I did most of this route by bus in the late 2000s, mostly semi-cama style where available. Was entirely manageable mostly, apart from feeling weird as the altitude kicked up heading to Cusco, and the horrendous surface of the la paz to uyuni road. For an interminable stretch in the middle of the night in felt like we were driving over an endless washboard.

The 2008 US presidential election was on, we hadn't heard the result, the park ranger in an unbelievably remote hut at uyuni informed us that "el Moreno" had won

Thanks for reminding me how beautiful Rio ("Hio") is! I went to Brazil twice in the late 2000s. Brings back some fun memories:

- Most of the locals on the beach will start clapping when the sun begins to set. Ipanema is a beautiful beach/area.

- Brazilians are curious and happy to chat with foreigners. I particularly enjoyed how slowly everyone walked, not in a rush to get to anyplace.

- If you're staying in hostels, it's really easy to fall into the trap of hanging around other foreigners who pretty much all speak English fluently (which is fun, but isn't the main purpose of traveling IMO). I learned a little Portuguese before traveling which helped break out of that. I also couch surfed (stayed in strangers homes), which was fun.

- I found the cuisine to be light, though I was on a budget. Pretty sure I lost weight and had to eat more frequently. I miss Acia bowls.

- Dont drink unfiltered tap water, and make sure the bottled water seals aren't broken. I got sick a couple times regardless.

- Carnaval and soccer (football) matches are wild. Tons of energetic people.

- I was never mugged, but met a lot of people who were, or knew someone who was (locals and foreigners). Maybe things have changed. Traveling alone at night is not a good idea.

Memories!

Back in 2012 after 8 months across Asia (through Turkey, Iran, India, Nepal, China, Vietnam, Cambodia, Thailand, Laos and Hong King) we took a flight to Buenos Aires (well, via SF for a weekend) then went entirely overland: - Buenos Aires - Puerto Madryn - Ushuaia - El Calafate - El Chalten - Bariloche - El Bolson - Mendoza - Salta - El Cafayate - Into Bolivia… - La Quiaca - Tupiza - Salar de Uniyi - Sucre - La Paz - Copabanca - Isla Del Sol - Into Peru! - Puno - Cusco - Aguas Calientes - Arequipa - Tacna - Into Chile! - San Pedro de Atacama - Into Argentina - Salta - Puerto Iguazú - Into Brazil - Foz do Iguaçu - Rio de Janeiro - Ihla Grande - Paraty - San Paulo - Home (via Amsterdam)!

I’m glad we did it when we were younger - golden years.

The article omits the most important detail in the bus summary. Is it cama?

Cama is Spanish for bed. A cama bus has seats that fully recline to form a flat bed. They are awesome. Semi-cama is a reclining chair. Not flat, but comfortable and you can easily sleep. And then you get regular buses, which are no fun on the long journeys.

Really drives home the blessing of air travel. LATAM offers the same route for about the same price, 5 hours instead of 118.

I assume the author just had nothing better to do which is fine, but great to have the other option.

I’d always fancied myself a decent driver. Riding in buses across parts of Peru recalibrated my standards. I couldn’t believed what they could do with those clapped out tour buses, some *truly* skilled folks at the wheel.

i remember seeing sun beating down on a truck in front of us with 80 or so residential sized gas tanks just banging on each other for the entire way from arequipa to lima, fun times. we did cuzco to puno then loop back to lima. there was news of coach fallen off the road on the bit from puno to arequipa, but then I was young and eager to explore so just jumped on anyway with a friend, good times for sure.

DW made a 5 part mini-series about it https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C_ODFlqURxY

Reminds me of "The Wrong Way Home" about a guy who did a similar land-only trip, except from London to Sydney.

I spent a huge part of my teens and early twenties dreaming of doing the same. These days the mere thought gives me a back ache.

There are some mediocre routes and some interesting routes.

I think a key tidbit not mentioned by the article, is to recommend for US and Europeans travelers the experience of ecosystem change by going from coastal (sea level), to paramo , to high Andes , and then back down to (dense) tropical jungle.

That ecosystem journey does not exist in North America, and its rare in the EU, except for maybe Switzerland (where you will not experience tropical jungle anyway).

Yet, the journey from coast to highland down to jungle, is available on all highways criscrossing the Andes!

The longest single bus ride I did was about 24 hours from Iguazu (Argentine side) up to Rio. It was at the end of a 2 month trip through Peru, Bolivia, Argentina and Brazil. I had intended to break it up with a couple of days in Sao Paulo, but I ended up spending way longer than expected in Buenos Aires because I loved it so much.

It was semi cama and we were told there would be a meal served as part of the ticket, only to be told on board that the meal wasn't available for whatever reason. After much complaining (not just me but all of the passengers) we eventually got them to let us stop for half an hour at a service station in the middle of nowhere to get some food.

It was over 13 years ago now, but I still have so many great memories of that trip.

Did something similar but not nearly as long across a good part of Mexico a few years ago. It was wonderful though one cannot be in a hurry. I will have to consider your route for a future pilgrimage. Thank you for sharing it!

We travelled Peru by bus for the majority of our trip (only at the end taking the plane from Cusco to Lima at the end). Amazing way to see the country

I remember Buenos Aires to Porto Alegre (via Foz do Iguaçu) by bus. I guess that's about 1/4 or 1/3 as far, with somewhat less dramatic landscapes. Extremely comfortable except for the violent action movies shown on an overhead TV with sound, even for part of the night.

Edit: but ultimately probably a very different experience because it's so much less mountainous!

Wow, what an epic looking trip! My brain began planning this out with my wife and I getting off the bus at a cool looking city and staying a few days for site seeing.

This trip goes through remarkable places, I was lucky to experience quite a few without ever doing such trip in that location.

Uyuni salt plain - magical experience, better than any photos. Climbing on old rusty train cut into chunks, jumping between wagons. Or sleeping in salt-cubes-built iglu. Or hiking to 5200m high volcano Tunupa just next to salt plains.

Sucre - nice colonial feel.

Potosi - evils of colonialism in plain sight. Hard place to swallow. Also possible to go to one of hundreds mines in the famous hill where all the silver mines are. There can be some nasty sillica in the air, beware. But mines look like you would expect in 3rd world - basic, dangerous, and a stick of dynamite is never too far. If you want to see effects of high altitude on fertility, local church is a (traumatic) place to visit.

La Paz - proper high altitude capital, don't be surprised to feel dizzy when stepping out of plane at 4100m altitude.

Copacabana - I presume the one on Titicaca - recommending visiting Isola del Sol, talking to locals. Never had a frozen beer in pre-frozen mug, when outside was -10C and even inside barely 0C, even the foam froze so had to be chewed.

One thing seemingly skipped since this was more just a regular travel path - you can ride down on a rented bike Camino de la Muerte near La Paz - or Yungas death road. In 1 day, you bike from 4700m high frozen planes down to tropical jungle, on shabby muddy roads cut to properly vertical slopes, with waterfall falling down your neck. Don't skip this, even if you are not a seasoned biker. One of those memories for rest of the days.

The Lake Titicaca is amazing, the high altitude gives the most blue sky that I have ever experienced.

Buses and related are great in SA. I'm frankly surprised that it took 11 separate buses to this

If you are a comfortable traveler and know a bit of spanish, find the combis/collectivos wherever you are, it is far and away the best way to do day trip travel from many cities

Fantastico!

If you'd like to try something like that from the safety of your home beforehand: https://store.steampowered.com/app/381780/80_Days/

imagine if you had a bridge over the darien gap and could do a bus travel from arctic circle to patagonia