The boys were asked for the reason to ship Lipstick from Honduras to Columbia rather than driving through all the way down to Panama

 

  1. Costa Rica is one of only a handful of countries in the world which do not allow right hand drive vehicles to enter their country – so unless your steering wheel is on the left side it is simply impossible to drive through or around Costa Rica.
  2. It is also impossible to drive from Panama to Columbia because of a swamp called the Darien Gap:

 

The Darién Gap is a break in the Pan-American Highway consisting of a large swath of undeveloped swampland and forest within Panama‘s Darién Province in Central America and the northern portion of Colombia‘s Chocó Department in South America. The gap begins in Yaviza, Panama and ends in Turbo, Colombia, and is 106 km long. Roadbuilding through this area is expensive and the environmental cost is high. Political consensus in favour of road construction has not emerged. Consequently, there is no road connection through the Darién Gap connecting North America with South America and it is the missing link of the Pan-American Highway.

 

No Chance to drive from Central to Southern America because of the Darien Gap (see green area)

 

 So , instead of shipping Lipstick from Panama to Columbia and because of the Coasta Rica no sense rule regarding RHD Team Lipstick took the option to ship the car from Honduras to Columbia and proceed to the southern parts of Central America by alternative means of transport.

 

A Taxi was chartered in Puerto Cortez to take the boys to the close by airport in San Pedro de Sul which is about 45 km away from Puerto Cortes going inland.

 

Road CA 13 from Puerto Cortes to San Pedro de Sul

 

 

From there it was a 2 hour flight to arrive in Panama  although Costa Rica would have been closer but unfortunately there is no direct flight connection form San Pedro de Sul to Costa Rica.

 

With as little luggage as possible the boys landed in Panama

 

Having arrived safely in Panama the boys proceeded to a motel close by the Panama Canal

being happy that the shipment of Lipstick so far seems to have had no complications.

 

 

Day 12 – 27th January – Puerto Cortes (Honduras) to Panama (by air)