Aventura Alaska Brasil Author:William Carroll An American couple's adventurous 125 days and 24,876 miles of exploration while driving a Mercury coupe from Anchorage, Alaska, to Brazil's Rio de Janeiro. A highlight was transiting the Panama Canal and three days of cruising the Caribbean Sea because there was no other way to travel from Panama to South America. Overnights ranged from ti... more »ny hostels welcoming every traveler with old-world courtesy to magnificent chain edifices that routinely failed to know of verified room reservations. With chocolate covered ants the delicacy of one hotel's menu. Multi-lane pavement soon became a desired treat, cobblestones a rustic backbreaker, landslides in Costa Rica dangerous hurdles, then road rocks in Ecuador ripped a hole in the gas tank. Between Chile and Argentina their route involved following rails and bouncing over ties through a railroad's "Tunel Internacional" deep under the Andes. Most difficult was entering Brasil where a senion Customs Inspector thought the Mercury's documents were forged and restrained the travelers in his border town for days. All this and more, trip of a lifetime.« less