1200 Kilometres on PERU’s Most Dangerous Roads

1200 Kilometres on PERU’s Most Dangerous Roads

Over 16 months ago, we set out on a journey that 
would take us from our home in British Columbia, Canada, all the way to the bottom of South 
America. When we looked forward to South America,   we dreamt of traveling through different 
cultures, new and unique landscapes, and checking off 16 countries on the way. 
Four of those countries are of particular interest to us. And this week, we’ll be 
stepping foot into the first of those four,   the country of Peru. To get things started, 
we’ll be driving over 12,000 km on some of Peru’s most dangerous roads. The way is about 
to get real spicy, so buckle up and let’s roam. Some roads don’t simply exist on a map. They 
live in your mind, calling to you in your sleep, filling your thoughts at work. The Pan American 
Highway, a road spanning the length of North and South America – a 30,000 km road trip through more 
than 15 countries – is that road for us. Life to us is nothing more than a collection of moments, 
and we want to fill our moments with adventure. So for 18 months, we’ll be driving south from 
Tuktoyaktuk, Canada all the way to Ushuaia, Argentina. From the Arctic to the Andes 
through deserts, jungles and the unknown,   we’ll live and wander in our self-built 
adventure mobile seeking stories, chasing landscapes and redefining what it means to us 
to be modern-day explorers. This is our journey. Our last day in Ecuador was spent driving the 
final 50km stretch of gravel that leads to the border to Peru. We’ve chosen the furthest east 
crossing into Peru so that we can make the drive to a set of waterfalls before continuing 
south towards the Cordillera Blanca.  The road was really rough and very slow going but 
it would be nothing in comparison to the roads we’d be enduring in the coming days. Our plan 
is to drive Ruta 8B over the Calla Calla Pass to Cajamarca then follow the 3N all the 
way to the city of Juaraz. At this point, little of these routes is known by us. They’re 
just lines on the map but we’re hoping to   drive from where we are now to Juaraz in about 5 days. On that estimate, I can tell you now, we were sorely mistaken. In making our way to the border, we have drawn 
ever closer to the Amazon and descended from   elevation to a mere 800m above sea level. If it 
wasn’t for the temperature, the cicadas were sure to let us know that this is where you can grow 
sugar cane and bananas on the hillsides. Pants and   long sleeves are exchanged for t-shirts and shorts 
and we can smell our old friend Sweat once again. Well, welcome to the very southern end of Ecuador. 
We’ve chosen kind of a backwater border crossing to get back. Backwater? I don’t know. Backwater. We’re on land, honey. Backland border crossing to get into Peru. And we’ve been driving like crazy for 
the past 2 days. Yesterday was a total mission to get out to this little town called, I think 
it’s [Vilcabomba]. And yeah, it’s an off-road route to the border. It’s a gravel route, but it’s 
very winding. It’s just like hanging off the side of Ecuadorian mountains the whole way 
for like 60 kilometers or something. And, yeah, we picked up two French hitchhikers who 
are going to cross the border with us today.   And I think we’re going to take them to the next 
town or maybe the town after that. And the first thing we have to do in Peru is, we’re going to go 
check out two massive waterfalls that are about the furthest east that we’ll see in Peru. Yeah, 
right on the border of the Amazon. Yeah. So, it’s going to be hot weather for us for the next 
probably three or four days. What? Maybe less. And then we’re going to get into .. the Andes. The Andes 
again, and do some big mountain stuff. We’re very, very excited. Yeah. And just to add a little bit 
of a note, our transmission is really starting to show signs of failing. We’ve had a number 
of issues that we haven’t put on video yet just because we weren’t certain. But at this point, 
with the number of codes that we’ve had and the other tell-tale signs, we’re thinking she’s dying. 
She’s dying. So, join us on this interesting adventure as we find out whether or not we can 
make it through Peru with the transmission that   we have. Or the whole Panama, you never know. 
