It's a good news, bad news thing. Our Isuzu Rodeo, the "shockless wonder" you might say, has some other problems as well. Such as, a bad water pump, front bearings that are shot, motor mounts that are gone, rear spring mounts that are broken... I think that's about everything.
We have found what has been recommended to us as a reliable mechanic by three separate people - a local guy named Rick, who is supposed to be a US-trained mechanic. When I met him yesterday, he seemed quite professional, spoke very good English, and, his workshop, which is at his house, seems quite clean, organized and professional. That's compared to most auto repair places down here that seem to do it either alongside the road or actually in the road. Something to behold.
Anyway, after dropping Elsie (our house guest for the past month) off at the Corozal airstrip - she's going diving for a few days down at San Pedro, then up to Cozumel for a few more days diving, then flying home to Calgary, Canada, I ran on up to Rick's house.
His place is about a half-mile up the Northern Highway from our house, so, after dropping Elsie off, I was at his place in a couple of minutes.
Rick and I went for a test drive as he took me back home driving the Isuzu. The Isuzu behaved as it should have, displaying all its symptoms for him, instead of purring like a kitten. We also heard a new two-toned humming sound (bearings failing). Anyway, he got a good understanding of just what's wrong.
After Rick dropped me off, Dianna and I headed off on our first scooter road trip into Corozal, both of us wearing our cool new helmets. It was a real kick. We went to
- Immigration - to get our monthly tourist visa renewal (we have to do that for the next year to get our residency),
- Dianna wanted to stop and see her doctor ($20BZ for an office visit with Dr. Allen - a US-trained doctor, really a nice guy),
- check mail at the post office (junk mail being forwarded down here by the USPS),
- mailing the hotel key back to the Hotel Mopan in Belize City ($0.50BZ),
- paying our monthly tourist visa fee of $100BZ at the Treasurer's office,
- back to Immigration to show them the Treasurer's receipt so they would stamp our passports, and
- riding back home. Whew!
What fun. We're going out again today on the scooter. It is fun, fun, fun! Dangerous but fun.
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