WE DROVE THE WORLD’S TALLEST PAVED ROAD TO FIND OUT
It’s cold, and bright, and dusty, and Beige – so Beige. It’s also flat. Apart from two hills in the distance – one of them smoking, there’s almost nothing to break the endless monotony. I read the plaque with the little Spanish I can still master from my days in Cuba. It says the small smoking hill is actually a 5,976 meter-high mountain called Sabancaya. As it turns out, the modest hill also happens to be the most active volcano in Peru. The one near it is 6,300m, but dormant.
Welcome to the world’s highest highway, where the term “perspective” gets a whole new meaning. Its the tallest place on Earth accessible by a standard road car – that is, if your road car engine can breathe at a height of 4,910 meters above sea level, and of course, if you can as well.