Beware of the 2017 Trek of the Americas - Adventuretrek

[BE]

Hi all,

I am posting this as a warning and to hopefully save some others from making the same mistake we made.

This outfit is advertising for a July 2017 departure. Buyer Beware!

My wife and I traveled in our truck and camper on the Trek of the Americas caravan trip in 2013.
I would rate it a 1 out of 5.
Extremely poorly run and way overpriced.
The owner/tour guide from Adventure Trek is not trustworthy nor reliable.

We paid for the 120 day Trek of the Americas to the tip of South America.
We traveled to Panama in less than 35 days where things with the tour really fell apart.
We spent the month of September traveling back to the US.
Much of Sept was spent waiting for the tour operator to obtain parts and repairs for his vehicle.

July 26, 2013 - this was called the rendezvous day near McAllen, TX
Aug 30, 2013 - it became very apparent in Panama that the tour was not going to be fulfilled.
(we were the only RV left to continue travel to South America)
Oct 1, 2013 - back to the US

Although the guide purported to travel by Ford diesel pick-up and Lance camper on this forum, he was using an older Class C when we traveled with him.
My wife and I were as prepared as we could be for travel in Central and South America.
We had full servicing and upgrades done to our truck and carried numerous spare parts.
However, the tour operator was not at all prepared.
All of the mechanical issues and significant delays were a result of the tour operators unpreparedness.
He did not carry any spare parts, nor was his vehicle ready for this kind of travel.

Please, please, please ask for RECENT references if you decide to look into this caravan trip.
We were promised the tip of Argentina but never made it past Panama.

Also, please meet this guy in person and make your own assessment of his character before committing to this tour.
Your assessment of his character will NOT improve as you travel along with him.

In hindsight, there were many red flags that I ignored because of my strong desire to make this trip.
I'm hoping others will complete their "due diligence" prior to handing over their hard earned money to this outfit.

He also tries to sell Relocation (Ex-pat) tours to Panama on his websites - buyer beware!

...best regards, brad

PS:
He operates under the following names, as well;
Pathfinder Adventure Services, LLC
Adventuretours
Norman Yelland

Please do not confuse Adventuretrek (singular) with another company named Adventure Treks (plural) - mainly geared to teens

[wolfe10]

Don't know about further south, but was never asked for nor paid one cent of bribe money in 6 winters in Mexico in our motorhome.

[qtla9111]

NMDriver wrote:
They said they paid bribes to border officials and police all along the way to avoid long delays at various borders and towns.

So then the bribes weren't required?

[NMDriver]

I have two Brothers-in-law who rode motorcycles down to Panama in March. They stored the bikes in Panama and are planning to fly back down to complete the Columbia to Argentina part of the trip later this year. They said they paid bribes to border officials and police all along the way to avoid long delays at various borders and towns. Because they are relatively spry (50's and early 60's) and well to do financially, they thought it was a lot of fun. I am neither spry nor well to do so I think I will fly Space Available in military cargo flights 🙂

[BE]

There are a few really good resources for doing a trip like this, instead of using the disreputable company and individual that I mentioned above.
Check out the facebook group PanAmerican Travelers Association.
Lots of great people willing to help. Very much like this site!
Also, they maintain and update a valuable Wiki resource;
http://wikioverland.org/Main_Page
It includes shipping info.
...regards, brad

[GordonThree]

I've watched a few of those overlander PanAm expeditions on YouTube ... common theme for all of them, things around Panama really looked sketchy, and they all left out a lot of detail from that point until they made it to South America.

The one group openly admitted in their video blog to needing to bribe police and government officials to get things done.

[BE]

The plan was to ship the vehicle from Colon, Panama to Cartagena, Columbia using RORO (Roll On Roll Off) because my camper is too big for even a high cube container.
This method is frequently used by overlanders driving the PanAm.
On the way home, we would likely ship the vehicle from Buenos Aires or Montevideo to Houston.
...regards, brad

[gbopp]

Thanks for the info. I won't be making the trip but I'm curious, what was the plan to get from Panama to Columbia?