How could I drive from US to Chile across south america with a van?

Question

I'm a surfer, I want to buy a van in US or Mexico with friends and ride down to CHile, following the pacific coast. I don't know about visa or special rules (taxes?) for cars accross all these borders...

If someone could help me, not or the whole trip, but just for one country he might know, it'd be great,

Thx guyz

/max

Answer 1

Sorry.

The road from Panama through Columbia is closed. It's too dangerous... you wouldn't make it if you tried.

Instead, drive to Panama City, sell your van... fly to Ecuador, buy another car/van and ride on!

Columbia is not a safe place to be right now... not even for some Columbians. Dude, read this article found on Yahoo's World news site:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070112/ap_on_re_la_am_ca/colombia_six_year_hostage

Answer 2

It can be done. When I was in Ecuador, I met a couple who was driving from Canada in an RV. I don't think you need a special visa, you may have to pay taxes, but mostly you have to pay taxes when you bring things into a country that you are going to live in (like if you were moving permanently to Guatemala and wanted to bring your car with you).

There is one little hang-up, called the Darien Gap, which is the area at the bottom (south) of Panama that connects it to South America. This is virgin rainforest--no roads, and they say it is also a haven for guerillas. I know that you CAN transport your car on a ferry or cargo ship to Ecuador or wherever you would want to go from there, unfortunately I've never done it so I can't make any recommendations.

Here is a page with a list of all the official government webpages in the world http://www.psr.keele.ac.uk/official.htm you can take a peek and see if anything there helps.

Also, I would recommend that you speak very good Spanish, as this will be indispensible to you as you cross borders, talk to traffic officials, etc. I would also brush up on my mechanic skills, as many Latin American roads are not in great shape, and there's not a lot of tow trucks or service stations to be found when you're in the middle of nowhere!

Best of luck!

Answer 3

You cannot do it in a van because of an area called the Darien gap between Panama and Colombia. There are no roads for 80 miles http://www.well.com/user/dreyer/Drive_SA.html

Answer 4

Check here;http://www.passportsplus.com/?gclid=CNOE3qPw2IkCFRhmUAod23UC0A

Answer 5

You can do it, but I would not recomend it... too dangerous