Day 80 - Disaster strikes!

(Ursula) Disaster Strikes!

We got up before 6 AM and drove in tandem toward Villahermosa.

Everything went well until Heinz tried to overtake a stinky Diesel truck going uphill. In his eagerness, Heinz accidentally shifted from third gear into second (instead of fourth). The engine gave a high-pitched scream; we heard a scratching noise and quit dead. We barely managed to pull over on the side of the road.

Wally made a funny face, which meant we were in big trouble. He began to perform a few tests on the engine and announced with a grim face that it was damaged. Luckily, our German friends noticed we were not following and turned around to rescue us. They towed us to a Volkswagen dealership in Juchitán. But it was Sunday, and the place was closed, so we camped by the entrance, contemplating what to do.

We didn't have the funds to pay for a new engine. How extensive was the damage? Could we fix it? How many days would it take? Does this mean we are going to miss the boat in Panama? Lots of scenarios raced through my head.

Heinz grabbed the Spanish dictionary and got busy preparing notes for his meeting with the VW people on Monday morning:

"Somos turistas de Suiza en un viaje a América del Sur y necesitamos su ayuda. Nuestro auto necesita un servicio de motor. Somos mecánicos y le pedimos permiso para realizar el trabajo nosotros mismos en su taller. Naturalmente, compraremos todos los repuestos que necesitamos de su negocio".

We all had a knot in our stomachs that night. Our only consolation was that it was just a broken engine. An accident would have been a lot worse. We prayed that the dealership would allow us to do the repairs ourselves.Read more