Certain services that we take for granted in North America like car repair play out a little differently here. Since its purchase in June 2016, our 1997 Hyundai Galloper Diesel 4WD has
had a few mechanical hiccups. Fortunately, we were able to reach a "taller" (garage) at the Border in advance of a total breakdown. The issues were typical for a vehicle of its age: new clutch, air-conditioning, headlight fuses. The previous owner maintained the vehicle extremely well. The owner's wife joked with me that he took care of the car better than her. Considering the rough roads that we regularly traverse, this 23 year old vehicle is holding up.
I see many, older, well-maintained vehicles on the road. Costa Rica requires an annual car inspection by a government entity called "Reteve." All motorized vehicles: cars, motorcycles, all-terrain vehicles, trucks must be inspected, any issues repaired and re-inspected before the vehicle receives its registration sticker. Last year, the Reteve inspection for our vehicle required replacement of struts, ball joints and a re-alignment. Asian manufactured vehicles such as Toyota, Mitsubishi, Hyundai are very popular, therefore, there is a good supply available of inexpensive parts.
This recent mechanical issue was quite an odyssey. On Jan 17, we were returning home just after dusk and the car overheated. With about 4 miles to home, M decided to keep driving. Leaving the car by the side of the road is not an optimal situation. Along that section of deteriorated gravel (a designated federal highway), there are a few homes occupied by friends of friends or family of friends so I'm sure that we would have found a welcoming hand. As a "highway," there is also non-local traffic (potential for theft) and no service like AAA to tow. Just about a mile from our house is the local Catholic church, a humble and tidy wood building next to the road. As it was Friday evening, I recognized many of our neighbors' vehicles parked along the fence. Their priest holds weekly services at that time. Passing by, I knew where most of our neighbors were if we needed help.
We barely made it up the driveway. As I jumped out of the car to open the gate, smoke wafted from the engine. M pulled up beside the garage and the car died. He lifted the hood as I scrambled to find the fire extinguisher in the back. Fortunately, the fire extinguisher was not required. The car has been "resting" in the driveway since. That was 12 days ago. On Jan 20, a good friend, Roger, who is a classic car restorer and Porsche mechanic from Vancouver came over to assess the damage, a busted water pump. He told M the parts needed and on Jan 22, another friend Michael drove my Michael the hour+ to the Border. While they were there, they stopped for lunch at a soda, leaving the parts with the restaurant owner while M & M went to do other errands. Well, it wasn't until M&M were unloading the truck in our driveway when they remembered the parts at the soda. The next day another round trip of 2+ hours to pick them up.
Now with the parts in hand, Roger said that he’d fix the car if M could get it towed to his house where he has his equipment. Roger’s house is about 8 miles from ours. Not a long distance in North American terms. Here it is like trying to cross the Alps in a goat cart. The road from our gate to the neighborhood road is VERY steep. Most 2WD cars have a hard time climbing it when they leave our house. To “tow” our 6,000 lb vehicle, we’d need to get the local backhoe owner to bring his trailer here. And even then the logistics would be dicey.
On Jan 25, another friend Lilo had a mechanic from the Border out to his house to work on his car. That mechanic came by to look at our car and said that he’d go back to the boss and get an estimate for repair. The repair estimate was reasonable but the mechanic couldn't return until Jan. 29.
Turns out that the part that M bought last week won't work for our car. So the plan was that Roy, our friend, neighbor and contractor, drove to the Border on his motorcycle (which is faster on the dirt roads than a car) to exchange the part. When he arrived at the store to exchange the part, he sent M a photo of the old part next to the new part. That's how it works around here. In order to ensure that you have the correct part, it is best to pull the old part out of the vehicle and take it to the parts store. Unlike in North America when an car owner drops off their vehicle at the garage and leaves; at the Border, the owner stays in the mechanic's bay to observe and be available to run up the street to the parts store. During past repairs, M asked to borrow the garage's bike and rode around to the various stores to find the right part.
While Roy went to the Border, the two mechanics and Lilo went to Lilo's house for a bite to eat. When the correct part arrived, the mechanics looked if over and discovered that a gasket was missing. Ticos are innovative in improvising with items on hand. The gasket was fashioned from thin cardboard that we had in the recycling pile. After 2:30 (the mechanics arrived at 7 am) I heard the engine start. Hope fluttered faintly that after 12 days, the car was repaired. a few minutes later, the engine went silent with much discussion in Spanish that I couldn't quite understand. The tone signaled, "not good." It seemed that there was a leaking hose. A replacement tube was at the Border. Fortunately, we knew that friends, Mike and Liz were planning a trip into town that day. If they were still there, they could pick up a replacement. The mechanics didn't plan to stay the night with us so another improvisation was required. We had a single burner gas ring with a hose to attach to a propane tank in the garage. We used this burner for cooking in January 2017 as the kitchen was not finished. The hose would suffice until we could get to the Border for a proper replacement. It was installed and about 4 pm, the engine was started again. No leaks.
We were very, very lucky that the mechanics came to our home. Our gringo friends thought it was highly unusual to get someone to come to the house. The mechanic, Carlos is a good friend of Lilo's daughter; the trips into town by our neighbors Michael and Roy; it was through the generosity and connectivity of our small neighborhood that our vehicle was repaired. Always on adventure!
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