You never know. We’re just going to be nursing it until we can find a shop that I either can 
replace it or rebuild it. But we’re not going to just choose any shop, and we’re going to see if 
we can get some parts from the US. Anyway, that is everything. We’re going to go cross the border 
into Peru now. And these are our two friends, Chloe and Lawrence. They’re from France. They’re 
hitchhiking around the world. How cool is that? Okay. You ready to go to Peru? Yeah. Let’s go. Peru. We’re out of Ecuador. We’re going to Peru.   All stamped out and ready to cross the 
bridge into a new country. Number 13. Peru is a country on the Pan American Highway that requires travelers to have car insurance. At this particular crossing however, there are no 
businesses in which we can purchase the needed   insurance, so we’ll need to drive uninsured to 
the town of Jaen, 156km away. It’s a good stretch of driving to get there before everything 
closes down for the day, so we’re hustling a little bit. Further than Zumba, right? Further 
than Zumba. Thank you guys. Thank you guys. Bye. Secured the goods. We got the insurance. And 
we didn’t get fined in the process of it. The border guy said we could only 
get … we could only go to the first town and get our insurance. But we could not drive 
further than that. And in that first town, every insurance place says no, 
we won’t do it for foreigners.   So we just had to risk it and drive to 
the next town. And now we have it. So, how was the shopping experience in Peru, 
first one? Wow. I don’t know why I didn’t think that there was going to be big markets or big 
Walmart scenarios until we got to a big town, but that was like Walmart. So, we got 
a whole bunch of stuff we didn’t need. Well, that’s good. Well, first meal in Peru. What do we have? 
Okay, so we can’t find orzo down here. Well, we probably won’t find orzo again down here. 
So, we found these little pasta balls. Can you see it? Is this what they do? The influencers? 
Yeah. Yeah. And they seem to be super awesome. They’re kind of like .. it reminds me of pearl 
couscous but pasta. Anyways, I cooked these in chicken broth and they’re delicious. And then 
I just julienned some carrot, radish, and beet, which is raw. And then we’ve got some rotisserie 
chicken on top. And a citrusy yogurt sauce with Greek yogurt, lime, sumac, and garlic powder. 
Wow. It’s going to be really yummy. That’s like me trying to talk to you about engine stuff. Yeah. 
Mhm. True. True. Yeah. Way to go. I’m starving. As we moved east, we were a little 
bit surprised to see rice fields on either side   of the road. Up until that point, we had no 
idea that Peru had a rice-growing industry. We had been following a river that kept us away   from the bigger mountains for most 
of our time in Peru at this point. But, we were about to get a pretty good idea of 
what we’d be up against for the next few days. We’re going on a walk. We’re going on a walk. 
Okay. So today we have come to do the hike to Gocta Falls here in kind of eastern-ish Peru. And 
we’re skirting right on the edge of the Amazon, but we’re at a bit of elevation, so 
it’s not as hot, which is nice. And yeah, these falls are going to be 
incredible. So good. So we’re very excited. And it’s a 10km or 11km round hike. 
It’s the biggest one we’ve done in a while. Gocta Falls, in the Amazonas region near 
Chachapoyas, Peru plunges a dramatic 771 metres in two stages into the cloud forest above 
the Cocahuayco River. For centuries these falls were known only by local communities; it 
wasn’t until 2002 when researcher Stefan Ziemendorff publicized its height and 
location that it became famous globally. Well, we’re both pretty much soaked 
at this point. Might as well enjoy it. Well, pretty cool? Yep, pretty cool waterfall.   Pretty cool waterfall. Yep. Well, 
I like it. Yeah. Good waterfall. We got our soup. Sopa. Looks 
good. Is this pasta? Yeah. Wow. Super yummy. Yeah. We’re cold. Yummy. Well, that hike was pretty fantastic. I 
have to say, if you guys are in northeastern Peru, make sure to come and check out Gocta Falls. 
