Some more offroad fun

Access to the farm isn’t easy. As mentioned earlier there are two rivers to cross and leaving the area can be difficult when it rains. On a dry day we took the time to document a bit further what the challenges are that we are facing. The following picture is from the dirt road leaving the village of Buenos Aires. The road winds down a hill with some beautiful views of the Bayano lake.

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Unfortunately it is steep and rainwater flows downhill in the tire tracks.

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That creates holes that are large enough for a full tire to slip into and when that happens you are stuck. If your speed is too high, you may break something of your car.

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Worse is that the rainwater carves deeper and deeper canyons to the left and right leaving a solid block in the center. A 4WD vehicle with not enough ground clearance may slide to either side and then hit the solid piece with the belly … Stuck again!

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Not long ago we met at the very same spot two Nissan Frontier 4WD vehicles. They were stuck in one of those deep holes. With the Jeep and locked differentials we had no trouble driving up the hill. In fact it felt like on tracks and that’s precisely what one of the Nissan Frontier drivers said it looked like. We did offer towing help, if they would go down the hill and let us pass. Somehow that offer hit their macho nerve ;-) They didn’t want to accept and hit the gas pedal of their cars hard. With a lot of bouncing and hitting the wall on the right of the road they managed to move forward. I’m pretty sure it was an expensive victory and will require a trip to the shop later.