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The Darién Gap

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Re: The Darién Gap

#81

Post by abrons »

dottjt wrote: post #68
kortilla wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How much of it is about preserving jungles and how much is about keeping Colombians out? From the article yesterday about the failed pan American highway due to the Darien gap, it pointed out that Colombia and Panama are the only two neighboring countries in the world without a road between them. It also explicitly stated that many citizens support that to reduce undocumented immigrants from Colombia.

Interestingly, reading this thread has made me realise that roads more-often-than-not are a path for exploitation (equally as you might describe them as a path for opportunity). Without roads, you cannot build mines or forestries within the area to extract the resources from the land. Just interesting because I've never thought about roads in this way. Feels like not building roads is a good thing if preserving the l…

On that topic here's an interesting article about the Ambler Mining District in Alaska - massive mineral deposits that would require a road through pristine wilderness to access:

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2023-02-27/ambler-ac...

and

https://archive.ph/WP14Q

Re: The Darién Gap

#82

Post by emmelaich »

PanamaNewb wrote: post #32

Hey there. I'm from Panama. The Darien Gap still has foreigners (including wealthy tourists) going there with the crazy idea they can hike through it. The trash being left behind in just the past couple years is just heartbreaking. Mountainous jungles in Panama are extremely easy to get lost in the overgrown vegetation. Tourists have died in hiking trails in Boquete, Veraguas or Cerro Azul by only going a few hundred…

> are extremely easy to get lost

Notably and tragically https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deaths_of_Kris_Kremers_and_Lis...

(though this was at the other end of Panama)

Re: The Darién Gap

#83

Post by andrewjf »

lsllc wrote: post #43
andrewjf wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

May I recommend “long way up” as well (although they also took a boat). They travel from Ushuaia to Canada, and talked about the Darién Gap, I don’t recall how in depth.

Seconded. Long Way Up is entertaining, interesting and has some incredible cinematography. It's also great that Ewan and Charlie rode all-electric Harleys and the crew had pre-production Rivian's (the with the very first 2 Rivian "production" VINs). BTW: It was actually Ushuaia to LA, not Canada.

Ahh right, Los Angeles. I remember now.

Should have called the series “half way up”

Re: The Darién Gap

#84

Post by crazygringo »

initplus wrote: post #78
sungam wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sounds like an incredibly risky area but in terms of navigation can they not use gps?

GPS can tell you exactly where you are, and nothing more. It can’t tell anyone else where you are, it can’t teach you to read a map if you don’t have the skills. It can’t tell you the best route through dense jungle terrain if you don’t have the skillset.

But it should be able to point you back to the hiking path, or retrace your steps backwards, as long as it's connected to mapping app.

Just because it can't do everything doesn't mean it can't do anything.

Re: The Darién Gap

#85

Post by crazygringo »

edgyquant wrote: post #74
greggsy wrote: post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Surely lidar would be valuable, given how it has already proven its effectiveness for archaeology in this region

How is this a response to that comment? What does LiDAR have to do with hikers using a GPS?

> there were steep drops that did not show up on my topographic map

Re: The Darién Gap

#86

Post by crazygringo »

rootsudo wrote: post #52

I find it pretty funny that someone posted about the Pan American highway yesterday, and then the Darien gap today. It’s interesting how ignorant most HN’ers are just south of the USA. The user PanamaNewb covered most of it correctly. It’s still a dangerous area. There are famous bloggers that have gone missing and literally only their bones have come back. The famous one thus far is: http://travelswithmitzi.blogspot…

This is a great, informative comment.

You're also being downvoted, surely, because you're needlessly insulting HN'ers in your first paragraph.