They’re pretty spectacular. The rain made it a little bit challenging to film, so I didn’t 
get the shots that I was really hoping for, unfortunately. But that’s just how she goes. 
Rain is probably the one thing that I’m least prepared for with shooting. So the camera’s 
weather sealed, but I just didn’t want to introduce too much water to our equipment. From 
here, we are heading to the Cordillera Blanca, which is about 20 hours of driving. So we’ve got 
quite a few long days of driving ahead of us, and we’ll be hooking on to the 3N, which 
is a pretty famous roadway here in Peru, which we’re really excited about. And somewhere 
in between, we’ve got to figure out a few days   for us to rest because we have been moving 
continuously for the past 6 days without any rest. Yeah. How how often do we say stuff 
like that? All the time. But it’s just how it goes. It’s just a repeating carousel. We will 
never not need rest on this trip. Yeah, if you haven’t caught on, doing this is exhausting. Exhausting. It really is. Okay, let’s go drive for 5-6 hours. The start of Ruta 8B from Gocta falls was an 
entertaining stretch of tarmac that followed the river through some narrow canyons and under 
man-made rock shelves. But as we turned off the tarmac at the junction to Chachapoyas the 
road quickly devolved into slow-going,   pot-holed gravel. We crawled our way along 
the river, slowly gaining elevation until we reached Leymebamba where we began to 
climb rapidly towards the Calla Calla pass. Well, it’s lunchtime. We’re having some 
sandwiches, some tea, and we’re trying new snacks .. Cuz it’s been a minute since we’ve done 
Snack Roulette. Inca chips. Mixed tropicale. Okay, let me see that. Uh, let me see. Mix 
tropicale .. In Russian. In Russian. Alright. Ooh, pretty. Orange. It’s a winner. We’re going to get 
another bag? That is so good. I   think that it’s the camote. And I 
don’t know what that is actually. I can eat chips and feel perfectly healthy 
now. That’s really good. Passes the test. We have a winner. Roulette worked out this 
time. And we call these our healthy chips. 222 kilometers to get to Cajamarca. That 
means we’ve done about 80 km in 5 hours. Yeah. This drive very, very quickly turned into a drive 
that is very reminiscent of our experience on the North Canol Road. We’ve just been bouncing and 
crashing through potholes for the last 5 hours. So, it’s been pretty slow going. Suspension 
yet again feels like it’s going to fall out of the front of the van. Take the back, take the 
back route, they said. Take the back routes, they said. I mapped this route for some 
reason. I have no idea why. Apparently, it’s quite the adventure route or something. Yep. 
I may not have remembered why we were taking this route right then, but I was about to have my 
memory jogged. Shortly after parking up for   the night, the wind blew the clouds off the 
mountaintop and the view beyond was revealed. It always fascinates me, the places and 
moments my mind decides to hold on to. This journey through the mountains has only just 
begun. Yet already it feels vast, overflowing with sights and sensations. The chances of us ever 
returning to this exact place are almost none. And that makes me want to remember everything. But 
I know I can’t. It’s too immense, too layered, too alive to fit neatly inside memory. Maybe 
that’s why we film, to honor a fleeting moment and let it live a little longer. Carried by 
a few more hearts and minds along the way, carried in part by you. The more eyes taking in 
these places, the lighter the load of the memory. Well, day two of trying to make it to Cajamarca. 
