Yesterday began with a hot bowl of corn and a cold plate of beans. One of my Dragons students from last year was coming in to Guatemala City later in the day and I was Guate-bound by bus to meet her and travel with her back up to Xela. I left the house around mid-day and walked past the mechanic where my Cruiser was being cured of its suspension and idle problems. When I passed to see how things were going they told me that actually the truck was just about ready, so I changed my plan a bit and waiting for my truck so that I could pick up my Dragoncita in my car as planned.

They changed the oil, cleaned the air filter (couldn't replace it because the part would take 2-3 days to arrive), adjusted the idle and carburetor stuff and replaced five leaf springs. I did some online research about the cost to repair leaf springs in the US and came up with a hefty sum - more expensive than the price they were giving me here. Well it turns out the reason why the leaf springs were cheaper is because they MAKE them here. The mechanic shop said that if they bought from a store it would be like $600 US - but if they had 'em custom made from a metal shop it's like $150. Deal! So I have custom-made leaf springs. Awww yeah.

Driving to Guatemala City was pretty fun yesterday. So strange to drive where I once impatiently waited for overcrowded buses while sweating profusely and carrying bags of city-found treasures to haul up to Concepcion Huista. Oh, those were the days.

I picked up my Dragoncita and we drove out to Antigua for the night. All was pretty normal until we left Antigua today...and the Land Cruiser pooped out going up hill between Antigua and Santa Lucia. Now, Santa Lucia may ring a bell to some of my Guate10 readers out there as it was the center of our world as Peace Corps Volunteers for 3 months during training. I lived with a family in neighboring Santo Tomas and walked daily to the PC Training Center during that time, oh so long ago, okay like 6 years ago.

Lily and I waited in the Cruiser while Andres (what a guy!) ran up to Santa Lucia to get a mechanic. After some time the mechanics showed up, following suit of all the other mechanics I've met along my route from Las Cruces, NM to Guatemala since February, in a beat up pick up truck and a mess of tools and spare parts in the back.

They decided I had a busted fuel pump and had to be towed to town. So they tied a big chain to the front of my car and told me to break lightly. Now, after six years of traipsing around Guatemala I'm still a safety prude and get alarmed every time something is done in a very old skool fashion, like literally towing a car on a highway with a chain. Isn't that sorta illegal or something, at least in metropolitan America? And funny thing is, this is the SECOND time I've been towed since February (first time being pushed along a Mexican highway from behind by a pick up with a tire attached to the front.)

I asked the second mechanic if he would do the tow-driving because I am just up to my ears in car failure drama these days. The kid just timidly laughed and basically was like, Uh no. So I (wo)manned the wheel and we were towed to Santo Tomas.

Here I sit in the back seat of my Cruiser, Lily in the front passenger seat reading Siddhartha, and Andres and the mechanic huddled under the hood...in Santo Tomas where I once lived, and have never been back to, listening to Guatemala birds while the rain grey-ifies everything around us. The mechanic shop is smeared with oil and grease and an orange tree from a neighbor leans on the shop's wall. It is warm and this is the first rain I have felt in a long time. The rainy season has had a late start.

We are going to stay another night in Antigua because I don't want to drive at night considering the total randomness of any car break down. At some point I'm sure I will have replaced everything replaceable in this thing and then the cycle will begin again.