If you refrained from calling people ignorant, then I'm sure informative comments like this would be upvoted instead. :)

Re: The Darién Gap

#87

Post by rootsudo »

crazygringo wrote: post #86
rootsudo wrote: post #52

I find it pretty funny that someone posted about the Pan American highway yesterday, and then the Darien gap today. It’s interesting how ignorant most HN’ers are just south of the USA. The user PanamaNewb covered most of it correctly. It’s still a dangerous area. There are famous bloggers that have gone missing and literally only their bones have come back. The famous one thus far is: http://travelswithmitzi.blogspot…

This is a great, informative comment. You're also being downvoted, surely, because you're needlessly insulting HN'ers in your first paragraph. If you refrained from calling people ignorant, then I'm sure informative comments like this would be upvoted instead. :)

Probably, but it's true.

Ignorant isn't bad, people want and should learn. It isn't an insult but I find it hilarious how the continunation of conversation from yesterday to today is this. HN is unfortunately USA centric and a majority of people in the USA do not know what happens outside the 48' borders.

Re: The Darién Gap

#88

Post by crazygringo »

rootsudo wrote: post #87
crazygringo wrote: post #86

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is a great, informative comment. You're also being downvoted, surely, because you're needlessly insulting HN'ers in your first paragraph. If you refrained from calling people ignorant, then I'm sure informative comments like this would be upvoted instead. :)

Probably, but it's true. Ignorant isn't bad, people want and should learn. It isn't an insult but I find it hilarious how the continunation of conversation from yesterday to today is this. HN is unfortunately USA centric and a majority of people in the USA do not know what happens outside the 48' borders.

No, the word ignorant is insulting. That's just a fact about everyday English usage which it might be helpful for you to be aware of. It's the word's fundamental connotation.

Also, a majority of people in pretty much every country don't know much about what happens outside of their borders.

The idea that Americans are particularly ignorant is a tired myth that deserves to die -- and if you've traveled the world and met people, you'd realize that geographical "ignorance" is widespread pretty much everywhere. Shocking, even. Sure, people in smaller countries know a bit more about nearby countries, but the American equivalent is a New Yorker knowing about Florida and Texas and California, since America's pretty huge.

So no, it's not true.

Re: The Darién Gap

#89

Post by rootsudo »

crazygringo wrote: post #88
rootsudo wrote: post #87

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Probably, but it's true. Ignorant isn't bad, people want and should learn. It isn't an insult but I find it hilarious how the continunation of conversation from yesterday to today is this. HN is unfortunately USA centric and a majority of people in the USA do not know what happens outside the 48' borders.

No, the word ignorant is insulting. That's just a fact about everyday English usage which it might be helpful for you to be aware of. It's the word's fundamental connotation. Also, a majority of people in pretty much every country don't know much about what happens outside of their borders. The idea that Americans are particularly ignorant is a tired myth that deserves to die -- and if you've traveled the world and m…

I AM a New Yorker and I do know Florida and Texas. You picked a very poor example. There are also a huge influx of New Yorkers that have migrated to Florida and Texas. In fact the joke is many New Yorkers end up to Florida and Retire/Die. The majority of the Villages/Spring Hill in Florida are from recently relocated New Yorkers.

Nice try, etc etc, I don't wish to argue. People are very ignorant of The Darian Gap and die everyday being cute.

And the first result on Google is this: https://conversational-leadership.net/blog/ignorance-is-not-... it's a common debate.

Re: The Darién Gap

#90

Post by joak »

kortilla wrote: post #38
PanamaNewb wrote: post #32

Hey there. I'm from Panama. The Darien Gap still has foreigners (including wealthy tourists) going there with the crazy idea they can hike through it. The trash being left behind in just the past couple years is just heartbreaking. Mountainous jungles in Panama are extremely easy to get lost in the overgrown vegetation. Tourists have died in hiking trails in Boquete, Veraguas or Cerro Azul by only going a few hundred…

How much of it is about preserving jungles and how much is about keeping Colombians out? From the article yesterday about the failed pan American highway due to the Darien gap, it pointed out that Colombia and Panama are the only two neighboring countries in the world without a road between them. It also explicitly stated that many citizens support that to reduce undocumented immigrants from Colombia.

Guyana and Venezuela are two neighboring countries and they have no roads crossing their common border.

Same context: a thick jungle.

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