We’ve got another very slow drive ahead of us, probably 4 to 5 hours of potholes. So yeah, 
we’re just gonna get after it and hope that we can make it far. Yes. The mountains out 
here are insane. Yeah. Yeah. Okay, let’s go. And from here we step off the precipice 
and fall headlong into one of the biggest   driving missions to date. What lay before 
us, we could have never known was coming. So, just to put something into 
perspective here, which is kind of crazy, let me show you guys something. We have 
descended from far higher than over there, and we need to go all the way down to the 
river below, all the way down there, cross, and then go back up into those mountains over 
there. The scale of mountainscape out here is just, it’s next level. These mountains are 
so big. It’s just magical. My goodness. Look at that. They’re digging in a 
new road with an old trackhoe. Crazy. Don’t look down. Don’t look. Do I look down? It’s absolutely killing me that we 
will never do this place justice.   It is so astoundingly beautiful, but also so 
astoundingly scary driving these roads. There’s no stopping. Looking over the edge is just 
like, oh my word. It was quite interesting how, as we progressed along this route over the 
following days, the roads seemingly became   more and more narrow. What you’re seeing now 
was almost like a warm-up for what was ahead. What are we doing right now? We’re 
finally crossing out of Amazonas,   a province of Peru. So once we cross 
this river here, we’ll be in .. is it Bolivar? Cajamarca. Cajamarca. Okay. 
Oh, should I stop and buy some mangoes? Got some oranges. Got some oranges. 
Got some mangoes. Got some oranges   and some mangoes. Yeah. Mangoes 
from the mango stand. Yeah, baby. Alright, now we go back up. Yeah. Let’s 
get into the mountains and never leave. So, we’ve had a little bit of shopping experience 
in Peru thus far at the larger grocery store, but we’re here for some cultural experiences. So,   let’s turn up the shopping experience 
a little and hit the markets. If you need anything, the markets in South America   are the place to go. In the town 
of Celendin, like any town really, there is a central market where all the 
farmers and vendors come to sell their meat,   produce and wares. It’s a beautiful form of chaos 
in these places, and we love every minute of it. Hundreds of varietals of 
potato and fruit. Oh yeah. Well, we got lunch, breakfast, 
lunch, brunch, and this is … and yeah, First taste? Yeah. So, this is like chicken 
soup on steroids. Chicken noodle soup. So much flavor. It’s really, really delicious. Well, that experience was absolutely fantastic. 
We had such a good time in that market. It was like total chaos, but it was just fun. It is so 
interesting in there. There’s just so much going on. Yeah. I hope we can keep getting groceries 
at markets like that more regularly. As long as, like, it’s easy when we’re passing through 
a small-ish town and it’s not so hectic, but in big cities it’s a little bit more – I don’t 
know – stressful. Yeah. So, this market that we were just at was in a town called Celendin, and 
we’re on our way still to Cajamarca. We’ve got another like 100 km or so, and then we’ll 
finally be on the 3N and on our way to the Cordillera Blanca. Yeah, it’s probably going 
to take us another 10 days to get there. Yep. On the 3N beyond the town of Huamachuco the road 
abruptly begins to climb until it reaches a steppe that sits at roughly 4000m. Here, along the strip 
of smooth, well-maintained tarmac that winds its way through the high elevation hills and peaks, 
you’ll find a collection of massive strip mines   that extract gold, copper and molybdenum, 
amongst other minerals. Although we didn’t get too many shots of these massive projects, 
they’re easy to spot as the tailings piles are the size of mountains. Peru is one of the world’s 
top producers of critical minerals like copper, gold, silver, and zinc especially, thanks to its 
vast and varied geology. It holds about 12% of the world’s copper reserves, plus major shares of 
silver, gold, lead, tin, and other metals. Mining contributes between 8–11% of Peru’s GDP, and makes 
up over half of the country’s export revenue. Well, today has been an absolutely legendary drive 
day. Oh my gosh, what was our move time? Our move time is 7 hours and 43 minutes. It was supposed to 
be 5. And we didn’t even stop for anything. Yeah. No running errands or anything. So, the 3N is – 
I don’t really know exactly what’s going on, but it kind of devolves really quickly into really, 
really bad gravel and broken pavement at random, and then it turns into beautiful freeway, you 
know, easy-to-drive road. It makes it really annoying for airing up and airing down. Yeah. Yeah. It’s been an adventure. It’s been really, really beautiful. The area that we’re in right now is 
spectacular. This is exactly the kind of   place that I love to explore. And tonight we’re 
at our highest camp ever … it’s pretty much just under 4,200m. No, I think it’s probably at 4200m. 
