Today started out fun enough. I filled up the tank before heading out, and while waiting to pay with my credit card, a guy behind me asks in English, “You drove here from California?” I meet David.
He’s a former Marine Corporal in Infantry who went to Iraq 3 times, 7 months at a time. He’s from Orange, California. What are the chances? He was at Arequipa visiting friends and was leaving back for California on the 1st. He said he would have made the drive with me if he knew someone was making the drive. He’s contemplating on going back into the Marines. He’s 22.
I then headed down towards Tacna, Peru, where I was hoping to get to by today. I lowered the window to pay toll at one point, though. And the window didn’t roll back up. I almost panicked. I managed to pull it back up after a few minutes. Now it won’t go down at all, which is somewhat good because I’d rather have it stuck closed than than open. There are some things in this journey that’s just going wrong. I now can’t wait for it to be over. I am pushing for 11th – 13th of August as the arrival date at Ushuaia. I just hope my suspension lasts just a few weeks longer, and my engine stops overheating and my coolant to last a little longer.
The Peru-Chile border wasn’t all that complicated, but it did add a bit more dimension with the paperwork. Some Relaciones de Pasajeros. Apparently, I need an extra copy after Arica, but the border took all 4 copies. And I have some 50 extra dollars worth of Peruvian soles. Sigh…