canada

I've made the trip from the U.S. to Panama by car four times. Each trip has been different and a real adventure. Although this guide should be updated it contains some good tips and many anecdotes. One of the best parts is where others share their experiences while making the journey. I also liked all of the essential Spanish vocabulary the book contains to help non-Spanish speakers in case they get in a jam. The part about border crossings is also helpful. They can be a real drag and very frustrating. This book helps prepare people for them.
I really wish the publisher would come out with a newer edition. I'plan to contact them and see if they'll let me share my experieces in the next edition. In short, if you plan to make the trip to any Central American country this book can help you.

my husband and i took the drive from California all the way down to Costa Rica and this book was definitely helpful, in retrospect. i agree it needs to be updated, and honestly, it is not a MAJOR source of all the info you will need, but it will help a lot~if nothing else, it provides you with an idea of what lies ahead. the best parts about this book, we felt, were the table that shows the distances and times expected between each major town, and the page of spanish words and phrases on the road. it definitely does not assist much with budget travelers~but hey, if you are a budget traveler and you plan to make it all the way down there, we did it on a shoestring budget, w/o help from the book on finding places to stay, and we were fine! we plan to take the drive again in 2002, and we will create our own updated version of what life is like and what to actually expect along the way. overall, if you have never taken this drive~i definitely recommend getting all the info you can~including this book.

Since this guide is better than nothing we used it on our trip by car to Panama. My friend and I found it helpful in travelling through Central America. There are some parts which need to be updated.