This isn’t always accurate. This is turning into a really, really cool drive but a challenging 
one. I would say that we probably have driven some of the worst roads that we’ve seen, today, 
just like broken pavement and gravel and, yeah. We didn’t shoot it just because we were 
on a bit of a mission today. But anyway, we’re going to shut her down for the 
night. We’ll see you in the morning. Bye. Well, last night, surprisingly enough, wasn’t 
as bad as I thought it was going to be. We both probably slept like 50% of the night, so 
that’s pretty good. And yeah, we woke up to some pretty spectacular views, gotta say. But 
the one downside is that Peruvians are very, very curious and we’re right beside the road. 
So, we had people like shining their lights into our windows all night long, which isn’t 
particularly fun. There’s also big, big trucks, transport trucks going by all night. So, yeah, 
just one of the things about living on the road, literally and figuratively. We’ve got a 3-hour 
drive today to get to a spot that I know our friends Matt and Stacy camped, and we’re going 
to stay there for a couple nights because we’ve been on the move for a week straight, every 
single day driving like 5 to 7 hours. So, it’s been quite the week of moving 
for us. Anyway, breakfast time. This morning, apparently we’re having star fruit. 
Okay here, you try it. Because I want ..?? Because you’ve never had it before. No, you’re the 
test. No, no, no, no. Because you’ve never   had it. Here. So, the last time I had like a 
star-shaped fruit, it gave me like a really bad rash in the corner of my mouth. Are you 
scared? Just don’t let it touch your mouth. It’s really sour. You guys are all getting to 
experience Alex’s expressiveness. It’s really sour. Not sure? It doesn’t get any less sour. Okay. Way to go, hun. I don’t 
think I want any more of that. It’s sure is juicy. It’s juicy, but it’s so sour. And onto another day of driving. Over the 
past few days we had experienced some of   the worst road surfaces we’d seen on the 
Pan American Highway. Miles on miles of broken tarmac, deep potholes and water-damaged gravel. But, 
that being said, you’ve gotta pay to play and we can confidently say that we’ll gladly 
pay the price of some rough roads to get   a chance to gaze upon the landscapes in 
Peru. This country is incredible so far. Okay, look at these 
switchbacks. It’s just madness. And that finishes off yet another 6-hour 
travel day. We only went 115 kilometres today. We met some guys on bicycles and I think 
that they probably go faster than us. Yeah. So, today we’re going to be making beef bulgogi 
pan-fried dumplings. There’s dumpling wrappers in all the grocery stores down here because there’s 
quite a bit of Asian-Chinese influence. So, I thought I’d take advantage of the 
availability of dumpling wrappers. Let’s go. So, the dumpling wrappers were super, 
super dry and brittle. So I was having to dampen each one on both sides and then 
wrap it. And even then, only 50% of them wouldn’t have a massive split in them. So, 
this is how many I have patience for. So, we’re just gonna eat this. And then I have 
some dough going right now for flatbread because we ran out of sandwich bread. And 
I’m thinking that I’ll stuff some bread   with the beef bulgogi and we can have like little 
beef pocket, bread beef pockets. Nice. Yeah. Going to get a little soy 
sauce in there. Oops. Hot. You know, sometimes you embark on a complicated 
cooking endeavor and it just doesn’t pan out the way you thought it would. These dumpling 
wrappers, I feel like they taste old. I feel like they’re really old. So, thanks 
whatever little market I got those at. We’d certainly seen a few crazy looking roads 
on our way to make it this far into our route   from the border, but we hadn’t seen anything 
quite like this. We’re getting the feeling that Peruvian road engineers will build a 
road to just about anywhere at any height on any incline just so long as they 
can put in a switchback, or maybe 20. After two nights at the base of the canyon 
we were feeling recovered enough to continue on.  We would depart the 3N for a short 
time to follow the 100 down the canyon where we would eventually reconnect with the 3N and drive through the Canon del Pato towards Juaraz. We knew very little about the 100, only that 
it looked on the map like a slightly more   direct route in comparison to the winding 3N 
that went through the mountains. Yet again, going in blind, we had no idea of the 
unnerving experience that lay ahead. Just a few rock slides. 
