sábado, el 8 de septiembre de 2012


Buenos noches!!

A pleasant sopresa? The race was delayed and at 815pm, as I sit for 30 minutes before closing the show con Max, the race is about to begin!! A full evening…if I don’t fall asleep!! Ja ja ja

Ok…no fotos today. Yeah yeah…I hear ya. But…but there is a great story to be told, and if you keep reading, I am pretty sure you will enjoy it.

Our day? Full for everyone and I think we are all feeling it. Me? I should have applied some sun screen…doph. More on that later.

530am the lil’hombre was stirring and that meant it was time for the Whisperer to get involved and after a quick chat y rock, it was chest nap time.

And the best reason that I had to call Tony and move our cita from 10am to 11am? Yup…Max slept in!! Well, if you can call 730am sleeping in!!

So a later rising, a later first nap and thus I had to call Tony. The Mexican way? No problem Marco..and I honestly feel he was surprised that I even bothered to call.

We had our morning walk and even had some speed cruising on a banco...bench, in the zocalo. They have recently painted the benches and we found one that hadn’t been bombarded by the 1000’s of parrots that make the zocalo their part time home.

Before heading home…pit stop at Papaloapan for our rib eyes and the molida res for burritos and only a few feet from our gates, I see 2 senoritas working on some quesillo, so we stopped and bout 250 gramos as well.

Burritos con quesillo are better then with manchego, but still doesn’t beat good ol’cheddar!!

As we were ready to siesta, time to get madre up and you should see how excited the lil’guy is when after our nap, I tell him we should find madre. And if she walks in while we are waking up…he bolts over to her!!

We made a quick change of plans and loaded the familia into the camioneta, so I could drop the two of them off at the playa…where later on they told me they had a super día!! They had lots of fun and met some peeps too.

Me? Tarde (late) for 11am, but I grabbed some colas for Tony y his padre and arrived at their taller (workshop/garage) by 1115am or so.

Ok…the good story? It starts about now…and I think it truly reflects how life is in a small town like Huatulco. When it was all said and done, some 4.5 hours later, my life was richer for the experience.

So, at 1115am, I pull into this “taller” (tah-lair) and Tony is working on a taxi and tells me to pull in next to him and it won’t be long.

So I get out, say hola to his padre and a taxista and an otro hombre. We chat it up for a while and even though I have met Tony’s padre a few times, he is always full of questions.

How long are we planning on living here? Where do we live? Plans for while we are here? Etc.

The otro hombres are all polite and like to hear the stories and get good chuckles when I pronounce something wrong, or need them to reword their questions so I can understand them.

Something in common? They all like the turbocharged, 6 cylinder Nissan Frontier.

Some 20 minutes pass and Tony tells me we are headed to his amigo, an expert in air con. Ok…throw his papa the cola and off we go.

Small town so we are there in 5 minutes and I discover we have gone to a tienda that sells household air conditioners. I had actually been there once before, when I needed to buy a remote for the air con in G10.

We find out this hombre is not in and won’t be back for an hour. So I am thinking I will drop Tony off at his taller, I will hit el gimnasio and then go back and grab Tony in an hour.

But things change quickly and instead, with Tony driving, we head into centro and look at a salon that we can rent for Max’s primero cumpleaños. Nice place, $1500 pesos…might be muy caro for what we need.

So off we go and Tony stops by the zocalo and parks in taxi parking spot. Out we go so Tony can chat up an hombre in a Mustang and I go across the street to say hola to the gang at Gabriels.

They have come out and looking at Tony talking to this hombre, think we have hit his car with the camioneta. Huh?

And as they are talking, who wanders over to ask why this camioneta is parked in a taxi zone? Hello to a blanco/tamarindo!! Tony shrugs him off and we get away without a mordida. If it had been me…hello to a fine…mordida.

Off to the taller and for the next 30 minutes, we just hang out and chat it up. New found facts? They have a perro named Lassie…it is a half breed pit bull and they all howled when I told them the other half looked like a Chihuahua…and the Chihuahua was the padre!!

Tony owns a taxi and it’s license, and rents it out for $200 pesos a day. His padre owns two, all from sitio Bufadero. His padre also just bought a 2010 Nissan pick up…diesel…muy raro here in Huatulco.

Didn't know this...they change the oil every 15 days...as they drive 5000 km in that short time. Yikes.

An hour had passed and we had not heard back from the air con guy, and no one seemed concerned…it is the Mexican way.

But padre tells Tony to look at the electrical side of the air con and we can leave the gas side to the otro hombre.

So up goes the hood and Tony looks at a connection under the glove box, as well as the fuse in the engine compartment. Not sure what he was doing, but we were getting positive signals from his meter, but we did not get the a/c compressor to click on. Doph.

Tony is thinking it might be the compressor and I am thinking it might be time to buy a new camioneta!!

