unURBAN Adventures - Alaska to Argentina to AFRICA!
- Thread starter unURBAN
- Start date
ttora4runner
Expedition Leader
Thanks for sharing the photos.
My God......what a beautiful country!!! Machu Picchu...God yes!:coffeedrink:If there is one thing that will blow you away in South America it is the mountain ranges. Yes, the Alps and the Rockies are impressive too, but the Andes make them look small. From the Pacific coast we headed back up into the mountains to camp at 4000 meters / 12000 ft + altitude. The shortcut up into the valley of Callejon de Huaylas take us through Canyon del Pato, and this is a spectacular drive.
normal…
Leaving the Cordillera Blanca we drove east to find an alternative route south towards Cuzco and Machu Picchu. More soon!
E&M
Last edited:
alfio
Adventurer
yes! especially in Peru. although i've been following the thread for a while, i can't remember if you mentioned it as a possible destination but, if you have any time, make sure you go to the Colca Canyon (in Arequipa), the place is incredible (all of it, the history, the farming and terraces, and the landscape). safe travels!
Thanks!
The BFGs are holding up pretty good. I've now put about 25000 kilometers on them (15600 mi) and most of the tread is still there. Not sure about the fuel consuption, if this is still better than with the previous 35" GY MT/Rs. Will try to look into this soon. However, even the KM2s have issues with balance. Two of the five tires we bought are so bad that we can't really run them on the front axle. That was kind of disappointing to find out. But with the previous GY MT/Rs this was three out of four! I'm sure this is easier with smaller tires, though.
They drive very nice for a mud terrain tire, and the noice is also relatively low. Better when they were new, of course, but still doing good. No flats either on these or the previous, so all together about 80 000 kms (50 000 mi) on mud terrains at times on some pretty rough roads - no problems!
E
Huanuco Viejo and the road south
When we arrived in La Union, east of Cordillera Blanca, it was already getting dark. The town itself did not look very cosy, and we were debating our options. There is normally a hotel or a hostel in all towns, but as parking can be a hassle we like to find a place where we can camp. The reason we wanted to stop in La Union was the ruins of Huanaco Viejo, an old Inca administrative center for the area. After checking our GPS we actually found coordinates for the site in the POI list. Other than “close to La Union”, we had no idea where these ruins were supposed to be, so we hesitated driving towards these coordinates as it was getting dark. But as the town didn’t look too promising we went for it. The road out of town climbed up some steep, narrow dirt roads, and at the top we entered an area that looked like pampas. After a while we saw a sign to the ruins, and we felt we were on the right way. The problem was that there were no roads going to where the GPS told us that the site should be. And it was now pitch black.
We tried a road where the tracks disappeared driving out on the pampas. Some weak tracks eventually lead us to something that looked a little bit like a parking area, but it was hard to tell as we couldn’t see anything around us. We drove back and tried a couple of alternatives, but we didn’t see anything that looked like Inca ruins. We decided to go back to the first parking area and camp there for the night. And this turned out to be a good decision. We woke up to a stunning view!
And this was actually the parking area for the archeological site of Huanaco Viejo.
In the morning a couple of workers showed up, and these guys were the only people in the ruins this morning. We had it all to ourselves!
From the maps we had, it looked like it should be possible to drive on dirt roads over the mountains and hit a bigger road further south.
Heavy traffic in the high Andes...
It was a beautiful drive, and as many times before, the maps were quite unreliable. Some locals helped us to find the right road, and we were back on a main road late in the afternoon. Again we were racing the clock to find a good place for the night. We ended up in Huariaca where a guy running a local guesthouse let us camp for free. He even let us use his internet.
Town of Tarma
The next morning we kept heading south, and ended up at a German run hacienda in Tarma called Hacienda La Florida. A fantastic place where we wouldn’t mind staying longer! And a tip for the next travellers coming through, they take on volunteers to help on the farm…
From La Florida we had a LONG day’s drive to the old colonial town of Ayacucho. The road was mostly dirt and quite slow, but all in all very scenic. Arrived in town way too late and struggled finding a place where we wanted to camp. Being really tired and exhausted from the 12 hour drive, we splurged and checked in to a nice hotel with safe parking. Of course we would find a cheaper place the next day to safe money…. Rrrright – not!
Trip planning with pancakes. The only way to do it...
We had a great time in Ayacucho, and this was also the place where we found out about our next little adventure: A jungle road from the north to Santa Teresa, where we could park within walking distance from Machu Picchu! More soon…
E&M
When we arrived in La Union, east of Cordillera Blanca, it was already getting dark. The town itself did not look very cosy, and we were debating our options. There is normally a hotel or a hostel in all towns, but as parking can be a hassle we like to find a place where we can camp. The reason we wanted to stop in La Union was the ruins of Huanaco Viejo, an old Inca administrative center for the area. After checking our GPS we actually found coordinates for the site in the POI list. Other than “close to La Union”, we had no idea where these ruins were supposed to be, so we hesitated driving towards these coordinates as it was getting dark. But as the town didn’t look too promising we went for it. The road out of town climbed up some steep, narrow dirt roads, and at the top we entered an area that looked like pampas. After a while we saw a sign to the ruins, and we felt we were on the right way. The problem was that there were no roads going to where the GPS told us that the site should be. And it was now pitch black.
