Peru: Road from Coast to Yungay

The road from the coast and up into the Cordillera Blanca and the town of Yungay is absolutely spectacular, but definitely not for the faint-hearted. Once you leave the broad coastal plain and then climbs sharply east following the e Río Santa River, which flows from the high Andes down to the Pacific. The scenery is beyond dramatic – steep vertical dropoffs, craggy colorful mountains (many red with iron or black with coal inlays), and road carved into a cliffface without any side barriers. The road is dirt and gravel, and there are probably several dozen very rough hand cut tunnels – no lights, single lake, and lots of potholes. Lots of places to stop in awe and it’s a slow going route, takes the entire day!