Like insanity. Oh god. Oh god. Before descending into the canyon on 
the 100 we’d need to pass through the   town of Pallasca. This little town 
had probably the narrowest corridors and definitely the steepest streets 
we had found in South America so far. This is so steep. I’m so glad we’re not going   the other direction. It’s like a 
drop-off at the end. Holy smokes. Oh my gosh. Is there gas here? Brakes, don’t fail us now. Oh my word. This has got to be the steepest 
street we’ve ever gone down. Holy heck. I have no idea if this is a street that 
people drive, but we’re going for it. Look at the view that these people live with. 
Must be rough. We got 79 km to gasoline. I think we’ll make it. Sweetie. What? We will 
make it, don’t worry. We will. Gosh darn it. Not long after starting our descent into 
the canyon we came up against a long   convoy of dump trucks. We weren’t 
certain of where they were going, but they weren’t about to give way to us. So 
we found ourselves leap frogging to different   pullouts in the gaps between trucks. Due 
to the way the road hugs the mountainside, there are a lot of blind corners, so it’s hard 
to judge how many trucks there are and how long   the gap is. After slowly making our way down, 
we came up to a very narrow section of road, with a width enough for only a single vehicle. Having 
spotted a convoy of trucks and other vehicles further down, I decided to try for the gap, 
which, turns out, wasn’t the wisest decision. So, this is probably some of the scariest 
backing up I have done in my life. Really? Yeah. I mean, where we were, 
just right where we were, there is such a massive drop. Pull over here? No. He’s sweatin’. 
He’s like a tourist in a fleece. What are your thoughts on this tomfoolery? I don’t know. This has definitely got to be the 
scariest section of road just because of all the dump trucks, and you can’t see around the bends. 
Yeah, I think there was a landslide. Somebody – one of the other trucks – he said something 
about landslides, but it’s like how do you, how is anyone to know how many more trucks? Yeah. But 
yeah, I think there must have been a landslide cuz all these dump trucks are filled with gravel. You 
can see that there’s really no room for mistakes. Last three dump trucks. You see the other ones down there? Yeah, I do. More dump trucks. And a bus. And a bus. The fact that there’s a tour bus coming up this road is just, oh my gosh, so scary. The next stage of the descent was one we were 
incredibly thankful we met no further incoming traffic on. Believe it or not, the road became 
more narrow. In some sections, maybe 8.5 – 9 feet wide, just barely enough for the width of the 
dump trucks that had passed us earlier. It’s hard to gain a true appreciation for how scary the 
road is from the vantage point of the drone,   but from the ground, the drop-off made us 
want to stay as close to the wall as possible. Below us lay the Tablachaca River,   1000m down. You’d think making it to 
the bottom would spell safety for us, but that wouldn’t be the case. Perhaps we felt a 
little safer because the river bottom was closer, but there was still a lot of cliff-hanging road 
to be driven before we made it back to the 3N. As we gradually descended in elevation while 
following the Tablachaca River canyon and the dry hot air filled the cab, we began to get 
a sense of what lay ahead back on the 3N. We’d be making our way into Cañón del Pato, a 
section of the 3N that follows the Rio Santa. It is flanked by massive, crumbling mountains 
on either side and passes through a bunch of   rough-cut tunnels in the mountainside. 
