The day before thanksgiving I purchased a vehicle! I had been in Lima, Peru for about a week and had a number of vehicles that I was looking at. Finally, It came down to a 2003 Kia Sorento that I got a good deal on! Purchased from the original owner, this vehicle, has 60,000 miles on it and was manufactured specifically for the forgien market which makes it a little different than the other Kia that I had been looking at.
I was very pleased to say under my budget, and had money left over to recharge the airconditioning, replace a broken window (that broke on thanksgiving day!) and transfer paperwork which is different here in Peru versus the USA.
It took two days to drive from Lima to Pucallpa. The journey is only 500 miles but it takes 16 hours. Some fellow SAM co-workers came over from Pucallpa and spent a day with me in Lima before we headed back together. We tested all systems on the car as we went from sea level to over 16'000 feet! Speeds ranged from 5 to 75 miles per hour and I got 25-27 MPG! I have been very happy with the diesel engine and here in Pucallpa, diesel is cheaper than regular gas by 10%.
Finally, as I was driving to work this week it started to rain. I thought about what it would have been like on my motorcycle and was very thankful to be dry and comfortable inside my vehicle! Thank you so much to the many people who gave to this project. It truely is a wonderful blessing for me!
