[urbandw311er]

I’ve always been fascinated by the Darien gap.

There’s a TV show here in the Uk called “race across the world” and in last season they had to cross the gap. Was really hoping for racing jeeps and armed militia but sadly (and sensibly) they took a boat.

[andrewjf]

May I recommend “long way up” as well (although they also took a boat). They travel from Ushuaia to Canada, and talked about the Darién Gap, I don’t recall how in depth.

[hermitcrab]

The whole trilogy of 'long way round', 'long way down' and 'long way up' are well worth a watch. Especially if you like travel and motorbikes.

[lsllc]

Seconded. Long Way Up is entertaining, interesting and has some incredible cinematography. It's also great that Ewan and Charlie rode all-electric Harleys and the crew had pre-production Rivian's (the with the very first 2 Rivian "production" VINs).

BTW: It was actually Ushuaia to LA, not Canada.

[andrewjf]

Ahh right, Los Angeles. I remember now.

Should have called the series “half way up”

[grecy]

I drove the entire Pan-American Highway (shipped around the Darien). Getting to see the Panama Canal and the whole region was just one of hundreds of highlights.

It's commonly done now, and you can totally do it yourself in any vehicle.

[nocoiner]

Sounds like a very cool experience. Is it safe? My naive impression is that northern Mexico and perhaps parts of Central America could be dicey, but I also suppose in Mexico at least the cartels are rational enough to generally avoid targeting foreigners.

[grecy]

Many thousands of people do it every year, and just a few experience pick pocketing or a vehicle smash and grab.

If you're smart, don't drive at night and don't go looking for trouble, there's no reason to think you'll have problems.

After driving the Pan-Am I drove right around Africa through 35 countries. Never had a single "bad" moment, never heard a single gunshot. I was in LA a couple of months ago, heard gunshots.

[InvaderFizz]

Don't drive at night and don't look like a soft target solves most issues with traveling in Mexico.

I've driven the entire Baja peninsula many times and done a road trip across much of central Mexico.