's probably a reason nobody or hardly anybody does that. Don't be another tragic story in the news, ship the truck, or sell it and figure something else out when you get there. My .02

 

^^^and this was in the early 90s and I know its gotten a lot worse since then.

 

I say go for it, there are plenty of people out there that have made the trip and done so successfully. Finding those people on swellinfo wont work, people on here are afraid to paddle out in overhead waves and would rather watch the news and listen to the horror stories then try something new.

There was a crew of guys that drove from rhode island to central america towing a camper and broke down and eventually had no vehicle.
http://www.gadling.com/2012/03/17/video-a-road-trip-from-rhode-island-to-costa-rica/

see if you could get in contact with them. Have a great trip!

 

Do it man. Go adopt a big ass German shepherd or Rottweiler and take him with you. Dog will keep you company and eat anyone that tries to f**k with you.

 

I know a guy who did it about 10 years ago with his girlfriend, neither spoke good Spanish so if you do you are already ahead of them. They started in the Pittsburgh PA area and did it over a month or so, then they drove home!! Haven't kept in touch with them so unfortunately can't give you contact info. Where you ending up down in Costa?