Arica Rest Day – 4/29/2013
May 1st, 2013 by rallyadmin
Last night, after we had checked in to the hotel and were headed out to find some dinner, we stopped at the front desk and asked if they could direct to a mechanic. We had a problem with our car and we needed to get some welding done. The woman at the desk said no problem. John was surprised and explained in some detail about the welding. Still, “No problem.” Okay.
We have breakfast and while we’re finishing our coffee, two maintenance men walk into the lobby. They obviously work for the hotel. One is older and the other looks like his son. They turn out to be the solution to our problem.
I’m out at the car rearranging gear and John comes out with the older man. He explains what the problem is, the cracks in the cross member that need to be welded. The man crawls under the car, John points out the problem, the man crawls back out. No problem. Really?
He walks over to a small car in front of a garage and moves the car out into the street and then motions for me to back the car into the spot just vacated by the car. While I’m backing in he opens the garage door and motions for me to continue backing into the garage area.
The area is unroofed, not really a garage and appears to the maintenance shop for the hotel. By the time I get the car parked the younger son already ahs a stick welder out and is helping John get the hi-lift jack off the bumper of the car. As soon as the car is up in the air, the younger man, crawls under the car takes a good look at the problem and start welding.
After about 30 minutes and 10 welding rods, the younger man crawls out, the older man crawls under and inspects. He motions to John and I to look at it. It looks like it will hold. It’s not the best welding job I’ve ever seen but it welding sheet metal (the cross member) to steel (the frame) never looks good and this is a bad spot to have to weld. Another reason to be gentle with the car for the rest of the trip.
We thank them. The old man won’t take any money. The younger one does, though. I’m sure he’s not paid much by the hotel. As we leave, we ask for directions to an auto parts shop and a place to get the oil changed. The older man gives us some directions and we leave. The first (and the big) issue solved.
We’re looking for a recharge can for the air-conditioner. In the States now you can recharges your our air-conditioner using a can of freon that looks like an ordinary spray can. They’re common is parts stops at home. Then, again, parts stores are common at home. Not so much in small Chilean cities.
We can’t seem to find a store but we go past a shop that looks like it does oil changes. We stop. The shops does repairs but not oil changes. We ask about air-conditioner repairs. No, they don’t do that either and a man standing there says that it’s probably easier to do in Peru?!
We explain to him the the air-conditioner works but it just needs freon. Oh, that’s different. Follow me, I’ll take you to a shop that does that. Far out.
We follow his truck. A few turns and then just a few blocks more and he pulls up in front of a air-conditioner repair shop. He goes into the shop and then comes back. Yes, they can do it. We thank and he drives off
We go into the shop and the woman there starts barraging John with questions which he’s having trouble keeping up with. I’m totally lost. Finally, we suggest we go out to the car, start it, turn on the air-conditioner and show her that the air-conditioner works but just needs to be recharged. Sure, I can do that.
She disappears back into the shop and then returns with a set of gauges that she connects to the car’s ac system. She watches the gauges while the ac cycles. She goes back into the shop and comes out with a cylinder of R134A Freon, the ozone-layer friendly Freon.
She connects the Freon take to the ac system, opens a valve, watches the gauges, speeds up the engine and then declares the ac good to go. She definitely knows her job. She disconnects everything and then goes back to the shop and returns with an infra-red temperature gauge. She points it at the one of the ac vents, smiles and returns to the shop. We’re good to go. As soon as we pay.
On the way to the air-conditioner shop, we’d passed a big oil change shop. We drive back, pull in and they say that they can change the oil. Right now. No waiting. Perfect. Have at it.
Until they find out that they have to remove the skid plate on the car in order to get to the oil pan drain plug. The mechanic says something to the manager and the mechanic then says that there is a problem with the bolts (?) or the wrench (?) or the drain plug. He then puts the one bolt that secures the skid plate to the car and tells us to back out of the bay.
They motion us to back the car to another spot. We put the car where they want it and they roll out a device that will suction the oil out of the dip stick tube. The manager drags the equipment over to the car, makes some connections, puts a thin plastic tube down the dip stick tube, turns on the device and walks away.
Ewe notice that the plastic tube is kinked and there’s no oil coming up the tube. The manager walks back, sees the kink, tries to straighten it and promptly breaks the tube. The manager disgustedly tells us that they can’t do the oil change, tells us no charge. Now leave. Hmm.
We leave heading back up the boulevard looking for another place to do the oil change. We see a mechanic shop but it’s closed. Right next door, however, there’s another shop/junkyard that appears to have a ramp and it’s open. As we look in a man stops by asks what we need. We tell him an oil change and he says pull right in. Only one bay but they’re almost done.
They seem to be only too happy to see us. I notcide that one of the cars parked in the chaos of the shop has a Dakar 2013 decal (this year’s Dakar rally went through this area on it’s way to Peru) so I’m hoping that the skid plate isn’t an issue.
They finish with the car already on the ramp, back him out and guide John up the ramp. Not only is the skid plate not an issue, they think it’s very cool and happily take it off to get at the drain plug. They guys are obviously an “oil pan half full” shop rather than the last shop which is very definitely an “oil pan half empty” place.
In 30 minutes they’re done and chtting about the States and Los Angeles and New York and Las Vegas. This day is turning into a head spinner. We pay, leave amid a host of thank yous and good lucks, shaking our heads at the good fortune that seems to show up just when we need. We had four issues to deal with today. The welding, the ac system, the oil change and our laundry. Three down one to go.
We had checked out our hotel before the welding episode and at the time we weren’t sure if we were going to move on or spend another night here in Arica. It’s now afternoon and we decide to find the hotel we were actually looking for last night, the Mirador Surf Hostal.
We’d ended up in a different hotel last night because we couldn’t figure a way through the one-way and closed streets in the center of Arica. Now on a Monday, there’s not much traffic and the closed roads are now open. We follow the GPS right to the hostal.
Yes, they have a room and it’s beaut. More correctly, it’s an apartment. And yes they do laundry. And we can cook if we want. Yes, the have a very good Internet connection. WE check in.
Down the hill to the beach, there’s a resort hotel that has a very good restaurant. A late lunch with a couple of glasses of wine. Back to the hostal. John says he’s taking a nap. I work on cleaning up my email and catching up with the blog.
John’s nap runs to 5 hours when I wake him and suggest dinner. Neither of us is very hungry so we dig into our freeze-dried stash and heat up some lasagna with meat. Not back. Of course, everything is at least “not bad” when mixed with Chilean wine.
A long but very successful day. Tomorrow we leave Chile for Peru.
Obi-wan