Some personal thoughts from me.
If something is useful. Use it.
Else just leave it. No right or wrong.

Weather/climate. It is good to follow the seasons.
South part of SA in Nov-Feb.
Alaska July-Aug.

Given that, it is hard to do a 12 month trip from Alaska to Ushuaia
(More common is to do it around ½ or 1½ year)

Plan your trip so that you are in Patagonia October- February. Check both climate and tourist season. Doing Carretera Austral, Tierra del Fuego, Ushuaia and up to start of Ruta 40 during that time period.

The area around Ecuador and Colombia has no real summer/Winter period. Nice all year.

=> It depends on when you start where I would start. Colombia or Chile.
And then I have the same view as AnTyx. Do South America first. It is huge !! And see later if you want to include central America and Mexico. That would be more than enough.

My very personal view is that Ruta 40 is not that fantastic.It has some very nice parts. But also long straight dessert part with nothing to see. But we all have different views. That is good.
Carretera Austral was the opposite. WOW behind every corner.

And some advice from Nathan, the post man:

https://youtu.be/UA6d4UNcE94?si=5kANFzRJ71LNPbOI


Pictures from
* Ecuador
* Bolivia
* Chile

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Sound advice from Erik G there and I have to agree. Also I would like to mention that the Andes area of southern Peru, northern Chile and the altiplano (highlands) of Bolivia have a rainy season from approx December to April - that it might be good to avoid.

My personal thoughts, no rights no wrongs just my meaning: Riding just the socalled Panam road which actually isnt a road and hardly is called so is for the most part really boring. Take the socalled Panam in Peru, the road 1N and 1S - if you only travel that road you hardly see ANYTHING of the interesting stuff in Peru as almost all interesting stuff lies up in the mountains (a few exceptions as the capital of Lima, Nazca lines etc) but you miss a whole lot of nice and interesting things such as the Chachapoyas area - one of the most mindblowing rides I had during my RTW trip and all the archeological sites in that area, you miss the mountain area of Cordillera Blanca, you miss Cuzco and the secret Valley, Macchu Picchu, the whole jungle/amazon area of Peru, you miss the beautiful city of Arequipa, you miss Lake Titicaca and Puno town and many many more. And the list goes on for every country through central and south America. Skip the Panam and find youre own route through the countries and pick what you want to see.

Northern Argentina fantastic, southern Argentina - not so much! So if I had only one choice I would travel through northern Argentina and then head over to Chile and do southern Chile and Carretera Austral. But then you will miss San Pedro de Atacama in Chile which is a shame as it is a very facinating area. So you will most probably miss something anyhow - but then again it gives you an excuse to go back at a latet occasion…

__________________
In the end everything will be fine. If its not fine its not the end....

Hey Erik!

Thanks for taking the time to reply, I read your "Trip that never happened" boy, what a wordsmith you are! I loved reading that and I have just bought a copy of the Carretera Austral book as you recommended and the route you planned looks great! I think the more we think about it we are leaning towards shipping our bike into Santiago so we would be setting out from Chile as you suggest.

I'll be popping in more often over the coming months.

Thanks for all the input folks, really appreciate it!

I did the trip 2 years later. When Covid was over.
But I dit not ship my bike. I went to Colombia and bought a bike.
The RE Himalayan in the picture.

I will send you a PM about the trip.

/Erik

Cool I read you ride report over on ABR. Got loads of info from there, had a great adventure by the sounds of it. Great pictures too!

Hey DeeGee,

The PanAm through northern Peru to Lima is flat-dead boring. You are close to the coast but can't see the ocean. It's filled with trucks that are screaming along and making wind that will push your bike around. I read about how ugly the road is and ended up on it anyway due to schedule pressure. Friends have gone off the PanAm in the particular stretch and enjoyed it.

The PanAm through Colombia and Ecuador isn't bad, but do make time to take side trips or detours as often as possible.

I think 12 months is a good length to go one way. Shipping your bike home is supposed to be easier from Uruguay than Argentina, but ask around for advice from those who have done it.

You would be remiss to not visit Brazil. The people are super friendly, there is a lot to see and your money will go a long way here. Ex. 1 USD buys 5 reais. Imported products are expensive, otherwise, you'll live like a king & queen here. If you enter Brazil to see Iguazu Falls, go a little further, maybe ride few days and go to the beach. You won't regret it.
PS: The Argentinian side of Iguazu Falls is better in general. On the Brazil side, you get close to a set of falls from a viewing platform, which is cool too.

__________________
Peter B
2008/09 - NJ to Costa Rica and back to NJ
2012/13 - NJ to Northern Argentina, Jamaica, Cuba and back to NJ
2023 - Peru, Brazil, Paraguay, Argentina, Chile, Bolivia...back to Peru.

Blogs: Peter's Ride

I agree what is already said.
One more observation from me and another traveler. I spent many weeks in both Ecuador. Peru and Bolivia, without seeing one single foreign bike.

But as soon as you get on Pan Am, there is heavy traffic of big bikes that wants to reach Ushuaia as fast as possible.

So the selection of route depends on how you want your travel o look like.
Going with the gringo flow. and try to reach the destination. Take your picture and tick of the box.
Or zia-sag in the real countries. Interact with locals. Take car of your self. Se wonderful places and enjoy the trip. Spending weeks several times without seeing another no local traveler.
And the destination is where the fun ends. Not the goal to archive.

And yes, I have done both. Due to limitations in time and $ I used the coast route through Peru and Chile to Ososrna for travelling South. And I took my time to travel slow and of the standard routes along Carretera Austral and when going north. Carretera Austral, Ruta 40, Boliva on the way north. El Oriente in Ecuador....

When travelling small roads in Ecuador and Colombia, there are a lot of small villages. With nice cafes and restaurant. Often direct at the street. On Pan Am and parts of routa 40 there is nothing for 250-350 km. No town, no cafe, no gasstation... Flat and dead landscape. Wonderful first day. But then....


Some pictures from the rest places in Ecuador, Colombia, Bolivia

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Here are pictures from
1) Peru
2) Chile
3) Chile
4) Argentina
5 Peru again. When There were road blcoks. And I was the only one that were allowed to pass from ICA to the highway. 100 km of highway for myself !!!

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