Tuesday, September 23, 2008
August 30, 2008
Today we picked up the medical/dental team and begin the packing and loading the vehicles for our trip to Choluteca tomorrow. During the evening Cindy receives an email from her sister saying her mom has fallen and can't get out of bed and if Cindy wants she can come home. Cindy calls her sister and they agree that Cindy will call her tomorrow morning at 6:00 am our time to see how her mom is doing. The team is suppose to leave for Choluteca at 6:00 and we are trying to decide whether Cindy should go with the team to Choluteca, stay and Faith Home and see how here mom does in case she may need to go to the States, or go to States immediately. So, the decision will have to be made quickly in the morning. During the night we spend time praying that whatever the decision God please just make it obvious what Cindy should do. Neither one of us sleeps very well during the night.
August 29, 2008
Many of you will appreciate this. We have been trying for two weeks to get our truck ready to make the trip to Choluteca with the medical/dental team. One of the most important things we needed to get done was an alignment. So a couple of weeks ago we took it to get an alignment. They started the process and then tell us they can't do it because there are some parts that need to be replaced on the suspension before they can align it.
These parts were replaced at the beginning of this year by our local mechanic. So we take the truck back to our local mechanic. They look at the truck, tighteedn a few things and tell us the truck is ok. We take the truck to another place to get the alignment (our local mechanic doesn't do alignments) and they also tell us the parts are no good and they need to be replaced before they can align it. Hum, what should we do?
The truck also needed the mechanism replaced on the back window to roll it up and down because presently it is held up by duct tape. We take the truck back to our local mechanic to get the oil changed and window repaired. As we talk with them about the alignment they tell us they will take it to Villenueva (a town about 20 minutes from us) and get it aligned. Great! Sounds good to us. It's late in the afternoon and we prefer not to leave it overnight (if we can help it) so we agree to bring it back early the next morning and they assure us we can get it back that afternoon. Sounds Great again.
Well, we get a call that afternoon and our local mechanic is calling us from the alignment place telling us he has taken the vehicle to two different places for the alignment and both of these shops have told him they can't align it because our truck needs four new tires. The tires probably do need to be replace since we have to drive on some pretty bad roads but we've never heard of not being able to do an alignment because the tires are good enough. So, we pick up our truck that afternoon to find out the only thing they did was change the oil and filter. No alignment and no window repaired.
We take our truck to PriceSmart (similar) to a Sam's Club to get four new tires. Problem is they don't do alignments. We still need the alignment.
We decide to take the truck to the Nissan dealer. We get to the dealer early Monday morning to find out you need an appointment. We think they feel sorry for the gringos so they come out and look at our truck to see what needs to be done. We explain we need the parts replaced on the suspension and then an alignment, the window mechanism repaired, and a fan replaced for the a/c. They don't have the part for the window but it will be there Tuesday or Wednesday and they will call us.
Wednesday comes and goes and no phone call. We go back to the dealer early Thursday morning and ask about our truck. They tell us the part will be there at noon today and they can fix the window, repair the suspension, do the alignment, and we can pick up our truck Friday at 5:00 pm. We've decided to tackle the a/c fan another time. Great again.
Friday afternoon the dealer calls us and gives us a quote for the suspension and the alignment. Hum? Why are they doing this? We already talked about doing all this. Understand, all our conversations have been in Spanish. Brad tells the guy to do the work but we do need the truck by this afternoon because we are going to Choluteca. The man at the dealer seems a little confused (not by Brad's Spanish, which is rare, but by needing the truck by 5:00 this afternoon). But, he assures us we can have it by 5:00.
We show up at 5:00 to pick up our truck only to find out the ONLY thing that has been done is the window repaired. When we ask why the other work wasn't done they tell us they need the vehicle for an entire day to repair the suspension and align it. We reply, "You've had it two full days." They respond "But we need it for a full day to do the other work." We reply "But you've had it for two full days." They respond "But we need it for a full day." This continues for a few minutes and then they get someone who speaks English and we have this same conversation in English which leads nowhere. We're not upset, we're just trying to figure out what we need to do to get the work done. Finally they make us an appointment to bring the vehicle back so they can look at it and see what needs to be done. We thought this had already been done since they gave us a quote for the work - but if this will get it done then great.
After two weeks of trying to just get an alignment we have succeeded in getting the oil changed, four new tires, and the window repaired. But no alignment. Anybody want us to take their vehicle in for some minor maintenance?
These parts were replaced at the beginning of this year by our local mechanic. So we take the truck back to our local mechanic. They look at the truck, tighteedn a few things and tell us the truck is ok. We take the truck to another place to get the alignment (our local mechanic doesn't do alignments) and they also tell us the parts are no good and they need to be replaced before they can align it. Hum, what should we do?
The truck also needed the mechanism replaced on the back window to roll it up and down because presently it is held up by duct tape. We take the truck back to our local mechanic to get the oil changed and window repaired. As we talk with them about the alignment they tell us they will take it to Villenueva (a town about 20 minutes from us) and get it aligned. Great! Sounds good to us. It's late in the afternoon and we prefer not to leave it overnight (if we can help it) so we agree to bring it back early the next morning and they assure us we can get it back that afternoon. Sounds Great again.
