We spent a grand total of three days in the truck in January 2018, but those days were intense as our South American road trip made a 932 mile (1,500 km) straight shot from Lima, Peru to La Paz, Bolivia. Here’s what it looked like.
The Pan-American Highway in Peru.
January 2018 South American road trip driving route in Peru and Bolivia
We began the new year in Lima, Peru and on January 2 we departed for La Paz, Bolivia. We know heading south down the Pan-American Highway is a long and tedious drive because this is the third time we’ve done it. Though the highway is mostly in good shape, the endless barren desert, curvy coastline, and too many slow trucks makes the coastal stretch hard work.
On the first day, we left Lima early and thanks to the new year holiday truck traffic was lighter than usual. After passing the towns of Pisco, Ica, and Nazca we arrived in the coast town of Chala. The next day continued south across the barren coastal desert landscape to Monquegua, stopping midway to give our hard-working truck a wash and an oil change.
Crossing the border from Desagaudero, Peru to Desagauadero, Bolivia.
The third day had us leaving the Pan-American Highway and driving back across the Andes to an elevation of nearly 16,000 feet (4,875 meters) before dropping down to the Altiplano and Lake Titikaka at a mere 10,000 feet (3,050 meters). Here the town of Desaguadero, which has the same name on both the Peru and Bolivia side of the border, straddles a small river as it enters Lake Titikaka. This is where we crossed from Peru into Bolivia.
The city of La Paz, Bolivia occupies almost every inch of a deep and complicated canyon which drops down dramatically from the city of El Alto on a very high plateau.
The last leg of the journey took us into the sprawling and insanely congested high altitude city of El Alto which sits above a giant chasm in the earth which holds our final destination for the month: the world’s highest capital city, La Paz, Bolivia.
Our complete road trip driving route in Peru and Bolivia in January 2018 is below:
See what we saw out there on the road in Peru and Bolivia in January of 2018 in our drive-lapse video, below. It was, as always, shot by our Brinno camera which is attached to our dashboard.
Here’s more about travel in Peru
Here’s more about travel in Bolivia
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