When Sparks Fly

witt

Adventurer
Yes, we're still out here, even though I've been horrible about maintaining this thread. Our van is in Oaxaca, and we are on Caye Caulker. Hmm. Here's how that happened - I'll try to make a long story short.

Back in December (Christmas eve, in fact) we were trying to make it out to Bahia Kino to meet friends and family for the holidays. The van lost power and wouldn't do more than 40mph on the flat. We limped in and took it to a local mechanic. He inspected the fuel pickup in the tank and pressure tested the fuel pump. He couldn't find anything wrong, and he accompanied me on a 250 mile tour of Sonora trying to replicate the problem to no avail. So we continued south.

By the time we rolled into Oaxaca two months later, we were experiencing the same problem, but only on hills - we could do 110kph on the flat, but when you put your foot into it to climb a hill it would start to struggle. We decided we had to get it fixed once and for all.

Calvin at Overlander Oasis helped me (or actually I helped him) replace the injection control pressure sensor and the injection pressure regulator valve, based on advice from a mechanic at home. That didn't fix the problem, so rather than continuing to guess at it, we took it to the Ford dealer in Oaxaca. They've had it for the past two weeks. Calvin (who speaks good Spanish, and in particular car Spanish) has spoken with the mechanic working on it and got a good feeling from him.

Meanwhile we flew to Belize to meet my parents for a week, stopping in Mexico City (which we skipped when we drove past) for a few days on the way. It's disappointing we didn't get to drive here to meet them as planned, but at least we're not sitting around waiting for the car to be fixed. We're due back in Oaxaca by next Friday, so it's looking like we may do some waiting after all.

We've met some great people while in Oaxaca and got a chance to explore a little too. And like others, we can't say enough great things about Calvin and Leanne at Overlander Oasis!

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Hierve El Agua, outside of Oaxaca
 

witt

Adventurer
We are now in Panama, and have changed our style of travel a bit.

After a year on the road, we decided that in order to keep traveling and not continue to deplete our savings I would try to get a part time job as a software developer. As luck would have it, a friend had a need for just that sort of a person and I am now gainfully employed. This will change things for us quite a bit, since we'll have to be in one place for several weeks at a time in order to work. Working from our van with a five year old just isn't feasible!

We rented an apartment in Panajachel, Guatemala for six weeks. Quinn attended school, and we made some good friends there. Jen found us a house-sitting gig in Boquete, Panama where we are right now. We'll be here for one more week, then we have a house in Costa Rica for 5 weeks and are looking forward to some friends visiting us there.

Here's our latest post, about the second half of our ten day trip from Guatemala to Panama: http://whensparksfly.org/?p=1719

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I guess this is what they mean when they say that roads can be impassible in the rainy season...
 

witt

Adventurer
We had a great three days driving from Boquete, Panama, back to Alajuela, Costa Rica, where we plan to stay for about five weeks. We are looking forward to visits from friends and family before shipping to South America.

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witt

Adventurer
After a month in Costa Rica seeing friends and family from home who were nice enough to come down to keep us company, we are in Panama City getting ready to ship to Columbia.

The long-awaited ferry is supposed to start up in six weeks, and although it would save us a lot of hassle, we're not inclined to wait around given it's history. We're too tall for a high-cube container (by a mere 3 inches) and so we're going to ship roll-on roll-off. We start the process tomorrow and we'll post a full report here when all is said an done.

In the meantime, our last days in Costa Rica and a quick trip to Panama City:

http://whensparksfly.org/?p=1955

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witt

Adventurer
Thanks for the feedback Java! Love the idea of an RV as a ski-bum-mobile!

We had our first serious extortion attempt by the police about a week ago. We think we're pretty lucky to have made it this far with only one issue. Here's how it went down:

I passed a bus that was pulling over to pick someone up on a double yellow. I was probably halfway into the other lane. Even though no one here respects the double-yellow, that was enough of a pretext to stop us. They waved us over and asked for our passports and vehicle paperwork. They explained that I had committed a serious offense (yeah, right) and said that we could "make it go away" for a mere $50. No receipt involved. Or we would be without the car for 15 days. He even went so far as to say that my wife and son would be left on the side of the road!

I suggested that he get on his motorbike and we'd follow him to the police station in Santa Marta, about 30km to the South. He said he couldn't leave his post. After a little more back and forth he eventually made up a reason to let us go and gave us back our paperwork.

I really want to be friendly to the police, but if this happens again I may start to pretend not to speak a word of Spanish.

We're now in Villa de Leyva, Colombia, where we'll be for a month while I earn some money (I'm a part time software developer). We had a great time exploring the hills around San Gil and Barichara.

http://whensparksfly.org/?p=2061

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Exploring the back roads around Barichara

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Free campsite with a view
 

java

Expedition Leader
Thanks Witt, Its a bit more luxurious than your van it seems. Quite the adventure your on! Im still reading. :D

I want to head up to Inuvik at some point. Ive been thinking of taking the RV up there in the winter. Sounds like a good time to me, but I need to save for gas... 8 mpg adds up fast. Will be getting up to Revelstoke for some skiing this year though!
 

witt

Adventurer
Yeah, we heard that the road up to Inuvik is a lot easier to drive in winter - it's much smoother on the snow apparently. I read somewhere that there is or a was a rally that's held up there in winter. It would be fun to do the trip in a suby with some snow tires. With recovery support to dig you out of snow drifts you could have tons of fun!

Gas up there cost almost $2 per liter! :eek:

But at least with a gasser you can shut yours off at night. With a diesel, apparently you start it up in October and leave it running until springtime.

I got the trip of a lifetime a two winters ago - a week of snowcat skiing at Selkirk Wilderness Skiing. Absolutely amazing. I have to spend a winter up there someday soon. I'm totally jealous!
 

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