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We left Illinois on January 2nd and drove to Brownsville,Texas where we entered into Mexico. We drove the gulf side until Veracruz, Mexico where we cut across to the Pan Am and stayed until Costa Rica. There was 5 of us ranging in the ages of 60 to 49.
At no time did we feel threatened or uncomfortable. We found the people to be very helpful and polite. The scenery was very beautiful and the roads were very good.
Mexico has an over abundance of speed bumps but not too many to deal with. We found very clean and secure hotels. Our car was always gated and secure. The only MUST would be to have at least one person who speaks fluent Spanish for crossing the borders.
It took us 9 days to do this trip and we would recommend it to anyone!!!!!! We have been in Costa Rica for about 3 months and are getting ready to head home from Paradise to cool weather.
I am delighted that your journey was trouble free but have to admit that I can’t imagine sitting in a car that long …
Do you know how many miles were travelled and how much $$ you spent in gas?
Scott Oliver – Founder
WeLoveCostaRica.comWe traveled about 3800 miles and gas cost about $950. It was a long time in the car but we stopped pretty often and some days we had to quit driving so we could find a hotel before dark so it wasn’t too bad.
We drove a 2002 Izzu Trooper with about 50,000 miles on it. It performed perfectly. We carried some spare parts for the vehicle but fortunately we need none of these parts.
Thanks for sharing. My husband and I would like to make the same trip from Ohio next year, and I wondered how important Spanish would be. Motivates me to study harder…
Beth.My husband and I live in Texas and have wondered about driving to Costa Rica to make it easier to take our pet. However, right now there has been so much violence on the border between Mexico and Texas that we couldn’t imagine driving through Mexico. Sounds like you never felt threatened. If there had only been two of you (1 man, 1 woman) would you have felt safe? We figured we’d need a convoy to feel OK. Also, did you take a pet? Don’t know what the laws are for transporting animals through the various countries.
Thanks for any info.
Even if there were only two of us we would have felt safe. The most important thing is to have someone speak fluent Spanish. As I said before this is the most important thing of driving. Actually Mexico was one of the easiest borders we crossed. Make sure you have all of the papers for the vehicle. We actually made copies of our papers but they did not use them. They had us make copies at the border. The people were all friendly and helpful. Just treat them like you would like to be treated. We usually had someone at the border crossing who wanted to help us— for money of course– but it is well worth it to have them take you where you had to go.
We did not take our pet. He is too old and does not do well in the heat so I’m sorry I do not know about the laws.
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