Next thing I know, the fuse he had taken out, is blown and it stinks. Doph…off to a parts tienda called 12 de Agosto…no sé why it is called August 12. Maybe because 12 de agosto is also Día de los Taxistas?

So Tony runs in to buy a new fuse and when he comes out, he has this large and short hombre with him. Hola to Victor, an amigo of Tony…and an hombre that knows electrical systems.

Small town!!

So this guy spends 10 minutes looking and prodding and he manages to get the compressor to activate!! The problem is NOT an expensive compressor…but it is an electrical problem.

Working backwards, the hombre, whose name is Victor, has traced the problem into the cab and somewhere between the glove box and the actual on/off switch in the dash board.

We are parked on a side street, in front of a parts tienda, we have bumped into Victor y hijo…who just happen to know electrical systems…AND…they have time to look at the problem and may be able to solve it. Viva Mexico!!

But to get to what they feel is the root of the problem, off comes the dash board, all the parts around the steering wheel and the glove box.

There are a dozen screws on the floor, many plugs disconnected and 2 screw drivers being used.

Victor feels that the issue is a build up on the circuit board, and this 120 kilo hombre is squeezed into the passenger’s seat, trying to convince this unit out of the dash board.

And finally, out comes the complete control unit for all the blower functions.

All four of us are hot and so I offer to grab some chelas for us and no one disagrees.

So I boogie around the corner to a Modelorama and who do I bump into? Un Ojo Bob is in there and he is not finishing his first beer…if you know what I mean. Think I have difficulty understanding him when he is selling his cocos frio, try after a few beers.

I do understand he wants to buy me a beer for helping his hija with her ingles, but I tell him it will have to be an otra día.

Grabbed 6 Paciificos and the senora throws them into a bolsa and automatically throws in some ice. Viva de Mexico!!

The beer was cooooold and well received. But after looking at all the parts on the floor and being stored on the roof of the truck, I made an executive call that I would hold back a second beer until the truck was back together and I was not the owner of some spare tornillos…screws!! Ja ja ja

So the unit is out and Victor has taken it across the calle into a shop…not sure whose shop, but it has all the tools including a soldering iron.

He does what he does and tests the unit and then goes back to the shop.

Meanwhile, Raphael, mi otro mecanico amigo, has ridden up on a bici and is grabbing some parts for his taller. He comes over to chat and confirms that he too loves the truck and wants to buy it if and when we sell it.

And ten minutes later, the esposa of UOB (Un Ojo Bob) drives by to collect her husband, and she too honks and waves. Small town but a very busy calle.

It took 90 minutes or so, but the truck was put back together, the air con now works and the beers were finished.

Final score? No parts needed and I paid Victor and his hijo $200 pesos for their mano de obra…labour. $16 Cdn and I am sure in Canada it would have been hundreds in labour and probably a new circuit board, another few bills.

Tony has missed comida, so I offer to buy him lunch…invito, and he agrees. We are going to go to Los Portales, but decide to try a comedor economico that is by our condo.

We have not eaten there before, but it is always busy and the senoritas that work there are always friendly to Senor Max when we walk by.

So, two tlayudas are ordered and wow were they huge!! And good eating too. Total bill for the 2 plus bebidas? $90 pesos…$7 Cdn.

I asked Tony how much I owed for his time and his answer? Nada…nothing. I pressed him a little and he did not want any $$ and was happy with lunch and the cervezas and maybe some chelas proximo sábado.

I drove him back to the taller and no one was there. I put his tools on the bench, slipped him $100 pesos and as I was leaving he saw the $$ and shook his head. I told him he was an amigo and we left it at that. He is a young guy, but a good guy with a good head on his shoulders.

That is the end of the story and I thoroughly enjoyed it. I saw a bunch of peeps I knew, I met some new peeps, chatted up some peeps, AND the truck was fixed for $300 pesos.

The pace of how things work here can be frustrating to outsiders, myself included. But if you stay tranquilo, things do happen and get completed…just at their own pace.

So, 3.5 hours after setting out, I headed home without my sábado work out at el gimnasio.

All good as when I got home, madre y Max were finishing up la comida and then we all went out for a walk. We pit stopped into the centro de commercial... mall, and scoped out some way cool camo shoes for the lil’dude. He will be the most styling kid at this diciembre wedding. With a tan to boot!! ja ja ja

Once home, Max and I headed for his 3rd nap and after that…hola to some alberca time!!

Follow that by a late dinner, the rutina and you are all caught up.

1025pm and happy to report that Max has only stirred once!! Phew.

The race is on rain delay and I am pooped…and sun burned due to not be prepared for the time in the sol. Doph.

Mañana? We might be watching the end of the race!! Need to find some huevos and the condo needs some cleaning. Maybe a familia trip to the playa too!! Busy busy life here in Huatulco!!

Have a great domingo!!

Marco, Bexico y Max

No comments:

Post a Comment