The Darién Gap
There are places on the map where roads end.
The Darién Gap, or el Tapon del Darién, is one of them. It’s a stretch of rainforest in southern Panama, right on the edge of Central and South America. From a globetrotter’s perspective, the Darién Gap might seem to exist mostly as an obstacle to tourists dreaming of a truly epic road trip from Alaska to Tierra Del Fuego.
But, while a road is one way for movement, it’s not the only way to get somewhere. What happens, or does not happen, in a place without roads?
Featuring Jorge Ahumada, Roland Kays, Hector Huertas, Ustin Pascal Dubuisson, and Alicia Korten.
Credits
Outside/In was produced this week by Sam Evans-Brown with Justine Paradis and Taylor Quimby.
Erika Janik is our executive producer.
Our theme music is by Breakmaster Cylinder.
Additional music by Blue Dot Sessions.
For additional reading about the history of Pan-American highway and how it came to be that it is still incomplete, check out The Longest Line on the Map: The United States, the Pan-American Highway, and the Quest to Link the Americas by Eric Rutkow.
Special thanks to Nick Capodice, Pedro Mendez of the University of Panama, and Ross Irwin of Humanizando la Deportacion.
Title image by Alex Torrenegra via Flickr.
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