Where can I find online directions in Central & South America?

My friend and I are planning a road trip from Los Angeles, California to Machu Picchu in Peru. We're trying to find online directions similar to Mapquest (both Mapquest and Google Maps don't give any directions south of the U.S. border).

Anyone know of a website that will give us directions? Is there an equivalent to Mapquest for any of the countries in Central or South America? (it is perfectly acceptable if it is in Spanish)Where can I find online directions in Central %26amp; South America?
Lonely Planet who publishes travel guides for all over the world also has online maps and guides. Give that a try.



Edit: You also can get road maps in the individual countries that are quite accurate.Where can I find online directions in Central %26amp; South America?
Try Google Earth. The actual directions will not be listed. Even when you arrive in a country south of the the US, you might not be able to find a map that will be accurate. You say road trip. I hope you don't think you are driving from Los Angeles to Machu Pichu. Best bet is to contact a travel agent to make the arrangements.Where can I find online directions in Central %26amp; South America?
First you have to know about your GPS system – I am interested in the GPS equipped with Android operating systems, since Google bought the company in 2005, it seems likely that this has some real possibility. WWW.maps-of-mexico.com has some good quality maps to get started on the Mexico segment; and mapquest.com has maps of 90 Mexican Cities which may be downloadable. For my next trip I plan to use a laptop, connect a GPS unit and use map overlays.

Garmin has a 42 page booklet for using GPS with paper maps. There are grid overlays and latitude longitude rulers which could be useful as well.

In city navigation is the biggest challenge; there are so many one-way streets and sometimes neighborhoods which should be avoided. If you can get the GPS coordinates of where you are going, that could work as well as. If you are a new GPS user, just make sure to remember the difference between decimal minutes and minute second reporting of the GPS coordinate!

The biggest challenge of highway navigation is not getting onto the right highway, those are fairly well marked, but in seeing the sights to be seen and not making vacationing just a whole lot of driving!

For the foreseeable future the best onboard navigation system for travel in Latin America will still be an open window. When asking for directions, avoid questions like, “is this the road to such_a_place?” and instead opt for a conversation and more open ended questions like, “do you know this road?” or “what can you tell me about the road?”

If I am not sure about the information I usually talk to more than one person, and if the answers are different maybe even a third, depending on just how far off the beaten highway I am.

I am usually looking for more than directions – is the road safe, are the bridges intact, does my car have enough clearance, is gasoline available, a motel or other tourist accommodations, sights to see, places I should not stop, etc.

Once, after asking directions in Managua, Nicaragua for the directions to a hotel, the person we asked jumped into his car to lead us to the hotel so as to help us avoid a particular section of the city. Show me a GPS system which will do that!

IMHO GPS systems should be used to verify the information you get from talking to local folk and other tourists, not as a substitute. If you stop early (in the daylight), you will be much better off than if you travel at night.