04 December 2010

Driving through Lima was crazy and doubly so because of the massive detour due to construction. The streets were clogged with cars forcing their way in between and beside one another. Finally though it was over and before I left Lima I filled up and fixed my cruise control for the second time. There is a button on the brake pedal that needs to be kept pushed in or the brake lights will remain on and the car will think the brakes are being used and the cruise won’t work. Last time I used a wadded up sheet of paper to wedge between the pedal and the button.  This time I superglued a bottle cap up there. But it wasn’t enough so I folded up my gas receipt and placed it inside the bottle cap to add the extra millimeter or so I needed.  It worked perfectly.

I made it to Nazca but not in time to catch a plane to see the lines. I made a reservation for the next morning. Just outside the city is a hill you can climb up to see the lines. It’s inside the huge rock field where the lines are. You can’t see anything. On the way here I got a lot of flashing lights and honks from passing cars. I think it’s because I’m driving with my lights on. But that just means they can see me which is the reason I’m driving with them on.

Polluted traffic

Though there is a lot of harsh thick sandy desert in Peru there are also patches of fertile green fields. Row after row of crops and people out in the fields harvesting. But other spots are too inhospitable such as between Ica and Palpa. Though enclosed by mountains the desert seems to stretch forever into the limitless horizon. The wind is very powerful with gusts that shake the whole car threatening to blow it over and into the sand. In other places the wind merely gently blows the sand across the asphalt like a dancing ghost.

Desert wasteland

I listened to the entire Final Fantasy VII soundtrack today. In Lima I put on the Mega Man soundtrack because navigating that hectic traffic is definitely like a video game. I keep thinking about what I will do and where I will go when I return to the USA but returning is not going to be easy and I’m here. I’m in South America. This is what I need to focus on. South America.

Driving though Lima I’m not sure if it was simply cloudy and foggy or that the whole city is ensconced in a thick smog. Surely there is a lot of smog in Lima with all the busses, trucks, and cars billowing black clouds of exhaust. I had to rollup the window several times so I could breathe.