The Darien Gap Invasion Route

My Darien Gap Panama Field Trip ^ | January 25, 2023 | Matt Bracken

[Perseverando]

Ben Berquam, Oscar Blue and Michael Yon reporting from the Darien Gap on January 20th

[Jolla]

At times I wonder why folks that they say are spending a few thousand dollars on this trek do not fly into Tijuana Mexico and walk from there to San Diego.

[Chode]

it was a World Heritage Site, now it’s turning into a sh!thole...

[Travis McGee]

The bodies of the countless dead migrants along the trail are carried into the jungle by jaguars and consumed. In the humid jungle, they are bones in no time.

[Travis McGee]

Mexico does not allow folks to fly in with no visa.

Ecuador does, so they are the open door to America.

Then it’s a bus ride to the top of Colombia (see map), a little stroll across the Darien Gap (if they survive), and then a series of buses to the open American border.

[Squantos]

Never again .....

[Vlad0]

When I was a bit younger, stuck is a grueling 9 to 5 job, I used to fantasize about doing the epic Alaska to Tierra del Fuego motorcycle trip. A few people have done that trip over the years. Usually in small groups of 3 or 4 riders.

The notoriously most difficult part is the Darrien Gap, which in the 1980s was still frequently described as "impenetrable". Some travelers "cheated" and put their bikes on ships to go around it, from Costa Rica to Columbia, skipping the entire country of Panama in the process. Of course, as a fantasy adventure, that wouldn't do at all. No, crossing the legendary Darian Gap was almost the *point* of the whole trip.

It was a good lunch topic with my equally bored work buddies who were motorcycle guys, as we all seemed to be in the early 1990s.

"So, Dave, if you were going to ride to the tip of South America what type of bike would you use?"

Kawasaki's KLR 650 was always high on the list, but at the time I was holding out for the big air-cooled dual sports by Honda and Yamaha as being a bit simpler and more reliable. The XT-600 Tenere was a rare variant, mostly just a bigger tank that you could order. Here's a 1985 model:

[Perseverando]

Here's a video for you to watch (when you retire, LOL.)

I watched most of it, and yes I'm retired. Her accent and laugh gets old real quick, but there was some great video footage of her trip to Alaska that she just completed about 4-5 months ago, IRC.

Dutch woman rides from South America to Alaska on a Honda CRF300L Rally

And, yes, she went around the Darrien Gap. If I remember correctly, she took a boat from Colombia to Panama.

[M Kehoe]

Bttt.

5.56mm

[Travis McGee]

Yes, you have to take a boat from Colon to Necocli, Colombia.

The Darien Gap is one of the last untamed “wild spaces” in the Americas or maybe the world. Between bacteria, bandits, bugs, jaguars, poisonous snakes, crocodiles, alligators, river drowning, mud slide burial etc etc, it has beaten every European who tried to tame it.

Just an example: Have you seen the video of the jaguar diving into a muddy river and dragging up a much larger alligator by the neck?

The Kuna Indians hunt jaguars with ancient single-shot shotguns. The still know how to make bows, and poison-dart-frog venom for arrows and blow guns. The Kuna are called “Jungle Comanches.” For a reason.

[Travis McGee]

Update, with video:

https://twitter.com/TheMattBracken/status/1618353143963869190

[Travis McGee]

I was at the amazing Balboa Yacht Club dockside patio bar/restaurant circa 1997, [since burned down,] Carib to Pacific, talking with other skippers, crew, etc.

Somebody directed a young Swedish couple to us boat captains and hands. The pair were intent on a M/C ride from Canada to Chile. Boy-Girl-Bike.

They planned to ride their one bike from Colombia to Cape Horn, or as close as possible. We were all saying, “DON’T DO IT! It’s FARC land! They will kidnap you both, and gang rape your blond g/f!”

In response, they were like, “Good Karma, bro, bring good vibes, all people are just people...” bla bla blah.

But even THEY realized that transiting the Darien Gap was OUT OF THE QUESTION!!!!

Even these two “good Karma” Swedes knew that they had to put their bike on a boat from Colon to Colombia.

The Darien Gab is still like that. It’s wild.

[wardaddy]

It’s not only dangerous for guerrillas and bandits but it’s an over 100 mile rough trek that requires jungle mountain climbing essentially

In steamy hot weather

The Choco of northwest Colombia that borders Darien has plenty disputes between Cauca valley drug cartels and autodefensas and FARC and ELN and FARC breakaways

I think there are smaller ferries run the shorter distance from villages on Panama Carib coast to towns below the Darien Colombian border on Colombian Carib coast just a few hours

There are major lines run from Colon to Cartagena

The pacific side may have similar

I wouldn’t try it
I don’t have the appetite for all that shit anymore nor the knees lol

Might as well your contested areas of Algeria or the Congo or Burma or Ukraine

[Perseverando]

Fwiw, the Dutch woman’s video of her plan to cross (make that bypass) the Darrien Gap. See also the next 2 episodes. Yes, she used a lancha rapids, too.
https://youtu.be/RzX9iQlYWvI

[wardaddy]

San Blas islands are really beautiful I hear

How far did you go in?

[Travis McGee]

PM

[Travis McGee]

https://twitter.com/Michael_Yon/status/1618362187604713473

[Travis McGee]

https://twitter.com/BenBergquam/status/1618428834923319297

[Texan4Life]

Wouldn’t Yaviza in Panama be a better choke point for these invaders than Columbia??

US, Panama and Colombia aim to stop Darien Gap migration

https://apnews.com/article/darien-gap-panama-colombia-us-migrants-cf0cd1e9de2119208c9af186e53e09b7