This section of road would be a major highlight of our driving mission to make 
it to Juaraz … and also the most unnerving. Well, this is our final day of driving the 
3N. We arrived in Cañón del Pato last night, slept here, and we’ve got the final 
leg of the journey to get to camp   for the weekend. This has been an epic 
section of our travels. Holy smokes. And I think it’s gonna get a little bit 
crazier before it’s over. Let’s go. And at long last, the final boss, the stretch of   road that I had had in my mind’s eye 
since we left the border of Ecuador. The Cañón del Pato section of Peru’s 3N highway 
was originally built along the route of the Chimbote–Huallanca railway, constructed between 
1917 and 1940 to support mining, agriculture, and trade between the Andes and the coast. After 
the 1970 Ancash earthquake destroyed much of the railway, the route was converted into a narrow 
mountain road. Today, it features more than 35 hand-cut tunnels carved into the rock walls 
of the Rio Santa canyon and serves as a vital link between the highlands and the coastal city 
of Chimbote. The corridor also provides access to the Cañón del Pato Hydroelectric Power Plant, 
one of the key energy sources for northern Peru. From where we entered, the canyon is fairly 
wide, the slopes coming down in a broad, sweeping descent towards the river. But 
as we moved south, the towering walls   slowly closed in on the road until we had to 
crane our necks to see to the peaks overhead. The once tarmac road had been pummeled into a 
patchwork of dirt and broken black from years   of landslides and fallen rock. The drive 
through the canyon was a bone-jarring trip to say the least, and seriously tested the 
structural integrity of our suspension. As   we continued we spotted a lot of mine activity 
ranging from well developed to makeshift tunnels into the mountainside dug by hopeful miners 
digging for veins of copper, zinc, and lead. Then the canyon narrowed even further until we 
found ourselves in a slot of rock with a raging river below. The stretch filled with tunnels 
would begin soon after, and our lives for the   next couple hours would close into tunnel vision 
accented by cacophonous honking, the rattle of our dashboard and the praying that we wouldn’t meet 
oncoming traffic in the long one-way tunnels. Oh my gosh. What in the … feels like a car is 
just going to come out. Oh god. Reverse. Reverse. Okay. Don’t go too fast. No? Don’t go too close, hun. Look at this. Holy smokes. What the heck? Just let ’em know. Just got to 
let ’em know. Tow guard lights on. Holy crap, that was so scary. Like these 
tunnels, the dump trucks going through can barely fit. And they will not go back. 
We 100% have to go back all the time. And that was just, we had two tunnels and Alex 
had to back up into the gap of one of them just right on the edge, like teetering on 
the edge of the river and the dump truck had to, had to squeeze through. So we had 
to go so close to the edge, it was so scary. One-way tunnels, perilous shelf 
roads and bumpy gravel aside,   this area carries an unconventional beauty. To 
many, these barren mountains may seem like dry, lifeless rock walls but, if you keep your 
head on a swivel and pay attention to your   surroundings, it’s hard to miss the 
striking colourations of the rock, the way farms are perched high up on the 
cliffs, and how life still prevails here. After passing the industry town of Huallanca 
we climbed yet another set of switchbacks, and this is when the fear factor turned up 
just a little bit more. If it wasn’t the   claustrophobia-inducing tunnels, it was 
the sheer drop on the left side of the road that had our innards churning, and our
flight response pushing us up against the wall. I’m happy we’re behind this guy. Yeah. Gross. Gross. Gross. Gross. Gross. 
