This post was written by our friends Brianna and Logan of PanamNotes.com. The post is part of our series of guest posts by fellow overlanders and travelers. Enjoy.

“25,000 miles . . . That’s not so far, certainly we could make it to Ushuaia in five months, nine months at a leisurely pace.” This is what we told ourselves back home, staring at the maps laid out on the kitchen table. Maps should have a warning like side view mirrors, this country is larger than it appears.

The PanAmNotes Rig doing its thing

Realizing this didn’t take long.  We spent hours ogling the trip reports of past PanAm journeys. We craved the surf in central America, offroading in Bolivia, and mountain climbing in Peru. We recognized the necessity of driving to a place, rather than through it. Before even shifting the truck out of park we decided nine months wasn’t going to cut it. We were still in the process of saving money and dug deeper shooting for 12 months.
We hit Mexico at our planned 12 month pace. Driving aggressively, averaging too many hours in the truck each day, we watched the country fly past. We spent over a month in Mexico and while we look back fondly on it, we know we missed damn near all of it with our exhaustive schedule.  After Mexico, we seemed to downshift a little bit more with each country, lingering longer, absorbing more, and living better.

Brianna "downshifting" to the proper speed

We maxed out our three month visas in Peru and had to admit it was a major part of the reason this country topped the list of our favorites. Peru had become familiar, a culture we could grasp, foreign not at all.  It was here we made yet another extension to the journey. The logistics behind the decision were still forthcoming.  Financially we were in the same spot as our previous January end date.  We didn’t have the money but we had a plan.  Living slowly makes life more affordable. Rather than arriving in town after an eight hour drive and embarking upon the executive two day see-it-all affair, you can spend a week or two wandering around soaking it all in. With less driving the gas costs diminish and the need for luxury and convenience become unnecessary.

We have found a happy middle ground in between the overstuffed tour bus takers and the long term apartment leasers (SprinterLife we’re looking at you). We stick around long enough to meet folks, hear the local gossip, and engage in arguments over the best brand of mate (without a doubt, it’s Amanda).

There seems to be a growing popularity of speedy efficiency among travelers, especially Americans. If I have a week I can see a country, if I have a month I can see a continent, if I have three months, I can see the world!

Driving the PanAm is a malleable journey, it can be whatever you want it to be. Whether you’re seeking immersion, volunteering to better other lives, or just looking for a period of introspective extroversion, there’s just nothing fast about it.

Logan peak baggin'

January 26th, 2012 | Category: Miscellaneous | Comments (1)

The long drive to Chachapoyas proved to be well worth the fuel and time it took, a great town with a very interesting history. Chachapoyas is named after the Andean people who inhabited the area before the Incas and Spaniards came along is surrounded by the ruins of their settlements, dating back to in some cases AD 800. The Chachapoyas people lived in the area before the Incans came along and conquered them in the 15th century. The word chachapoyas means warrior of the clouds, or maybe children of the clouds, or maybe even people of the clouds, depending on who you ask. Chachapoyas’ location in the mountains on the edge of the amazon region also makes it a great place for hiking with a plethora of climate zones. We stopped by a tour agency in the town with the idea of getting some information on the surrounding ruins and then going on our own. We weren’t exactly prepared for the used car salesman turned tour agent who greeted us. Within seconds he was showing us pictures of a 4 day trek they offered and regaling us with tales of how much we would enjoy the hike. The hike included some of the ruins we wanted to see anyway, and the mountains we would be hiking through also looked pretty nice. Within minutes the sales pitch was working and we found ourselves thinking it would be a good chance to get our hiking boots back out as it had been awhile. Yes, this guy was that good.

Alas, Luis woke up in the middle of the night before we were leaving with a bad stomach and ended up spending the rest of the night in the bathroom with a visit from Montezuma (second time in 2.5 years, not bad really). Thinking this would not be a good way to spend the 4 day trek, Lacey went down to the tour office and explained the situation. “No problem, you can leave tomorrow,” was the reply. Since we were already committed to the idea, we agreed, never once thinking maybe this was an omen that we shouldn’t be going at all, or at least Luis shouldn’t.

