i took off from nasca bout 7:30am. about 1.5hrs later, i had gone ~30 miles (up hill + road construction), was down to 2/3 of a tank and gasoline was dripping from engine onto the exhaust pipe (and the ground). so, i decided to head back down to nasca to find a mechanic. the mechanic i did find was pretty incompetent, as well as physically abusive to his son. $5 later, he had reconnected a hose (by accident/trial-and-error) and i was back on the road to cuzco. on the way back up the mountain, the fuel gauge sunk even lower….down to ~1/3 of a tank…and i still had ~80 miles to go. i was also pumping the brakes again…and the car nearly stalled several times. at that point, i pulled over and realized three things:
1) the hose he had reconnected was still leaking, but it was excess oil coming from the engine….so not as dangerous as i had once thought.
2) the fuel was actually leaking from the gas cap…i tightened it a bit, and that helped.
3) the mechanic in huaraz was not joking when he said that the sentra was \built for the coast, not the mountains\”
so, back on the drive, i decided to push forward…knowing that i had 4 gallons of super in my trunk (from ecuador). at the next road construction area, a man waved his arm, so i stopped. before i knew it, i had picked up a hitchhiker. the one benefit was that he knew the distance to the next gas station….so that was a bit comforting. he also noticed that the fuel tank was extremely hot (the backseat sits directly on the fuel tank….he thought the engine might be in the trunk). but, like the hannukah miracle, the remaining few gallons burned and burned–much longer than anyone would have expected–and we made it safely to puquin.

the funny thing, though, is that from puquin, i then drove another 200 miles to abancay (nasca to puquin = 100 miles)….but only used half of a tank! seems the sentra has difficulty climbing 2+ miles in elevation….but can stay at a given elevation without too much of a problem.

pic: as tessa and francois can attest to, drivers in peru love driving on the wrong side of the road…..even when there’s no good reason to. why?”