Report from Peru:
The Canyon del Plato is a canyon that little by little becomes less inhabited and cultivated, but where at a given moment only cacti grow. We follow the river Santo and fully enjoy the ride as we circle through an impressive color palette of mountain landscapes. The road is 'paved' with pebbles which is less pleasant for the T Ford. Gradually the valley gets more narrow and the walls of the mountains more perpendicular. Through a car wide tunnel we experience difficulties with oncoming traffic; who's going backwards? With the depth gazing next to you, this is sometimes a risky adventure.
The Canyon del Plato (the canyon of tunnels) does justice to its name as we have to cross thirty tunnels. Suddenly our T begins to sputter between two tunnels. The heat, the dust and the steepness is too much for her. On the last revs Dirk is able to park it in a tunnel, away from the burning sun. The Caveman! Two spark plugs do't do what they're paid for. Cables and plugs are swapped, the pickup unit is checked but nothing seems to help. We take the whole unit out and the mystery reveals itself, some copper dust has gathered between the lips. A double-dutch sneeze from Dirk (suffering from a cold) does the job ! We can move on!
Along the way we camp one more time in the wild and take a dip in the supercool river. After another two days of gently climbing we see the first snow-capped peaks of the Cordillera Blanca and is the T Ford at a height of 3 kilometers in Huarez. We made it! so far.
T... to be continued