R spent a long time researching cars, looking in ads in the paper, taking the bus to random mechanic's shops and generally looking at every available car in Managua before finding a great deal!
Since we had to pay in cash and our ATM card limits withdraws of $500 a day we had a while to think about it to be sure we wanted to go ahead and purchase. Amazingly our ATM cards did not get blocked which was nice but does have me a little bit worried about the "security features" on our cards.
Our new-to-us-car had to go right in the shop for a few minor things (that we had planned to fix). It was supposed to take 2 days. It took 5. Not surprised.
The day after the car came out of the shop we decided to take an inaugural trip to the beach 3 hours south of Managua in San Juan del Sur. This may have not been the best test of the car.
In the first 5 km we discovered that the windows do not close all the way (we knew they didn't open because of the faulty motors) but the wind whistling through the cab made it clear that getting the window motors fixed should be a higher priority.
We made it safely to San Juan del Sur and then turned of on a dirt road that according to our Lonely Planet approved knowledge indicated would be only a short ride. 18 km later after crossing three streams and testing our four wheel drive up several inclines we pulled into the beautiful Parque Martimo el Coco. We had a small house to ourselves with a fire pit just outside and beach chairs and hammocks; all just 20m from the beach.
Gustavo loved playing in the sand, running in and out of the waves, finding rocks and shells. We saw some amazing sunsets and had an amazing lobster dinner fresh from the next town over cooked over a roaring bonfire that Dad built.
On Sunday when we got the car packed up to leave, the car did not start. The local mechanic fiddled around in the engine for awhile before creating some sort of magical jury-rig bridge to connect whatever it was that was not connecting and preventing the engine from starting. Anyway it started.
Off we went on the 18km, across the three streams and using four wheel drive again, but this time there was a strange new sound. We decided to take a quick trip through the city of San Juan del Sur to take a look around. We didnt stop the car even though the mechanic told that us we could restart the engine "easily" by connecting the two separated metal pieces again. It sounded totally safe. As did driving a car that cant be turned off. So we continued on!
Now, however, the car would not go faster than 60. Kilometers per hour. Well really it only went down hill from there and by downhill I mean the opposite of picking up speed -- we got progressively slower... and slower .. and slower. At one point we got passed by a moto taxi. We did manage to get all the way to Diriomba -- which is luckily only 40 minutes from Managua. However at that point the wheels stopped turning and it became clear between that and the green transmission fluid leaking out of the car that the transmission was no more. R & Dad pushed the car to the side of the road, where we discovered that we also had a flat tire.
After assessing this situation we decided that R would take a moto taxi to the nearest town, find a taxi and come back to get us. This was a fine plan, until R got to the town and found out that there were no taxis. After conferring on the phone we decided that I would pack up all of the beach things, get Dad, G, myself and the beach gear in a mototaxi and go meet R. We had three canvas bags,a diaper bag, our food bag, a stroller, and Dad's duffle bag.
This is how big a mototaxi is: (not very.)
The first moto taxi I flagged down decided it would be no problem to get everything into his moto taxi and take us to the next town, but when he heard our plan he offered to take us further to the next town where there was sure to be a taxi. This sounded reasonable because the next town is bigger.
Several other moto taxis seeing the excitement decided to also stop to check out what was going on. Everyone was willing to help change the tire and send us on our way, but there was some difficulty in understanding that the flat tire was the smallest of the three problems until the local mechanic drove by and, drawn by the excitement, also decided to check things out.He quickly determined that our truck was not going anywhere.
He in a matter of minutes had relieved me of the keys of the car and was ready to head on his way to get his town truck almost without giving me his name and number. Luckily he also remembered that there was in fact a taxi in town before he took off. My moto taxi friend offered to drive us by the shop so I could see where we would be leaving the car. At this point we also remembered that perhaps R was on his way to a totally different city. Luckily he still had not been able to find a bus or a taxi so we were able to stop him before he got any further than where he had been an hour previously.
Our moto taxi friend drove us to the house of the taxi driver who quoted his price which I weakly negotiated down asking him if that was his best price (what is your negotiating position when you have a moto taxi filled with bags, your Dad and Son and husband is somewhere else is a city you don't know?). So we put all our bags in his car, he drove off in a totally different direction towards the gas station while we went in search of R who was, not surprisingly, making friends in the town square. Luckily the taxi and our bags showed up shortly after that and we made it home to Managua all in one piece though one car lighter.
Even more surprising the mechanic repaired the car in two days and delivered it to our house.
Les surprisingly, Dad has been somewhat reluctant to make any long trips in the car, though we were able to make it to Leon and Granada without any problems though the windows still don't go up or down. Did I mention it has been 35 degrees Celsius all this week?
