Where to begin…. Once again…

Clunk-clunk-clunk-clunk and pop-pop-pop-pop-pop are never the sounds you want to here coming from your Jeep... NEVER!!!!! But as much as I wanted them to go away, they were lovestruck and wouldn’t let me or HAL (that’s the Jeep) alone, following our steps, and making themselves aware of their existence at every small bump (clunk-clunk-clunk) and turns (pop-pop-pop-pop)... So in short: I WAS IN DEEP!!!

In times of needs there are always people to step up and help you... and this time it came

From the most unsusual of places: the stoners of Mazatlan, and the gay community of Puerto Vallarta...

First came in, I will change names for confidentiality issues, Tom, and Jerry, the Mazatlan stoners, who worked on the truck for the better part of the morning, working on the driving shaft... which, had the end didn’t solve the problem at all... but I came out of it with a brand new u-joint and a new layer of silicon for the differenatial.... YHEAAAAAA!!!!! Ahh stoners... never know what to expect from them!!

After a stressfull 5 hour drive to Puerto Vallarta, the noises were still sticking to me, the engine was overheating from the jungle mountain climbs, and I was on the verge of using every swear words in my vocabulary (which include some in French, English, Spanish, Portuguese, Korean, German, Japanese, and oddly enough one in Latin). That is when I eneded up staying with Robb (through couchsurfing... google it) and his oasis, a hillside hacienda, witha pool, hot tub and the amenities of a 5 star hotel.... not bad for free!!!



Robb then proceded to take me downtown, meet his friends, and go for a meal, which is when I figured out that I was being adopted and surounded by the gay community of Puerto Vallarta... not that there is anything wrong with that!! I got adopted wright away (my good looks) and started every sentence with: I’m meeting my GIRLFRIEND, in Cancun (my paranoia). But to tell you the truth I had an amzing time with the lads, and made me feel very comftarble and accepted, even if I was a lesbian!!

Their mission was then to find me a mechanic. Emailing, asking left and right, where finally my path ended to Rami (not gay), the most amazing mechanic, and person, I think I ever met. I knew I was in good hands no gay pun intended here) when the first thing he told me is: mecanical work is like a crime scene, first comes denial, when you try to convince yourself that it’s not happening, then realisation, that you need to deal with it, to finally lead an investigation that will tell us the problem. He was my Sherlock, I was his Watson!!!

And problems he found, and patience he had. Rami spent the day explaining everything that was wrong, he and 2 helpers working on HAL like surgeons, putting all their love into it, offering me lunch, giving advice and lessons on how to drive th truck, what to and not to do... and making me realize that I wasn’t on a pleasure ride, but rather on a longhaule journey that will demmand me to take good care of the truck... and myself! We talked about life, books (Rami reads around 250 books a year, classifying himslef a s a compulsive reader), and philosophy. That day, not only did I find a great mechanic, I also found a friend... and all of that for 450$, a job that would have costed me round 2000$ back in Ottawa!!

Mexico as, so far, been a rollercoaster of emotions, from ridiculous happinnes, to uncertainty, to extreme confidence, to high stress, from going with the flow, to asking myself, how the hell am I going to get out of this one.

But in the end, sitting on the beach with a cold beer in my hands, watching the sunset and thinking of past events, it was all worth it!!!