The first day of the tour was more like bussing than trekking. We first went out to the Ciudad de Los Muertos (city of the dead), where we hiked along impossibly narrow shelves built by the Chachapoyas in the middle of impossibly steep cliffs to check out sarcophagi and the remains of what appear to be small houses built along a shelf running the length of the cliff. The sarcophagi are too far to get a good look, but they look like egg shaped mounds of clay that contain mummies. Some of them have what appear to be faces on the top of them.

The sarcaphagi mounds set into the recess of the cliff.

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Our next stop was at Karajia where some more impressive sarcophagi are found. These sarcophagi are made out of wood and stand almost 10 feet tall. They have some vaguely human shape to them, and are pretty amazing to look at. Like the less refined sarcophagi at the Ciudad de Los Muertos, these are also set into recess in the middle of cliffs. One has to wonder how the hell they got these things up there.

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The end of the first day found us winding down into Valle Huaylla Belen slightly reminiscent to the Valle de Cocora in Colombia and one of the most beautiful and picturesque valleys I’ve seen. The valley bottom is covered in green grass with a little river snaking through the middle and surrounded by jagged mountains on all sides. The valley is now protected in a type of land trust, but our guide told us it has always been considered sacred among the people living here, which is how the valley has escaped being split up into plots of agriculture by the locals.

The view of the valley from above.

The morning of the second day arrived cold, cloudy and drizzly, but we were exited anyways because we would be hiking all the way to our next destination for the night. As we started walking out of the valley, the clouds broke and the sun came out making it a very pleasant hike. Leaving the valley behind we started walking through the mountains following a pre-Incan path of laid rock that connected the different cities of the Chachapoyas people. The really cool part is that the path is still used by the campesinos in the area. It was pretty amazing to think about how many generations of people had passed through these same paths in the over 1,000 years since the rocks had been laid. In the afternoon, we arrived at the ruins of one of the towns, just as the sky opened up and began to pour rain. One of the unique and interesting things about the Chachapoyas people is the architecture which is characterized by circular stone houses.

Luis walking the trail of the Chachapoyas.

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From the ruins, it was all down hill to the town way in the valley below where we were staying the night. Unfortunately the rain wasn’t helping the already treacherous and slippery trail get any easier to walk down. About half way down, Luis slipped on some rocks and went down. Everybody let out a collective gasp as they saw the angle of his foot and leg that he fell on. There was a few minutes of panicked discussion as our guide told us we were still a good hour from town. Luckily, after a few minutes and some attention from his personal nurses (the two girls, Amy and Romney, we were on the hike with had taken wilderness first responder courses) he was able to get up and continue to walk. It was a very painful walk into town, as Luis’ injured ankle didn’t deal well with the slippery, rocky path. As we relaxed at the place we were staying, and watched the cuy running around in the kitchen where our food was prepared, we discussed what Luis was going to do. In the end, at the urging of our guide (who no doubt didn’t want to have to deal with anymore falling Luis) it was decided that Luis would return to Chachapoyas in the morning and sit out the day while the rest of us continued on. He could catch a bus the following morning (the 4th day of our trip) and meet us for the grand finale of the trip: the ruins of Kuelap.

The kitchen at our bunk house. If you look closely you can see a bunch of guinea pigs huddled under the stove.