Well, we get a call that afternoon and our local mechanic is calling us from the alignment place telling us he has taken the vehicle to two different places for the alignment and both of these shops have told him they can't align it because our truck needs four new tires. The tires probably do need to be replace since we have to drive on some pretty bad roads but we've never heard of not being able to do an alignment because the tires are good enough. So, we pick up our truck that afternoon to find out the only thing they did was change the oil and filter. No alignment and no window repaired.
We take our truck to PriceSmart (similar) to a Sam's Club to get four new tires. Problem is they don't do alignments. We still need the alignment.
We decide to take the truck to the Nissan dealer. We get to the dealer early Monday morning to find out you need an appointment. We think they feel sorry for the gringos so they come out and look at our truck to see what needs to be done. We explain we need the parts replaced on the suspension and then an alignment, the window mechanism repaired, and a fan replaced for the a/c. They don't have the part for the window but it will be there Tuesday or Wednesday and they will call us.
Wednesday comes and goes and no phone call. We go back to the dealer early Thursday morning and ask about our truck. They tell us the part will be there at noon today and they can fix the window, repair the suspension, do the alignment, and we can pick up our truck Friday at 5:00 pm. We've decided to tackle the a/c fan another time. Great again.
Friday afternoon the dealer calls us and gives us a quote for the suspension and the alignment. Hum? Why are they doing this? We already talked about doing all this. Understand, all our conversations have been in Spanish. Brad tells the guy to do the work but we do need the truck by this afternoon because we are going to Choluteca. The man at the dealer seems a little confused (not by Brad's Spanish, which is rare, but by needing the truck by 5:00 this afternoon). But, he assures us we can have it by 5:00.
We show up at 5:00 to pick up our truck only to find out the ONLY thing that has been done is the window repaired. When we ask why the other work wasn't done they tell us they need the vehicle for an entire day to repair the suspension and align it. We reply, "You've had it two full days." They respond "But we need it for a full day to do the other work." We reply "But you've had it for two full days." They respond "But we need it for a full day." This continues for a few minutes and then they get someone who speaks English and we have this same conversation in English which leads nowhere. We're not upset, we're just trying to figure out what we need to do to get the work done. Finally they make us an appointment to bring the vehicle back so they can look at it and see what needs to be done. We thought this had already been done since they gave us a quote for the work - but if this will get it done then great.
After two weeks of trying to just get an alignment we have succeeded in getting the oil changed, four new tires, and the window repaired. But no alignment. Anybody want us to take their vehicle in for some minor maintenance?
August 28, 2008
We have a medical/dental team coming on Saturday (August 30th). Scott Strouse came in early to help get stuff organized because this team is going to Choluteca which is about nine hours away. We picked Scott up at the airport but had a little trouble getting him down out of the tree - as you can see by the pictures.
Ok, maybe that's not the real story. Recently we went to look at some property we own in another town. They have a monkey refuge in the town where the monkeys are free to roam without any fences, cages, etc. They tell us sometimes the monkeys will get in your vehicle and take stuff if you don't keep the windows up.
August 27, 2008
We got a call from our lawyer, Hector, today. We had two teams from Texas here recently and Hector spent quite a bit of time with them. Hector lives in San Manuel which is a town about five minutes from Hogar de Fe (Faith Home). Hector asks if he and his family can live at Faith Home for some time while they look for a new place to live. He tells us he's learned that since he has been spending so much time with the gringos (North Americans) his family is in danger of being kidnapped because people think they can get money by doing that.
There are quite a few kidnappings in Honduras and periodically people will be on the streets collecting money to pay a ransom to get a loved one back. They don't seem to be kidnapping gringos but only fellow hondurans.
(update - Hector and his family never did come live at Faith Home. Not sure why they changed their mind)
There are quite a few kidnappings in Honduras and periodically people will be on the streets collecting money to pay a ransom to get a loved one back. They don't seem to be kidnapping gringos but only fellow hondurans.
(update - Hector and his family never did come live at Faith Home. Not sure why they changed their mind)
August 26, 2008
Went to the prison today. We have to wait outside the prison for Roger, the guy I go with and has the contacts at the prison, to arrive. The prison is located on a main road in San Pedro Sula. Right on the street - as in there is the door to enter the facility, a sidewalk, and then the road. We are standing on the sidewalk waiting for Roger when we hear a loud bang/pop. Several people on the sidewalk duck and several guards come running out of the prison with their weapons. Turns out a taxi was driving by and blew a tire. The one guard stationed outside the prison realized what happened immediately and was having quite a laugh at his fellow guards when they came running out with their weapons.
August 24, 2008
Coming home today we were passing through El Porvenir (the small town close to our house). They were having a fund raiser and collecting money to help pay the medical bills of a lady that was sick. Interesting the way they do it. They have a rope across the street with a person on each end of the rope. When a car is coming that they want to ask for money they simply raise the rope so the vehicle can't pass until it gives some money. Seemed to be working, their empty water bottles which they use to collect the money had a lot of money in them.
August 23, 2008
We had to go to the hardware store today and while we were there Cindy had a great idea. We lose electricity frequently at Hogar de Fe. So Cindy thought it would be a good idea to buy a light that we could use in the house when the electricity was out. We asked the gentleman at the store if there were any such lights and after a few minutes of discussion he understood what we wanted and showed us what he had. We bought a light that could be recharged by plugging it in. Problem, when we got home - guess what - we had lost electricity. No worry, we have our new light, right. Except for the fact that before we could use it the light had to be charged by plugging it in. Couldn't plug it in because the electricity was out. Ahhhh, life in Honduras.
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