I've reached the end of the road (for now)

On Monday I drove to the end of the Pan-American Highway in Yaviza, Darien Province. For logistiical and environmental reasons, the road ends here and picks up again 106 km away in Turbo, Columbia. This is the infamous Darien Gap. Travel through the mountains and significant marshlands in the Gap is by river in pirogues or by foot. A few people have managed to get a car or motorcycle through it - starting with a couple Brazilians who took two Model T Fords through in about 1930, floating them across many barriers. About 8,000 people live in the area, distributed among five tribes (especially, Embera-Wounaan and Guna in Panama). Many migrants have passed through recently on their journey to the United States. (I've seem maybe only a handfull of migrants, all from Honduras in Mexico.) It is a dangerous region, largely controlled by drug traffickers and, earlier, FARC rebels in Columbia.

Yaviza is a small town (about 4,500 people). The road to get here has some significant potholes until you cross into Darien Province, where the road is a nice paved road. Since paving the road, deforestation increased with many cattle ranches and tree plantations. Many of the plantations are of teak, a highly-valued tropical hardwood originally from southern and southeast Asia, but grown in tropical regions around the world. I explored along some of the side roads before looking for a place to park for the night.

On the other end of the Pan-American Highway is the town of Deadhorse, an oil town in the tundra near Prudhoe Bay, Alaska some 12,580 km away (if you take the most direct route). To get there you take the Dalton Highway from Fairbanks. It goes through some beautiful landscapes, especially the Brooks Range and descending down into the tundra. Sheri and I drove there in July, 2019. We also drove to the Arctic Ocean (and took a dip) in Tuktoyaktuk, Northwest Territories, Canada, on the Dempster Highway from Dawson City, Yukon. In some ways, I prefered the Dempster Highway. Spectacular scenery and wildlife, but less developed at the end of the road than the Dalton Highway. And wonderful Athabascan and Inuit culture in Tuk and Inuvik.

To be continued...