Our third day started out with more rain, surprise, surprise! It had rained all night, so we weren’t too excited at the condition of our trail for the day. Today we were spending most the time on horses, with some hiking in between when the trail was too bad for the horses. What our guide failed to tell us was that our horses were actually part mountain goat, and the trail was going to be INSANE! The ride started out mellow enough, but soon went from mellow to white knuckled hold on for your life crazy. We were traversing straight up mountain sides, in some places feet deep in water and mud, and climbing over wet, muddy, slippery rocks. Yes, all while riding horseback! I have never been on a ride like this before, and probably won’t ever again. The first hour or so, I was riding in terror, thinking as we approached each new crazy slope that there was no way these poor horses were going to make it up, and planning my no doubt ungraceful departure from the horse. After about an hour or so, however, of still finding myself in place on the horses back after each leap and scramble, I started to trust my horse and relax a bit to enjoy the ride. Our horses were really quite impressive, taking each leap and bound in stride. While there was a bit of slipping and sliding on their part, not one of the three horses ever came close to going down in the entire 5 hours of our ride. By the end I was convinced that they really were part mountain goat. The other amazing part of this ride was the horse guide. He scrambled along with us the entire time, wearing shorts and sandles in the pouring rain, while furiously chewing his bag of coca leaves. No matter how steep and slippery the slope was, he was always right there along side the horses and never once appeared to get tired or out of breath. I for one was totally impressed by this, as the few times we had to hike up a hill I was floundering along out of breath within minutes.

Riding horses on the muddy trail. This is actually the better part of the trail. Unfortunately, I was either to scared or it was pouring down rain to get pictures of the "better" part of the trail.

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Our fourth day of the trip we were picked up by a bus and drove up to the ruins of Kuelap. Kuelap is said to be the Machu Pichu of northern peru, with the advantage of having way less visitors. We will save our opinion on the matter for after our visit to Machu, but Kuelap was indeed well worth it. It is a huge fortress, perched at an elevation of 3,000 meters (almost 10,000 feet) on a mountain top, with amazing views of the surrounding mountains in all directions. For more on the Kuelap ruins see the separate post soon  We had so many great photos we decided to post them separately. But as an enticement to check it out here is a small preview.

January 21st, 2012 | Tags: blogsherpa, chachapoyas, Peru, ruins | Category: Peru, South America | Comments (1)

Looking at a map, it is easy to understand that Peru is a very large country. However, it wasn’t until we started our drive to Chachapoyas that we really got a full understanding of just how large it is. Our route on the map takes up only a very small portion of the country, but the drive took us about 10 hours. It was a good lesson to learn in our first Peru travels: drives are long, so start early and pack lots of snacks and water. Unfortunately, as our famous early starts aren’t usually all that early, it is going to take some time to get used to. This drive we did actually manage to get an early-ish start at around 7. The first part of the drive before the mountains was not all that scenic, but interesting. The area is insanely dry and the landscape is pretty much dirt and a few trees scattered about. Definitely a harsh climate to live in and an area that puts survival into a whole new context.

On days that we spend more than a few hours in the car, we usually end up grumpy and on a mission to get where we are going. For some reason, maybe the beautiful scenery or maybe just the fact that we knew it was going to be a long drive and had prepared for it, we actually took our time and enjoyed the drive. We even stopped after a few hours on the road and made some coffee having missed our morning caffeine intake in an effort to get started early.

Once we hit the mountains, the landscape turned a lot more scenic, with lush green mountains covered in clouds in all directions. There is something about the Andes, with the exceptionally high peaks dropping into steep narrow valleys that make you feel how small we truly are. We saw lots of goats scattered all over the hillsides as we wound our way around the hairpin turns. We even saw this little guy (picture below), giving a new meaning to the joke: “why did the tarantula cross the road.” It is hard to tell in the picture just how big he is, but the fact that we were able to spot him crossing the road as we were driving might give some indication.

The road is dotted with memorials along the roadside every 500 meters or so as a testament to all those who have come before and a good reminder to drive safe and keep your eyes on the road. These are the type of roads that always make us especially appreciative to be in our own vehicle. It is scary enough without having to put your life into the hands of some maniac bus driver that goes barreling around the corners, while looking at the steep hillside as it drops off the road so far below.

Almost every big truck we passed had a biker hanging on the back. Smart bike riders, we wouldn't want to have to peddle up these hills either.

After what seemed like hours, oh yeah it was, we finally dropped out of the mountains into the Amazon region, and what a change in both temperature and landscape! It is hard to explain the difference in the greenness and vegetation between the lush mountains and the even lusher tropical region. Here, the hills are more rolling and even greener if that makes any sense. All of the trees and cliffs have vines growing all over, and the valleys are terraced and full of growing rice. The air is thicker and more humid and the temperature warmer.

