We’ve had a few misadventures driving from the United States to Peru over the past two years. We were hit by a tornado tailwind in Honduras, got stuck in mud for hours in Nicaragua, and nearly fell for a car-jacking scheme in Colombia. But no stretch of road compares to Peru Highway 8B in the Andes mountains, known as one of the world’s most dangerous roads.
Picture this:
- A one-lane road for two-way traffic
- On the side of a cliff with a sheer drop-off
- Up to 14,000 feet (4,270 meters) in altitude inside the clouds
- Countless twists, meaning you can’t see oncoming vehicles at all and need to constantly lay on the horn to avoid potential collisions
- When you do encounter oncoming traffic, including wide vehicles like dumptrucks, you have to find a place to pass and hold your breath
- Stunning, soaring mountain views like you’ve never seen
Watch now:
Also in this video, we stay in the heart of Cajamarca and watch a local parade from our balcony.
What’s new?
Our United States visit is over and we are back in Peru! After Christmas in California with Brittany’s side of the family, we drove to Denver to complete our three-month loop of the U.S.
We were supposed to fly out of Denver at 10 a.m. on Friday and arrive in Lima at midnight local time. But our final flight from Houston had mechanical issues that couldn’t be fixed. The flight was delayed multiple times with gate changes that had us lugging our heavy backpacks all over the terminal. United ended up postponing the flight overnight and putting us up in a creepy hotel that looked like The Shining.
We got a few hours sleep and a 4:30 a.m. wakeup alarm. After one more flight delay, we finally left Houston at 9 a.m. yesterday. The whole airplane was clapping as we accelerated down the runway!
We landed in Lima around 5 p.m. yesterday–16 hours behind schedule. A taxi took us to the historic district where we got a hotel to rest and recuperate from 36 total hours of travel. Tomorrow we go inland to Dauntless, our 2021 Jeep Gladiator home. We are looking forward to being reunited–Caspian more than any of us.
Here’s what you can look forward to on YouTube. We have two more Peru videos to share leading up to our U.S. visit. We go into and over the Cordillera Blanca mountain range and explore incredible ruins dating back to 1200 B.C. Then we brave the dusty Pacific coast and get our Jeep home put in storage. Following those two videos, we’ll condense our three months in the United States into one YouTube episode.
We can’t wait to share it all with you! Thanks for joining us on this journey around the world.
-B
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