vehicular distress

A couple of weeks ago, the day before my friend Maggi was due to arrive, my friend Peggy and i were hanging out at her place down the road in San Crisanto. We sat around her place for a while then decided to drive into progresso and go to Aurora Bodega soIi could tap the ATM ( i needed to get enough money together to pay cash for the car insurance and you can only get out so much at a time and once a day) and pick up some groceries. On the way back, i hear..what is it?..the fan belt. we are only a few miles out of Progresso so we are on a two lane highway. Where am i going to get this fixed? I'm thinking..oh I know! The place i had the muffler done. OK, no sweat....noise getting louder..please let me make it to San Crisanto I silently ask. We approach a slow moving car and about this time i realize that the temp gauge is showing a bit of warming...nothing hot mind you but headed in that direction. I stay put behind the slow car and see that the truck likes this..the temp gauge lowers. Ohhhhhh....thats all she wrote. The gauges STOP and so does the engine. Game over...on the side of the hiway. Okayyyy..." I think this is the house my friend Kevin is working at" Peggy says so we head up the driveway and introduce ourselves to a lovely couple- both professors somewhere in maine- who have the house for 20 years. the first 6 of which they had no power or water. nice house...well, Kevin isn't there, the husband has the flu and excuses himself to the bed and i call our friend Babakar who dons his cape and heads out to get us. he lives in San Crisanto as well so we know it'll be a good 20 min before he gets there so the lady of the house takes us on a tour, we thank her for her hospitality and walk back up the driveway to await our heroes arrival. As we approach the car there is some discussion of stories involving people who are sitting in their broken down cars when-WHAM!! they are smashed from behind by a speeding car. We opt to stand by the car...We also notice that it will soon be dusk...
Like a ship at full sail heading to a drifting raft, Babakars white farm truck appears on the horizon. Babakar is a tall ,lanky, African man who is as black as this keyboard. he is also one of the most laid back people I've ever met. After exchanging greetings, taking a cursory look under the hood and making a plan to tow the truck to a mechanic he knows in san Crisanto, he tied a thick rope securely from my bumper to his. Peggy and i climb in my truck and belt up...we're in for a bumpy ride I think to myself. Now, I hate being towed. Even under the best of circumstances it is really nerve racking to me and these are NOT the best of circumstances...Babakars truck has boards on the side of the bed so i can NOT see around it at all, his break lights dont work and as we pull out onto the road, i notice there are two plastic gas tanks in the back of his truck..directly in front of me...so as i realize the rope we are using is so short I dont see how I could possibly stop in time, I also realize I dont really need to worry about it because we will probably burst into a red hot fireball before I break any bones...
Here we go! We are cruisin now..." you're doin' great" Peggy assures me as i grip the wheel like the last life vest on the Titanic. I feel like Im all over the road. The truck has power steering so without the engine running both the steering and brakes leave a bit to be desired. Ok..we approach Telchac Puerto- the first town- topes! ( speed bumps)-'he's braking!" Peggy says ( she can evidently see a lite on the back of his truck that I can't)..ohhhhh..just when I think Im gonna test that fireball theory he pulls away and takes the front end of my truck over the bump but..oh..a little lag on the back and SNAP! there goes the rope...babakr stops, gets out, backs up and casually reties the rope " maybe it would be better if you put your arm out when you are going to stop babakra. Jill cant see your brake lites". oh, ok..Now, the rope was short to begin with..with this latest re-tying it is now even shorter..round two ' Im turning my lights on" click..." youre doin great" comes more reassurance..." As we pass parked cars, kids on bikes, pedestrians, on coming cars, I see NONE of it before its there..."theres a curve in the road coming up" my co-pilot informs me..At times I am reminded of going roller skating as a kid and having your friend "whip" you..this is what i picture my truck doing as we round a bend. There is water on both sides of us a we go over a small bridge. i feel like he is going to whip me to the left and as the rope snaps Peggy and i will launch over the guard rail and into the water below. " Doesnt it seem like he's going really fast?!" I ask...' yes, it does" she concurs.."Im going to flash the lights"...nothing " maybe you should honk the horn" she suggests..' hes braking" she tells me." I thought he was going to put his arm out?" Its too dark- his arm is too dark I cant see it. So several topes and three rope brakes later, we are almost there. it is totally dark now and i swear the rope is a foot long and im riding the brake for fear ill never be able to stop. At last we make it to san Crisanto and I pry my fingers off the wheel. " you did a great job' peggy tells me once again. " who needs drugs?!" I giddily yell to no one in particular as i relish once again feeling solid ground beneath my feet.
Now, remember the part about maggi flying into merida tomorrow? That leaves the slight problem of getting into town to get her..Luckily, well, for me, Marcie is having knee surgery and lets me borrow her truck for three days. Perfect! I am able to go to town, get Maggi, we drive in air conditioned luxury to Uxmal and a couple of haciends over the next two days before stopping in dzidzantun for groceries on the way home and returning marcies truck. For the next several days we are without a vehicle but Carol takes us to check on the ruck...it needs a new battwry...off to merida we go. Spent a nice day shopping around and eating at Costco! Ooh! Big day in the big city...at last we return to San Crisanto and the truck which has been partially rebuiltt. One pulley went out causing a chin reaction of problems including water pump, fan, alternator...anyway, $500 dollars later, new battery in place, Im on the road again. Oh, amd that car insurance i needed? babakar told me about a cheaper place when he took me home that fist night so all the money I had taken out to pay for that went to pay for the truck repair. After it was all said and done, i was $40.00 to the good....
So maggi is winding down her visit, it was a good one but all good things must come to an end, or so they say. She will fly out in the morning and Lucky and I will drive home, newly rebuilt and with a fresh new insurance policy....next week?- hurricane insurance...I'm told we are due for one this year due to the warm spring we've had. Looks like another bumpy ride!