Mud, sweat and Tires

(Reblogged from Alex's page!)

As many know, having your own vehicle can be both a blessing and a curse.  This trade-off is never more obvious than for scientists with their own research vehicles.  It’s a wonderful way to travel to field sites far and wide, and you never have to share a ride with chickens heading to market! However, in true Murphy’s law fashion, it almost always fails when you need it most; for instance, on the first day of your field season, or at 11pm when you are 2 hours and 1500m below your field station.  Such is the story of Shigella, Alessandro’s aptly named 1990 Nissan 4x4.  (Shigella is the name of a dysentery causing bacterium). Maybe unsurprisingly, when we first arrived in Cusco she refused to start.  After some poking and prodding, banging and clanking, and holding a 2L bottle of gas connected by a hose through the window, we rolled into the mechanic’s shop.  The following days were spent bouncing between the shop (someone’s yard) and auto-parts stores.  Fun fact: in Peru you have to provide all your own parts! Try finding parts to a 1990s pre-Pathfinder Nissan steering column! But; 1 new gas pump, 1 repaired steering column, 1 scrubbed gas tank, 2 new tires and 3 days later we were able to make the breathtaking 3 hour drive from Cusco to Wayqecha.  However, just like it’s namesake bacterium, Shigella came back with a vengeance.  After a full day of deploying recorders, collecting water and running transects from 3000m down to 1500m both we and Shigella sputtered to a stop around 11:30p.  Two hours spent trying to coax her back to life on the side of a winding Andean road were to no avail.  Instead we utilized that wonderful, wonderful gravity to coast our way down for nearly 2 hours to the small town of Patria.  There the 3 of us and Shigella collapsed outside the Mercado for a few fitful hours of sleep. First light brought us to Patria’s only mechanic, who worked throughout the day on our dear 4x4.  12 hours, 1 scrubbed carburetor, a few new hoses, 3 hours of pouring rain and some blazing heat later…(the dramatic effect is because I was writing this as it happened) Shigella roars to life and promptly blows two belts.  A 1 hour trip to the auto shop in “nearby” Pilcopata became 2+ hours, but Alessandro returned with new belts and once again she came to life.  As we bought some celebratory Coca-Cola on our way out of town the smell of leaking gas filled the air and the three of us began to lose hope that we would see Wayqecha any time soon.  A little more than an hour later we were on the road again, this time for good.  All the hours spent with Shigella at the various shops were worth it, because in our more than 2000m climb back to Wayqecha she handled the sharp turns and steep drop offs with ease, pulled us through 2 fresh landslides and one police checkpoint and delivered us safe and dry to Wayqecha around 1:30am, about 40 hours after we left for our “day” trip.  In the end it’s all worth it.  A great car and an interesting adventure in the Andes. 

Did I mention she’s for sale? Seriously, Alessandro is selling her. At this point she is basically new!