Horizons Unlimited - The HUBB - Great Roads in South America

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Quote:

Originally Posted by crashmaster (Post 312357)

I have to chime in here to recommend the Uyuni - Salar - Laguna Colorado - Laguna Verde - San Pedro de Atacama route.

Its 400 miles of epic altiplano riding. Best segment of my trip for sure.

Write up: Into Bolivia, the Salar de Uyuni and the Lagunas | South on Two Wheels

Video: Helmet Cam Video: Bolivian Altiplano | South on Two Wheels

That looks stunning! Are there any welcoming locals with floors to sleep on if you're traveling without camping gear? Also, do the guys at Laguna Colarado, or anyone else for that matter, have any petrol fro sale?

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Originally Posted by IncompletePete (Post 326140)

Yes, there are some places you can sleep on a floor for a few bucks, but they are few and far between. and yes, you can get gas off the tours at Laguna Colorago.

However, I would carry a warm bag and a tent because there is a lot of nothin on this route and it gets down to -20 at night with the wind howling. IMO it would be foolish to not have gear to survive a few nights outside on this route, it remote, even on the main tour route.

Once off the main route if you choose to go that way, you better be self sufficient because if anything at all bad happens and you are not prepared to survive outside, its not going to turn out so well for you.

Couple of other routes nearby Uyuni that are stellar:
1) road from Tupiza to Uyuni. extremely curvy, all ripio. about 200kms and the bus takes 12 hours, so you get the idea. in the rainy season the road is a mess with washouts and landslides.
2) Argentina route 60 which crosses the andes at Paso de San Francisco. The Dakar 2011 did this pass. it is at 5000m at one point. a very long ride with no one else on the road. like being on the moon.
3) road from Cuzco to Santa Teresa, peru. First part of the road is paved but very curvy..then it becomes ripio and under construction. the police do not let anyone drive on this road after dark as it is too dangerous. during rainy season the road is mostly washed away and fallen into the valleys below. about 100kms and will take you all day.
4) and other vote for the cuzco-nazca road: all tarmac, very curvy and a long flat stretch across the antiplano. highlites are driving it in the dark during rainy season with El Nino. landslides, insane fog, snow, ice, llamas, people, and crazy overnight bus drivers.
5) most any road in argentina that is close to the andes will be amazing. ruta 40 never disappoints.

Cajamarca south to join this...

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Originally Posted by jc (Post 244441)

If I have to pick only one, it will be this one: :scooter:
From North to South
On the Pan American (1N) turn towards the mountains at Santa
After about 60kms at Chuquicara turn left over the river. No sign, but road goes to Ancos.
After another 20 or so kms turn right and follow the road that winds up the mountain to Ancos.
About 5 or less kms turn right on a single lane track that goes towards Santarosa and Llapo. From here it is extremely spectacular with single lane trafic and steep cliffs all the way. Go all the way to Llapo to check out the friendly town, then backtrak about 5kms to a turn-off to your left (S08-32.938' and W078-02.670') and take that turn-off. The road winds incredeble and we stayed in 1st and 2nd gear most of the time. Like I said, single lane, shear verticle dropps and no railings. After some time you'll reach the toan of Yupon, they have a hostal in town where we slept.

From Yupon follow the road towards Corongo. About 5kms before town you'll get to a T junction, turn right here towards La Pampa, another nice mountain town (petrol available at the supermarket) Another 10kms or so you get another T junction, turn right again. This road has the most incredable mountain scenery with amazing colours and good surface.
After you drop down the winding mountain pass you'll come to another T junction (S08-41.978' and W077-57.622') at the 'main' road from Santa to Huallanca. Turn left towards Huallanca, another nice, cheap mountain town. After Hualanca you'll go through the amazing Canon Del Pato, a single lane (stil) dirt track that follows this very narrow canyon on an old railway line through 36 or so tunnels. It is spactacular.

The route as discribed above took us 2 full days (250kms) and was the best ride of my life. We rode slowly to admire the stunning scenery and stoped a lot to take awsome photos. The little mountain towns are very friendly and 'unspoiled' by other tourists. The road surface was challenging (we were two up on a 1150GS) and we had lots of mud, but that just added to the Adventure. There were also very little trafic, so it was safe.

You'll need a good map to locate these towns, as they are very much off the mail drag. To re-cap in brief:
Santa - Chuquicara - Ancos - Santa Rosa - Llapo - Yupon - Corongo - La Pampa - Hullanca

I've uploaded two videos of this road here YouTube - Peru 1 and YouTube - Peru 2 if you like to see it.

Johan

Firstly, thanks to Johan for posting this. I rode it last week and had a fabulous time.
However, I didn't join it at the beginning. Instead I road SE out of Cajamarca on the road to Cajabamba. The road continues SE for a little way after Cajabamba before turning SE to Huamachuco (Fuel) and continuing on towards Trujillo.
After Huamachuco the road climbs and comes to a 90 degree R/H bend (approx S7 58.173 W78 12.008). Turn left onto the dirt and then right (approx S7 58.993 W78 07.185) to head down into Angasmarca (basic accomodation).

The route then goes: Mollebamba - Mollepata - Pallasca - Huacaschuque - Huandoval - Cabana - Tauca - nr Ancos

Just above Ancos a dirt road leads away from a hairpin bend (S8 29.211 W78 05.378) and this is where I joined Johan's route. (I didn't quite actually, I camped in the canyon east of Chuquicara then returned to find this track the following morning.

Johan mentions riding up to Llapo. The road actually continues through Llapo and on to Tauca so that's another option if you're coming from the north.

It's a stunning ride but sloooooow. My average MOVING speed was 32km/h and by the time I'd stopped for lunch and worn my ears sore from removing my helmet to take photos my overall average each day was around 17km/h!

A stunning route indeed.

Nice one Johan:thumbup1:

Adam