Plan B

The city of Varginha was not on our playlist, but it's where we found ourselves. Our day started out at 6 am for a 7:30 departure from Paraisópolis. The brakes worked and all was well for about an hour and a half when Carol told me, very seriously, that the car was shaking when she pushed the gas and she didn't feel like it was safe to drive. We stopped at the first gas station and I went in and asked if there was a mechanic. There wasn't, but one of the guys pumping gas came out, looked under the hood, listened to the engine and diagnosed the car as needing a gas additive that they didn't have. We vibrated down the road to the next gas station with a mechanic. The guy came out, looked under the hood, listened to the engine and diagnosed us as having unbalanced tires. He said we could find a wheel and tire place in the next town. We found the place. The guy there took the car for a spin and came back to tell us that the most likely culprit was a part that connects the front semi axle to the transmission and we needed to drive to the next big city (30 miles away) to get it replaced. So we made our way to Varginha where we found out that the part did need to be replaced, the car wasn't safe to drive, and it would take about four days to get the part. We left the Ford in their capable hands, rented another car, which Carol was promptly pulled over in for making a U-turn, and eventually made our way to Belo Horizonte where we will spend the weekend. On Monday, we will make the five hour drive back to Varginha to pick up the Ford and figure out what's next.