Get the hell away from here. Oh, that’s a freaking giant drop. Oh my gosh. It’d be 
good if you focused a little bit more on driving. Honey. It’s fine. I do not even want to be close to the 
edge here. This is sickeningly … So, as much as I would love to be flying the 
drone right now, I asked Meg and she said no, and that’s totally understandable. And I feel 
like one thing we have to say is we try really hard to capture as much footage and show an area 
as possible. But of course, we had to think about safety. And this is actually probably one of the 
scariest drives I’ve done in my life. I know I’ve been saying that a lot lately because all these 
roads have just been progressively scarier, but the drop-off on the left side of the van is 
certain death if we went over. And I don’t even want to look down, it’s so scary. This road is 
just obscene. The other thing is that we have been lucky – kind of – to be stuck behind this gas truck 
because, even though it’s slowing us down a bit, going through all these tunnels, any car that’s 
coming in our direction has to go back because the gas truck is not going back. Whereas if 
we lose this gas truck, so aka if Alex puts the drone up and I switch into the driver’s seat, 
that would put me in a situation where I will have to back up on this terrifying road if we come up 
against a car that is coming towards us. So yeah, I don’t know. I have to communicate my 
limits at a certain point, and this is it. Roughly 30 or so tunnels later we were 
approaching the hydroelectric dam. Beyond this point, the canyon would broaden out and 
eventually transform into a long river valley. The finish line and final destination of Juaraz and 
the Cordillera Blanca were only a short ways away. We had made it. Over the past 10 days we had 
driven an average of 6hrs a day at roughly 30kph, covering no more than 132 kilometers on our longest day. It had been an absolute mission to make it to this point, but it had also been the adventure we’d been looking for. We didn’t really have a collection of destinations to go and see in the north of Peru; we had an overland route, and by driving it, we fulfilled the main 
pillar of overland travel: self-reliant,   vehicle-based travel where the journey itself 
is the primary goal. And what a journey it was. From here, we’ll explore the Cordillera Blanca, 
a massive outcropping of mountains that contains peaks of mind-bending elevations. South of that, 
we have a laundry list of places to go, a list that we have been forming for years beforehand. 
Peru has already filled all of our expectations, and we know for a fact that it’s going to go well 
beyond that. But that is a story for next time. Thank you for being here along with us on 
this journey. We hope in some way we have   sparked your curiosity. Maybe you even 
learned something. At the very least, we hope we showed you a world worth 
exploring, worth protecting and valuing. Now, get out and go on that next adventure. 
Make the memories that stick with you,   that shape you, and change you. 
Until the next one, keep on roaming. If you would like to see behind-the-scenes 
content, get route and camp-spot information,   or if you’d just like to help support us 
by putting some gas in our tank each month, you can contribute on Patreon or through 
Memberships on our YouTube channel. Oh, hey there bud. Before you go, don’t forget 
to go on over to slowroamers.com to get yourself some rad Slow Roamers merch. We’ve even got 
some new stickers and stuff in there for you. For additional photos and 
commentary on our journey, you can follow along on Facebook and Instagram. Well, holy smokes, Peru. You are one heck 
of an adventure nation. We’re glad to be here and we’re looking forward to what you 
got next. Alrighty, see you later. Bye. [Don’t go! There’s more to come!] [Up next, the blooper reel.] Copper and malibdum. Malibdenum. You’ll find a 
collection of massive strip mines that extract gold, copper, and mal and malibdum 
malibdinum and malibdinum and malid. You’ll find a collection of massive 
strip mines that extract gold,   copper, and malib and malibd malibdenum. What? What is that? It’s a mineral or something that 
extracts gold, copper and malib and malibdinum and malibd and malib malibdinum 
and malibdinum. Malib and malibdenum and malib. What the heck? Did you ask Google how 
to say malibdum? Malib malibdenum. Malibdinum. Malibdinum. Malibdinum. You’ll find a   collection of massive strip mines that 
extract gold, copper, and malib … [and that’s all folks!]

Over 16 months ago, we set out on a journey that would take us from our home in British Columbia, Canada all the way up to the Arctic Ocean then down to the bottom of South America. When we looked to South America we dreamt of traveling through different cultures, new and unique landscapes and checking off 16 countries on the way. Four of those countries are of particular interest to us and this week we’ll be stepping foot into the first of those four, the country of Peru. To get things started we’ll be driving over 1200 kilometers on some of Peru’s most dangerous roads. The way is about to get spicy, so buckle up and let’s roam.

#slowroamers #peru #longlivetwr #panamericanhighway #southamericatrip #worthit #youtubers #vanlife #chevyexpress #offroadadventure #overlanding #overlandinglife

As always, thanks for watching.

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