Alaska to Argentina – de arriba abajo

I cycled Central America from Mexico to Panama City a few years ago. Happy to answer any questions, but a few top of head things:

• State of roads is generally way better than we expected.
  
• Roads are generally way emptier than expected - we had thought the Trans-American Highway would be pretty fearsome at times, but definitely not. One day I had to move a sleeping tortoise out of the middle of the road.
  
• Exception - Guatemala, road from Morales to Rio Honda. We started on it, but it was a constant stream of lorries close-passing (not that they had much choice, it wasn't a wide road). We chucked the bikes on a coach for a couple of hours there.
  
• Mexico - stop every time you see a sign for a cenote. They never disappoint.
  
• Sights - Tulum (obvious one, Mexico), Lamanai (Belize), Tikal (Guatemala) for historical ruins. Tikal tip - you get off the bus and the tours all walk off one direction round the site in big groups, seeing ruins. We went the other way on our own, and saw about a jillion animals, insects, birds that the others didn't.
  
• Safety - never felt unsafe, but your coffee shop having a guard with a sub-machine gun takes getting used to. We did, however, skip thru Honduras as we'd spent too long in El Salvador.
  
• Nicaragua - just the best place, so much to see and so much beauty. Troubled country without many tourists - some backpackers were offering places £1 a night when it should have been $10. Don't be a cunt.
  
• Costa Rica - we kicked off to the Pacific coast soon after the Nicaraguan border, and camped on a huge empty beach for a few days - saw literally nobody (tho were repeatedly robbed by monkeys, racoons and iguanas). Further down the coast is still beautiful, but very much developed for tourism.