The engine is done. I will not be in Ushuaia tomorrow. At the earliest it will be the 7th.
I was going about 70 miles an hour on some gravel road and the car didn’t seem to mind it at all. In fact, I was soon pushing 85-90 on well paved road. I had to brake down to about 45 because a couple trucks were going that slow and there was oncoming traffic. Unfortunately, that’s when all hell broke loose. As soon as I started accelerating again, I could hear very loud and distinct click click clicking of the motor. I slowed down but that didn’t make it any better. I stopped along the side of the road, hoping whatever it is would just go away. But the car stalled and wouldn’t start.
I waited a few more minutes and it started again, although it clearly let me know that it didn’t really want to. I went another 10 miles before I heard the engine pop. It would never start again. This was about 1:45PM. (It first stalled at 1:06:21 PM. It died at 1:16:26PM) (Juan found me and we left at 4:33PM, the first rope got torn off at 4:56PM, and we tried again at 5:09PM. He towed me for 287 miles in 6 hours and 18 minutes).
I stopped the first truck I saw heading south. I wanted to leave the car and just hop on with him. He refused, but said, I hope, that he will go to the next city and ask the cops to bring a tow truck to come get me. I don’t really konw if that’s what he said, obviously. The next ‘city’ is Puerto San Julian with less than 10000 people and I’ve been waiting for about an hour and a half now.
So I’m stranded 200 miles out from where I started, a large enough city called Comodoro Rivadavia and 300 miles from the next city called Rio Gallegos, where I was heading.
So not all is lost, but I’m nervous. How am I going to get out of this mess this time?