Car Repair

Our SUV has over 160,000 miles (257,000km) on it and needed a little TLC. A friend at the apartments hooked me up with Beto a mechanic he has used for a number of years and the owner of a small shop in town. I'm not sure it was wise, but I told Beto to perform a tune-up and take care of any other problems. He said no problem, come back at 16:00 and it would be ready. I arrived at the appointed time to find my vehicle in many, many pieces. Turns out it needed new brake pads, new shock connectors, and a number of other things I didn't quite understand in his rapid fire Spanish (but all of which were itemized on the final bill). He also needed another hour to finish all this unexpected work, so I settled in, on the shop floor in a chair he dug up, to watch the proceedings. I couldn't resist getting the above shot of Beto pounding away on a sticky bolt, while his assistant, dressed in beach attire, uses one of my tires to pour in the new oil. If I have said it once, I've said it a thousand times: "you wouldn't see that in the United States". Our vehicle should now be in tip top shape for the drive to Puerto Vallarta next month.