Boy, this is really getting to be almost too much. We keep the old Trooper as a backup vehicle and to have a car here, even when the truck is gone. It's also part of Rene's pay that he can take it every-other weekend so they can do their errands and shopping. He had to take his wife, Bonita to Melchor, Guat. to see the Dr. on Saturday. He took the car to Benque and they walked across the border and took a taxi to the clinic. I had a call from him that the clutch went out on the Trooper-AGAIN. This could make this old girl (me) get even older really fast. I quickly phoned Chindo and asked for his help. He sent one of his fellows with me to get the car going. I told him I could go by myself, but all I could do would be look at the darned thing, kick it and maybe swear. Actually, I can't even swear as Rene is quite religious and I don't want to offend him. We stopped in San Ignacio to get a clutch slave cylinder and then off we went to Benque.
I digress here as we all get quite frustrated when we have to go to Benque as it is quite close to us here, but there isn't a road south of Bullet Tree that crosses the river. We have to travel back east to San Ignacio and then back west on the Western Hiway to thru Succotz to Benque on the border. The whole trip was probably 20 miles. The mechanic bro't a large piece of cardboard, slid under the car and made the repair. It didn't take much more than 15 minutes. Bonita and I chatted while the fellows took charge of the repairs. Once running again, I told Rene we'd follow him home to be sure that nothing else happened. We left the Trooper at the shop as they discovered some missing bolts on the transmission. They even delivered the car up to our place the next day. It's such a blessing to me as Art no longer drives, so this car shuttling gets tricky. Now for the good part. I was gone from home a total of two hours, most of which I was accompanied by the mechanic and our labor bill was $30bz. The cylinder was $70bz, so we got off exceedingly cheaply. Thank goodness as I have to license the old thing this month too to the tune of $200bz for a year. Here's hoping all the lights etc. work in case they inspect her.
Love to read about your adventures as they bring back so many memories of life in Belize. Specially car repairs or should I say so called repairs. I found they would fix the symptom but not the real problem so the problem always came back. I got so tired of always being at the mechanic and it didn't matter what car I bought, they always broke down. But you did bring up the only good point out of get your car fixed in Belize, mechanics get paind nothing there, so at least it is cheap. I'm freezing up here today, it's -24 outside right now!!!
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