People who have traveled in Peru or Bolivia often say the same thing: the weather is cool, yet their skin burns unusually fast and stings quickly even with sunscreen on. That isn’t your imagination. It really is like that.
The higher you go, the thinner the layer of atmosphere that filters UV becomes. Many places in the Andes sit well above 3,000 meters, so even under the same hours and the same sunlight, the amount of UV reaching your skin differs from the lowlands. On top of that, the low temperature makes it hard to feel how strong the UV is, which is the bigger problem.
In the highlands, sun care isn’t optional. It is the first thing to take care of.
South America can’t be treated as a single climate. Within the same continent there are completely different skin environments: dry coastal desert areas like Lima, high-altitude areas with strong UV like the Andes, and humid tropical areas like the Amazon. That is why our principle is to look at each region’s climate first when choosing products.
For the highlands in particular, we see sun care not as an option but as the first thing to take care of. The things we look at are whether the sun protection factor is high enough while the texture stays light, and whether the product is easy to reapply.
Of course, we can’t say that any single product solves every concern. But we do want to explain accurately why this region needs this kind of product.
In the next story, we’ll continue with other climate zones besides the Andes, for example how skin concerns differ in the humid Amazon.