After a while we climbed back out of the topical area into more mountains although not quite as high this time. By the time we arrived in Chachapoyas we had come to a happy medium. Nestled in the mountains, it is high enough to be out of the hot humidity of the lower tropical region, but not high enough to reach the coldness of the high andes. As it was New Year’s Eve, we made it just in time to stroll the plaza enjoying all the families and kids letting off fireworks. Our nightcap for the evening was watching a very drunk Peruvian who pulled up to the plaza right at midnight with his girlfriend. He proceeded to get out of his truck with the radio blasting the Bee Gees, light an incredibly long roman candle (it had to be at least 4 feet long) and do a strip dance (he managed to keep his clothes on, but you get the idea:) ) while shooting colored lights into the sky. Unfortunately we had forgotten our camera at the hotel when we had gone out (I know bad travelers), but you get the picture. We couldn’t help cracking up while enjoying the show and toasting to midnight. Any new year that starts with this much comic relief is bound to be a good one! In true Lost World Expedition style, we are a bit late with this post, but we want to wish everybody a Happy and Blessed New Year.

January 12th, 2012 | Tags: Andes, blogsherpa, Peru, roads in peru | Category: Peru, South America | Leave a comment

After an amazingly long time traveling in Ecuador, our visas were finally running out which meant it was high time to get moving. We choose to cross into Peru by the coastal border crossing because we had heard that it was the biggest and busiest border crossing and we were hoping that the more people and stuff going on, the easier it would be to slip out with the truck un-noticed. Due to our lengthy stay in Ecuador, our truck paperwork was in a semi-legal status: we had gotten a customs official to extend our truck visa longer than the time limit actually allowed by law by finding another law that gave us a loophole. This meant that while the truck was in the computer system and was still technically valid, the customs officials could easily recognize that this wasn’t right and demand some money to make up for it. Since we weren’t exactly sure how this would work, we decided it was better to let sleeping dogs lie and sneak the truck out.

After hearing how busy this particular border crossing was, imagine our surprise when we arrived and found we were the only ones there! The place was completely empty. Ecuador was easy to check out of, the immigration guy even kindly offered to give us another 3 months in Ecuador if we so desired (at a small fee I’m sure). We thanked him kindly but said no it wasn’t necessary and were on our way out of the country. Even with nobody else around to make us invisible, the customs office for the truck is a good 4 km from the border so nobody noticed. Crossing the bridge into Peru, we were the only ones on the huge 4 lane road. It felt a little weird.

The Peruvian side of the border was just as easy and deserted as the Ecuadorian side. The plus side of this was no long lines to stand in. We just walked right up and got taken care of. Everybody was even really nice and friendly. Within a half hour we were all set and on our way. So far the easiest and most pleasant border crossing experience we’ve had. I guess we should note that the virtual desertedness of the border isn’t really normal. One of the border guys on the Peru side told us a few days before it was so busy, a woman who had arrived at 8 in the morning didn’t get out of there until 2 in the afternoon due to the long lines. I guess we had a bit of luck on our side!

We knew that our fellow overlanders Tree and Stevie of Sprinterlife were somewhere near the border so we kept our eyes peeled and sure enough, in true travelin’ mojo, not an hour down the road we spotted their sprinter on the side of the road in the town of Zorritos. We pulled over and after talking with them decided to spend a few days hanging out. We stayed at a place right on a nice beach, relaxed, and tried to get used to the heat. So far a great start to our 11th country on the road! If you want to see more about Zorritos, you should check out the BodesWell blog. These guys stayed here for quite a bit longer than us and do justice to the area in their posts.

The four of us squeezed into the back of a tuk-tuk on the way to dinner.

Oh, we almost forgot the most important picture of the post. In Zorritos, we got our first opportunity to try the famous Peruvian ceviche. Without a doubt it lived up to its reputation!

January 9th, 2012 | Tags: blogsherpa, border crossing, Peru | Category: Peru, South America | Comments (4)