Today’s drive sucked pretty bad. Today, I started having serious doubts as to whether I can make it or not.
Late July to Early August is the worst of the winter in Ushuaia, which is when I’m going to be heading down there. Night temperatures can be nightmare, which means that there is some serious doubts as to whether my car would start or not. The brakes are seemingly getting worse, and I desperately need to get the car checked out real soon. I am having doubts as to whether the car would start in Cuzco. Cuzco is close to 11000 feet, and the last time I left a car that high overnight was in Ipiales, Colombia, when the car took a bit to start up at 9500 feet. It’s colder and higher here. I hope it doesn’t stop the car from starting.
I talked to a few local people today and they said that the demonstration in Abancay is over. So I headed north to Cuzco instead of going to Arequipas. I left at 9AM. The locals here weren’t kidding when they said it’s about 3 hour drive from each significant pueblo to the next. I got here at about 5PM.
The first 3 hours gave me the biggest case of regret ever. The streets started climbing almost immediately and didn’t stop until it hit 15000 feet (14938 Feet). That was pretty scary. I paid toll around 13000 feet, and my car had trouble just keeping itself going. That’s when it hit me: Cuzco is pretty high, too. If I can barely keep the car running at 13000 feet, how the hell am I going to start a cold engine at 11000? Jeez…
I killed a dog today. It wasn’t intentional. The stray dogs here are so stupid. They come running at you instead of away from you, and start barking right away. The bigger dogs know a little better and seem to bark from the side. The little ones come up right in front of you. I was going about 40 mph in a little town when a stray dog just flat out ran in front of the car. I ran it over and I can clearly see the dog lying dead on the ground behind me. A gentleman saw me run it over, but continued with his walk as though nothing happened.
Jeez, why is this so stressful? I knew it would be, but damn… I’m barely a little over halway done with the trip.