Archive for I Love Antigua
I Love Antigua, #121
Posted by: | CommentsLast night’s sunset was a beauty, even by local standards. At one point Fuego was covered by clouds and a small eruption turned things pink around the peak. It was a nice distraction from the pathetic excuse for a ProBowl.
I tried to take pics but the iPhone doesn’t do it justice. Fortunately Brad and Kara are skilled with a camera, so go check it out!
I Love Antigua, Reason #118
Posted by: | CommentsTwo weeks ago I was out with The Wife when a tumulo scraped unusually hard and a block or two later the oil level light came on. Readers may remember that this old Mercedes has had a few run-ins with tumulos before. Knowing the car was losing oil quickly, I had to make a quick decision and so drove the wrong way on 7th Avenue in order to park the car in front of a friend’s apartment, where it sat until Gunther could tow it to his place (the gas station on 4th Calle at 1st Avenue).
It turns out the most recent ‘cold weld’ repair to the oil pan was just too fragile for the tough streets of Antigua. This time around I asked Gunther to take a few additional preventive steps, which included new shocks on the front end, plus what he called some ’spacers’ which he would insert in the springs on the front axle. I’m not a car guy, but I understood the idea would be to lift the delicate parts of the underbelly of the car about an inch higher off the ground, and the shocks would hopefully keep the old girl from bottoming out.
I had also mentioned to Gunther that the brakes were shaking a little at high speed and asked him to investigate.
Well, it took two full weeks, but here was the itemization:
1. New front shocks
2. Spacers in the springs to ‘lift’ the car slightly
3. Turned the discs
4. New weld on the oil pan
5. Tow across town
And the bill came to Q2500. It was hard to complain that it had taken longer than I thought it should have.
I have since had a steel skid plate designed and will hopefully have installed within a few days. That will show those tumulos! And, instead of bringing another Mercedes down, my next car will be a Range Rover and I’ll ride those tumulos with pleasure.
Next time you need your car worked on, don’t hesitate to call Gunther’s at 7832-0215, and tell him Don Marco sent you.
I Love Antigua, Reason #115
Posted by: | CommentsReaders may remember that a few weeks ago I asked for helping getting a bible rebound. Someone who signed in only as ‘Guest’ suggested La Copia Fiel, on 1st Ave Norte. As it turns out, I’m really familiar with that avenue having spent so much time walking to and from Gunther’s.
You have to walk down a long, narrow open-air corridor headed east from 1st Ave to find the little office. Anyway, La Copia Fiel is an old-fashioned printing and binding operation. There are printing presses and binding machines that probably helped Guttenberg perfect his process. It was pretty cool to watch. The senorita at the front desk was very polite, giggled at my Spanish and understood exactly what I wanted.
She pulled out a hardback example to get my approval, then asked me to choose my color. She assured me it would be done in only three days at a cost of 60Q.
I had to ask her to repeat it because I couldn’t believe it. ‘S-e-i-s-e-n-t-a’ she said slowly. I just blinked, thinking that surely this must be for only part of it, and she says loudly and slowly ‘S-e-i-s c-e-r-r-o quetzales’. Si, entiendo.
I paid, got my receipt and left, doubtful.
When I returned three days later, she pulled my good as new bible out from a drawer, took my receipt and thanked me for the business. This thing, which is probably 70 years old, has never looked better. It even has a bunch of new colored ribbons on it, so your spouse can mark all the passages she wants you to read up on for behavioral modification purposes.
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I Love Antigua, Reason #112
Posted by: | CommentsI love this old Mercedes that we imported from the US. It’s a 1987 300 SDL, a diesel 6 cylinder. This is the car they made for diplomats and such, with a huge backseat and an engine that can do 200 km/h without a problem. Even with it’s age and weight it still gets 20mpg around town. About the only thing I’m afraid of on the road is a Chicken Bus, because I weigh more than almost everything else.
My bet when buying the car is that with its age nobody would ever think about stealing it, and so far that’s true. Except for a few old men, no one gives the car a second look, and insiders tell me that if they can’t chop it and resell it easily or drive it as a prize vehicle, they’re not going to want it. No thug wants to be seen in some fat old white man’s car, so it’s perfect. Of course, if I could drop it, add some neon lights, spinners, strobe lights in the headlights, a Rosary on the mirror, Jesus and the Virgin on the back windows and mud flaps with a voluptuous temptress, that would be a different story…
Well, it was perfect until I started having problems with my oil pan. Apparently the new tumulos and loose cobblestones around town are a little too much for the soft underbelly of this giant ole girl, who I call Fraulein Benz. (Or just ‘Frau’ for short, or ‘chica’ when she needs encouragement through a cloud of ChickenBus smoke). I’ve ripped the bottoms out of two oil pans in the last three weeks, a real accomplishment considering I drove for six months with no problem.
The first time Gunther towed me, had the oil pan welded, and put it back on. The bill was around 700Q for tow, parts, weld, labor and oil. It took him a week but, what can you say. Pretty sweet, eh?
Well, Gunther is usually awesome, coming to me whenever I have a problem or towing me across town gratis (perhaps it’s the monthly expense I put through his shop). But apparently he’s been overwhelmed at the shop because after 5 days he wasn’t able to come to the house to check on the car. So, I called a friend who recommended a guy who promised to be out in an hour.
Six hours later he arrived with a helper and some tools. They jacked the car up, muttered about how some guy had been off-roading in this Mercedes, and then told me that they could just ‘glue’ the oil pan together. I was skeptical but they said they do it all the time and it works great. So, one guy started filing down the rough edges of the tear while the other guy left for two gallons of oil and some ‘glue’.
Hombre #2 returned an hour later with the oil and the glue, which was actually something called ‘cold weld’, and they got to work on the oil pan. (A new ‘used’ oil pan is about $100 in the US). After awhile they emerged, told me to wait a few hours and then add the oil, and promised I would be fine (so long as I don’t hit anymore tumulos). Fortunately they left the package on the garage floor and the instructions said to let it sit for 16 hours, which I did. It has driven fine since.
The bill came to 300Q, and when you consider the oil and ‘glue’ was probably 150Q, I’d say that’s a pretty good deal for a housecall and a fixed oil pan.
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I Love Antigua, Reason #109
Posted by: | CommentsThe weather here during the winter reminds me of the weather back home in Phoenix, with the beautiful days and cool evenings. Looking west towards the mountains in the evening reminds me of being in Tucson and looking towards Mt. Lemmon, except that normally it’s not on fire. A few years ago there was a massive fire on the mountains that destroyed the road and left a an entire community stranded up there, where it’s 70F when it’s 110F in the valley.
Anyway, I was reminded of all that b/c of a post by Kara and Brad, who are spending a year here. Go check out the pics on their blog.
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