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Bus travel from Lima to Rio de Janeiro

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Re: Bus travel from Lima to Rio de Janeiro

#31

Post by j_french »

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

Re: Bus travel from Lima to Rio de Janeiro

#32

Post by pimlottc »

mopsi wrote: post #2

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

80 Days is a really wonderful literary game that captures the joy and adventure of travel (quite a nice escape during the pandemic). There's tons of replayability with different routes and subplots to discover.

Re: Bus travel from Lima to Rio de Janeiro

#33

Post by CGMthrowaway »

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

Re: Bus travel from Lima to Rio de Janeiro

#34

Post by xyzelement »

MrOrelliOReilly wrote: post #30
xyzelement wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If that's your actual goal sure.

I’m not convinced you read the post. I believe the author makes quite explicit their goal was to actually visit these cities, noting this is far from the most efficient bus route. Their itinerary also shows long stays in several spots.

Yes. I am just saying what an amazing thing air travel is when this is your baseline.

Re: Bus travel from Lima to Rio de Janeiro

#35

Post by IG_Semmelweiss »

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!

Re: Bus travel from Lima to Rio de Janeiro

#36

Post by idiotsecant »

IncreasePosts wrote: post #19
idiotsecant wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

'nothing better to do' is where all of life's greatest surprises are hiding.

You can also have nothing better to do in rio for 5 days

You're making the mistake of thinking that the place you're headed is your destination. When you look back (I hope) you recall fondly your younger days adventures where you had 2 bucks and an open road. The best adventures happen when we don't expect them because we're on the way to the 'important' thing.

We very rarely correctly identify in advance what the important thing is.

Re: Bus travel from Lima to Rio de Janeiro

#37

Post by NoboruWataya »

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.

Re: Bus travel from Lima to Rio de Janeiro

#38

Post by AFF87 »

masfuerte wrote: post #24

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.

100% agreed, cama for that trip could be a great experience... regular would be really painful

Re: Bus travel from Lima to Rio de Janeiro

#39

Post by AlotOfReading »

IG_Semmelweiss wrote: post #35

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 y…

You can do a similar journey in the US and Canada from sea level through temperate rainforest to alpine tundra on the Pacific coast. It's not quite the same as the Andes, but it's similar because of the structural similarities in how the Pacific rim formed.

Re: Bus travel from Lima to Rio de Janeiro

#40

Post by jonah »

IG_Semmelweiss wrote: post #35

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 y…

You can experience all of those ecosystems - and more - just in Columbia if you choose to.

We did a lot of bussing around there couple years ago - none of them or as nice as these motor coaches! (We were generally not taking the longer routes though.)

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