We tried a road where the tracks disappeared driving out on the pampas. Some weak tracks eventually lead us to something that looked a little bit like a parking area, but it was hard to tell as we couldn’t see anything around us. We drove back and tried a couple of alternatives, but we didn’t see anything that looked like Inca ruins. We decided to go back to the first parking area and camp there for the night. And this turned out to be a good decision. We woke up to a stunning view!
And this was actually the parking area for the archeological site of Huanaco Viejo.
In the morning a couple of workers showed up, and these guys were the only people in the ruins this morning. We had it all to ourselves!
From the maps we had, it looked like it should be possible to drive on dirt roads over the mountains and hit a bigger road further south.
Heavy traffic in the high Andes...
It was a beautiful drive, and as many times before, the maps were quite unreliable. Some locals helped us to find the right road, and we were back on a main road late in the afternoon. Again we were racing the clock to find a good place for the night. We ended up in Huariaca where a guy running a local guesthouse let us camp for free. He even let us use his internet.
Town of Tarma
The next morning we kept heading south, and ended up at a German run hacienda in Tarma called Hacienda La Florida. A fantastic place where we wouldn’t mind staying longer! And a tip for the next travellers coming through, they take on volunteers to help on the farm…
From La Florida we had a LONG day’s drive to the old colonial town of Ayacucho. The road was mostly dirt and quite slow, but all in all very scenic. Arrived in town way too late and struggled finding a place where we wanted to camp. Being really tired and exhausted from the 12 hour drive, we splurged and checked in to a nice hotel with safe parking. Of course we would find a cheaper place the next day to safe money…. Rrrright – not!
Trip planning with pancakes. The only way to do it...
We had a great time in Ayacucho, and this was also the place where we found out about our next little adventure: A jungle road from the north to Santa Teresa, where we could park within walking distance from Machu Picchu! More soon…
E&M
The new road to Cusco
It was not in any of our maps, but the idea of a road cutting right through the jungle and to the roads north of Cusco was so appealing (would save us hundreds of kilometers) that we kept asking in every town as we drove further south. In Ayacucho we got the answer we wanted from a guy at iPeru, and he even printed us a map (we later discovered that the road now is in Google Maps). The first and the last part of this route were in the GPS maps, it was only about a hundred kms missing between them. With the new information we set out early one morning towards San Francisco in the Peruvian jungle. To get there we drove from Ayacucho at 2761 meters up to a pass at 3814and from there decended more than 3400 meters to San Francisco at about 400 meters. Phew...
San Francisco. We spent the night at a guesthouse here. The road in our maps stopped just across this river...
And there was a new road. In the beginning it was just a narrow, rough, dirt road, and we were for a while worried that we were on the wrong way. After a few kilometers the brush along the road opened up, and so did the road. It was no doubt that this was the new road.
But even if this road supposedly was only a year or two old, the jungle had already started to try to take it back. Massive landslides had taken out the road in several places. Some scarier than others...
We met maybe 5-6 cars during the whole day of driving. Not a very crowded road,, but at least it looked like all the vehicles we saw that day made it through...
Eventually we came through a few villages, and we realized that we were back on more established roads. More traffic, people and houses. We were getting closer to Santa Teresa and Machu Picchu. Malin noticed that several of the houses along the road had decorations on the roofs. Never got around to aks what they actually means, though.
We didn't make it all the way to Santa Teresa this day, so we spent the night in a town called Quillabamba. We couldn't find a good place to camp so Malin persuaded the local Chief of Police to let us park in their parking lot, and we went and booked a room at a hostel.
Enjoying a well deserved refreshing Inca Kola! And the next morning: To Machu Picchu!!
E&M
It was not in any of our maps, but the idea of a road cutting right through the jungle and to the roads north of Cusco was so appealing (would save us hundreds of kilometers) that we kept asking in every town as we drove further south. In Ayacucho we got the answer we wanted from a guy at iPeru, and he even printed us a map (we later discovered that the road now is in Google Maps). The first and the last part of this route were in the GPS maps, it was only about a hundred kms missing between them. With the new information we set out early one morning towards San Francisco in the Peruvian jungle. To get there we drove from Ayacucho at 2761 meters up to a pass at 3814and from there decended more than 3400 meters to San Francisco at about 400 meters. Phew...
San Francisco. We spent the night at a guesthouse here. The road in our maps stopped just across this river...
And there was a new road. In the beginning it was just a narrow, rough, dirt road, and we were for a while worried that we were on the wrong way. After a few kilometers the brush along the road opened up, and so did the road. It was no doubt that this was the new road.
But even if this road supposedly was only a year or two old, the jungle had already started to try to take it back. Massive landslides had taken out the road in several places. Some scarier than others...
We met maybe 5-6 cars during the whole day of driving. Not a very crowded road,, but at least it looked like all the vehicles we saw that day made it through...
Eventually we came through a few villages, and we realized that we were back on more established roads. More traffic, people and houses. We were getting closer to Santa Teresa and Machu Picchu. Malin noticed that several of the houses along the road had decorations on the roofs. Never got around to aks what they actually means, though.
We didn't make it all the way to Santa Teresa this day, so we spent the night in a town called Quillabamba. We couldn't find a good place to camp so Malin persuaded the local Chief of Police to let us park in their parking lot, and we went and booked a room at a hostel.
Enjoying a well deserved refreshing Inca Kola! And the next morning: To Machu Picchu!!
E&M
rockandroll
Adventurer
Greetings from all the way across the Quinta LaLa Campground!
Great pics.
Great pics.
Thanks!
And greatings back from the south corner! Up for a beer a little later today?
E&M