8/16/2013
The last bell
rings at 2:35, at 3:00 we have changed clothes and are on the road to Minca, a
small village in the mountains outside Santa Marta. We have successfully finished the first week of school, and
it is a long weekend. Time to
travel and see the beauty of this country. We easily navigate the traffic of slow trucks and fast motos
on the drive around the city that takes us to the one bridge that crosses the
Magdalena river. We enter the last
roundabout before the bridge and the oil light flashes on. We circle the roundabout to find a gas
station on the other side. We open
the hood, it is hot with a few wisps of smoke. The coolant is empty, and I feel a bit of relief at an easy
fix. We refill it and feel good
about ourselves.
Tara has
rounded up a couple of caballeros to take a look, just in case.
We pay them in
beer and coke.
The air filter
housing has come apart.
Buy a new hose
clamp.
Put it all
back together, finagle it into place.
Things are looking good.
The ground is
covered in neon green coolant.
Jairo, a truck
driver by trade and currently our coke drinking lead mechanic says, “Tu
necicitas un mechanico, siga me.”
- You need a mechanic, follow me.
It is 4:00 and
we should have been half way to our destination.
Top off the coolant
Windows down,
AC off, heat on, following Jairo’s blue Chevy spark with Fernando and Gustavo, through
traffic to some mechanic.
Who doesn’t
have the parts.
Fernando runs
across six lanes of traffic to check with the mechanic across the street.
Who doesn’t
have the parts.
What parts do
we need?
Tara asks, “What
is plan B for the night?”
We stick with
plan A. Top off coolant, windows
down, AC off, heat on following our new friends through side streets, a few alleys
a major road and a few more side streets.
We pull up to
the store front of an internet café, bordered by a tienda and a carburetor
shop.
Dirt parking
with 5 rows of red tile in front of the café.
Open the hood.
“Podemos hacer
lo” – We can do it.
Si Se Puede!
Jairo negotiates
the price for us. He says it’s a
good deal.
90 mil to
replace the empaque – The head gasket
The engine
starts coming out of the car.
Manifold, distributor, cylinder head. Revealing the 4 cylinders.
Should there
be coolant in the cylinders?
The gasket is
bad.
Pull off la
bomba- the water pump.
I don’t think
the impeller shaft should rattle like that.
Give 110 mil
to a guy, who hops on the back of a motor bike and heads off to get parts.
Chairs are
brought out for the gringos. We sit. And wait. In an unknown barrio, as evening approaches.
Jairo tells us about his four kids, and one grandchild, and Fernando's 12 kids.
Jairo tells us, "Fernando no tiene un televisor........" Fernando doesn't have a TV.
Birds fly,
chattering. Parakeets; orange
chinned or brown necked. The sun
dims.
Mike, Sarah,
and Eric, our backseat companions for this trip, head home to make dinner for
when this is done.
No Minca
tonight.
Maybe in the
morning?
Jairo and
Fernando leave, darkness sets in.
Over half of
our engine lies on the red tiles.
Our car, edged up to the store front, still rests on the packed dirt.
We wait.
A loro, Orange
winged parrot, is perched in a window above.
An hour later
Jairo returns, to make sure they put in the new water pump, which hasn’t shown
up yet, and not the old, broken, leaky pump.
Within minutes
the new parts show up.
It just needs
to be put back together.
Push the care
1 meter closer to the internet café for more light.
I retrieve my
headlamp and hold it from the right.
A flash light appears and illuminates the work from the left. We are in business.
The flashlight
flickers, and dies.
We get smart,
put the headlamp on the head of Jose, our 23 year old main mechanic.
I go back to
sitting with Tara and Jairo, comparing notes on life and learning some local
lingo.
We sit and
enjoy the slightly cooler evening.
We sit in
white plastic chairs and enjoy sitting and talking.
We sit with Jairo, Gustavo, and Kenny, “el
gringo negro,” who knows more english than he lets on.
It is a
beautiful evening.
As parts go
back in the car, I tuck my chin to my collarbone and sleep a few minutes at a
time. Its 8:30, I am usually
sleeping by now.
As the last
few pieces are bolted down, we negotiate the price of an oil change – 70mil for
the oil, work is included.
Jairo and
Gustavo leave us their phone numbers and depart for home.
“Gracias, mil
gracias”
A couple more
parts, the last few bolts.
The engine is
put back together.
“Pero una
problema. No podemos cambiar el
aceite aqui” - One problem, we
can’t change the oil here.
For the first
time this evening we are firm,
“Necesitan cambiar el aceite aqui” - You will change the oil here.
We settled on
the price and the work, we aren’t going somewhere else to get it done.
They don’t
have the tool to remove the oil drain plug. So with two hammers and a machine bolt they make one.
I recognize
the smile and proud joy on Kenny’s face as he says, “Improvisacion!” –
Improvisation.
There is some
universal joy to making your own tools. I wonder if crows and chimps have a similar joy in finding
and making tools.
Everybody is
ready to be done and hit the town, its Friday night.
Kenny takes
care of us. He cleans the oil
filter.
It is
9:30. Our car has a new water
pump, new head gasket, and new oil.
It starts.
We pay the
bill – 280 mil for everything; parts, oil and labor.
We shake
hands, “Gracias, muchas gracias.”
We drive away.
Sarah, Eric,
and Mike have a hot dinner and peanut butter cookies waiting for us at their
apartment.
We share the
meal.
It is 10:30,
we part ways and climb the stairs to bed.
“See you at
6:30 tomorrow.”
Hopefully the
car will start in the morning.
Hopefully we
will make it to Minca.
And we do!
Notes
Fairly
accurate Colombian peso to US dollar conversion; Drop the mil, divide by 2, and
you are close enough to the dollar amount.
Thus, 100 mil
is about $50.
 |
| Jose works, while Orlando looks on |
 |
| Cylinder head, head gasket...... |
 |
| L to R Gustavo, Jairo, Fernando, Tara, our broke down car |
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| Saturday morning breakfast in Minca!!! |
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| White Vented Plumeleteer, Bird of Paradise |
