Panamericana road trip memories 7
The Pan-American Road Trip began in December 2011. A road trip through South America with 83 classic Volvos. Over 35 days and 16,000 kilometres, these Volvo enthusiasts drove from Buenos Aires in Argentina, southwards to Cartagena de Indias in Colombia. Over the coming weeks, we’ll be sharing memories of this memorable journey on our blog.
Day 23: La Paz – Puno
As soon as we stepped outside, all my senses came alive. What a lovely temperature, what a beautifully restored old town centre, but also, what a stark contrast to the suburbs. I pottered about a bit, looking for a beautiful lady in traditional dress. And how lovely they were. In every colour of the rainbow, elegant ladies with all their teeth. It wasn’t until around midday that we set off in a convoy with three others. The memory of the town was still fresh.
We found ourselves in a traffic nightmare that was best taken with a sense of humour. Within five minutes, we’d lost sight of two cars. You simply have to keep driving and hope the other driver stops. And they do – just five centimetres from your bumper. After 20 minutes, we’d lost sight of everyone. But by then we’d pretty much made it out of the town. A lovely day followed. We stumbled upon a sort of dance festival on a rock by Lake Titicaca. Later, we had to cross on a raft that I wouldn’t even put a Dinky Toy on. If a bus is travelling on it, the passengers have to transfer to another raft. It has happened before that a raft – with such a tall bus on it – has been blown over by the wind. Our low-slung little boat held up just fine.
Watch the video of this day below. Click on the image and the video will start playing.
We drove through stunning landscapes and enjoyed watching the people in their quaint traditional dress. Today, we once again reached an altitude of 4,300 metres. Quite a few people are now feeling unwell. Fortunately, we have oxygen cylinders on board, so taking a puff now and then makes us feel better again. The border crossing into Peru went smoothly. All in all, we spent the last hour driving in the dark and, as we no longer have any lights (just the high-beams), that was really annoying. Oh yes, we’ve also just narrowly escaped intensive care. On a gravel road, a car came towards us driving far too fast; it skidded and came spinning towards us. Mel jerked the steering wheel so we ended up in the verge. We felt the airflow from the other car rush past us. In a cloud of dust, our hearts pounding, we waited for the impact. It had just missed us.
Book a Pan-American Highway road trip
The book ‘Panamericana Road Trip’ has been published as a memento of this memorable journey. The story is told through the stunning photographs of travel photographer Thijs Heslenfeld, accompanied by a selection of the many stories written by the heroes of this journey. For anyone who didn’t make the journey, this is a wonderful book to lose yourself in. The proceeds from the book will go towards the special projects run by the HoPe Foundation. This organisation – founded by Walter Meekes – focuses primarily on developing education in the remote mountain villages around the Peruvian city of Cuzco.
More about LatinAmeriCar
Would you like to join one of these exclusive road trips yourself? Then take a look at our LatinAmeriCar page. Do you have any questions about a unique trip of Latin America, would you like a bespoke travel proposal, or would you like to arrange an appointment at our office? Please feel free to get in touch with us. Send an email to info@sapapanatravel.nl or call +31 73 610 62 04. We’d be happy to help.