Drive to Alaska???

When we tell people about the Expedition 4×1, one of the first questions that show up is:

What`s the deal? Can you really drive to Alaska?

Since this is a question that we also had in our minds before starting to research and plan this adventure, we thought it was worth writing a post-response =)

Well, now anticipate that the answer is yes and no!

Yes: we will effectively arrive by car in Alaska!

No: in some places, will use other means of transport!

Let`s go to the details:

The first part we will not do with the road will be crossing the Amazon River Santarem to Manaus. Actually, there are driving alternatives on the way, but, to take advantage of the tour and we can make a trip a few days on the Amazon River, we will ship Tanajura (our car) on a boat and get her in Santarem!

The second section is the crossing of South America to Central America (Colombia to Panama)! There, actually, it is not posible to drive through. The main reason is the fact that there isn`t a road linking the two countries, with more or less 300km of forest, through the famous Darien Gap (for more information, click here). Besides, the region is very dangerous, since it is used as a hideout for drug dealers and the FARC. In this case, we will take a boat or plane to Panama!

Now it's worth talking a little bit about this part of the trip (Colombia-Panama)! We learned a few days from the day 10 May 2012 there will be a vessel making the trip Panama-Colombia-Panama (for people, merchandises and CARS!). This type of transport came into existence in the late 90 but was abandoned by sanitary (contagion of FMD) and economic issues (lack of demand).

Since then, the alternative that exists (and that all adventurers that we know used) is the temporary export, made by a cargo ship!! It takes a long time (average 2 weeks), expensive costs (about 2 thousand dollars each leg) and is a ridiculously bureaucratic process !! Now, with this ferry, things got much easier for our side!! The news is all over the newspapers of Colombia and Panama, it seems that the issue is serious even.

With this option (for the curious, You can take a virtual tour of the ship – click here) the trip that could take longer than 2 weeks – plus headache – now will only last 12 hours!! Not to mention the drastic reduction of costs, because in the previous case we had to catch a plane to Panama and eventually buy roundtrip tickets (to avoid problems with immigration!)

Well, returning to the main subject of the post, there is another part that we can not do by car, back to Central America to South America (which we will pass through, from Panama to Ecuador).

Ultimately, although we have to do some parts of the way by boat, yes, we will arrive in Alaska (and Ushuaia) by CAR!!!