No sign of an old hat or a battered suitcase, no blue duffle coat, no wellington boots, no marmalade sandwiches or any little brown bears, it would seem deepest darkest Peru is just full of hard working trucks! Please don’t think I have been off on another jolly half way round the world, but my cousin Tim Andrew is the lucky one. Some of you may or may not know my cousin and his work as world wide professional photographer. Now and again Tim and myself have a chat and invariably its to do with vehicles of some sort usually what ever he has been photographing most recently. I always remember reading Trucking International magazine when I was a boy and rushing through it to see if Tim’s name was attached to any of the articles inside. I was always very proud or pleased to see his photos in the magazines and these days I’m even more pleased to see people’s reviews of his work online such as on Tim’s LinkedIn profile. Once again I find myself wishing I could have some of Tim’s prowess and talent. 
      

I knew Tim and his family were travelling around South America some where, so when I saw Tim’s email come in I was intrigued to see what it was all about, especially as it was titled “Peru Trucks!”. Now Tim is a professional photographer I know and with more experience than most others in the same game, but even so when some one says “These photos are mainly shot through bus or train windows.” It makes me at least, think they might be a little fuzzy, blurred, have reflection from the windows etc etc. what a fool I am, profession through and through, the photos are great and better than any of mine with a tripod and my little skill! There are 35+ photos and I am gutted to say that I can’t use them all on here. What I did notice, apart from a mix of US and Europe trucks, was one particular Volvo FH Globetrotter that I’m guessing was a European based truck at some point, due to the green “L” low noise plate on the front. 

  
 
Over to Tim and a few words about the Peru trip and a little about himself too;

High Andes, Peruvian trucks.

“I found myself in Peru for a few weeks this summer. There weren’t necessarily roads were I travelled, but when there were, they were full of vehicles of varying size and shape. Motorised rickshaws, tuk-tuks, minibuses crammed to the hilt, cars, pickups busses and large trucks. As a specialist car photographer, I was looking out for unusual Peruvian variants, but was mostly disappointed with the variety and quality of cars; boring Hyundais, Kias & Toyotas dominated. What really stood out were the colourful US style trucks. I seized the opportunity to snap them. Most of them were shot during a few bus/train rides through the high Andes plains. This area between Puño & Arequipa is mostly above 3000m. and is a sparsely populated area, surrounded by 6000m volcanoes where vegetation is minimal, lamas, alpacas and wild vicuñas graze on the sun parched grasses. The Carretera Interoceanica (34A) links the low coastline to the high Andes towns of Juliaca, Puño & Cusco, and beyond to Bolivia and eventually the Amazon. It’s a vital lifeline and so carries all sorts of goods. It also forms the backbone of the mining industry, with countless spur roads or dusty tracks leading off into the void. I cannot give you any specific information about the trucks themselves other than the convoys were well organised, proceeded by pickup trucks announcing the number of trucks involved. These were mainly mining carriers ploughing down the main road. Every so often there is a toll booth, as the Peruvian government decided to subcontract road building to private companies. As a result the surfaces are good and sound and carefully managed. The truck stops are almost the opposite. Overtaking is easy with the long straight roads, but when it gets twisty in the mountain passes, better close your eyes and cross your fingers as a passenger.”      

About my cousin Tim Andrew:

Tim Andrew has been photographing cars and trucks for 30 years for various magazines and companies such as Trucking International, Mercedes-Benz Trucks, Nikon cameras, Car Magazine, Octane, Classic Cars, Jaguar, Nissan, Toyota, Ford, Peugeot. You can see more of his work at www.timandrew.co.uk Recently he has added aerial filming to his skills go to http://www.pixauto.com and see his work. 
Email: tim@timandrew.co.uk

Web: www.timandrew.co.uk

Twitter: www.twitter.com/tim_andrew

Facebook: www.facebook.com/timandrew.co.uk

LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/timandrew