Celtic Rover
Having left Duncan in Cusco I had to get to Arequipa to pick up Mark so that we could begin our journey south to Boliva, Chile and Argentina over the next three weeks before I head home for a break at Christmas. This part of Peru is the altiplano so from Cusco at 3600m I needed to climb up to 4500m and stay at around 4000m until just a few hours before Arequipa dropping to 2500 in that city.
At first the road was very scenic reminding me a lot of the Scottish island landscape of rolling hills covered with rough scrub grass and very few trees.
Occasionally in the distance there would be some sharper peaks but the outlook on the road was very typical of Ireland or Scotland but three Monroes higher in altitude.
However as I got higher the clouds darkened and the rain started turning to sleety snow and the covering the grass in a dusting of snow. One of the great things about Nelson in this situation is that it has a diesel powered heater and I can stop just about anywhere in a car park and be pretty well fed and comfortable even if the snow is lashing the sides of the car and rocking it a little on its suspension.
I must be acclimatised to the altitude as I was able to sleep very well and the next morning the snow and rain had cleared, it was cold but no wind and I could see a lovely volcano in the distance to start me on the last few hours to Arequipa and some necessary maintenance on the truck as I wait for Mark to be ready for the high mountains and salt flats of Bolivia
Update on the Maintenance next ……
