Bon Voyager...parte dos..

For the past couple of days, Ingrid the van (ItV), has sat naked and plateless in our garage. Meg gave her a bath, reconfigured the seats, cleaned the headlights and checked the oil and other fluids. Ingrid, the car sales agent, told Carsten that she would check with a friend of hers who works for immigration to see if Meg could legally buy a Mexican vehicle and legally register and own it.

In the meantime, I decided to Google CURP  - The Clave Unica de Registro de Poblacion (Unique Population Registry Code aka Personal ID Code Number) Meg and I both have/had? CURPs in the past but neither of us had cards in hand this season. The description on Wikipedia gave directions on how to figure out a CURP...except for the last two numbers which are arbitrary digits. After a few attempts at recreating my CURP I discovered a link to e-CURP.com where I plunked in my info and printed a card in a matter of minutes. It took me a few more minutes to fill in the blanks with Meg's vital statistics and VOILA!...I printed her card, too. What a relief! We celebrated! Now why couldn't any one of those people whom we encountered on Friday, at those 3 offices, either print out a card or direct us to the website to do it ourselves??? 

On Monday morning Meg noticed that ItV was ticking. It turned out to be a relay but after further investigation ItV would not turn over. Perhaps a light was left on overnight...or the door was ajar? Lucky for us our aluminum guy, Eduardo, had just stopped by...pulled the battery from his truck, attached it to the van, started her up and reconnected the battery cables. 

At noon Carsten picked Meg up and off they drove to Armeria to see the clerk who left early on Friday. No problema...Meg had a new CURP card issued and laminated within minutes. Alas, the plates (placas) would have to wait another day because an appointment is required at the Department of Transport office in Tecoman. 

While Meg was out, our maid, Juanita, alerted me to ticking emanating from ItV and again it was the relay and again ItV would not start. Later in the afternoon, our handy hombre, Gus, pulled his truck battery and got ItV going but, if Meg was going to drive the van to Tecoman for her 9:30 appointment, the battery needed help. Out came the battery and off Meg tootled to the little ferreteria (hardware shop) in Cuyutlan for an overnight 50 peso boost.

First thing this morning Carsten arrived with the battery, connect to ItV and he and Meg were ready to roll. They arrived at the Dept of Transport office in Tecoman at 9:30 to find a jam-packed room of people - some with appointments, quite a few without - and reported to the woman whom we had seen on Friday (Alma). Alma checked Meg's papers and confirmed yes, indeed, she had an appointment and told her to get in line behind six other folk to wait for the agent at Window Uno (Beto). While in line Meg began to realize from reading various notices of the walls that she needed copies of many of the papers she had in her folder. She and Carsten took turns heading next door to get copies of an assortment of the papers printed. During one of the trips the copy woman decided it was break time, took out her breakfast, sat in the kiosk eating it, refusing to make copies. Fortunately there was another copy kiosk across the street where a very pleasant woman, Maria, was happy to handle the chore for 2 pesos/copy. After about an hour of waiting in line, Carsten and Meg got to see Beto at Window Uno.

It took him over 30 minutes to rustle through the ever-growing stack of papers and process his portion of the formalities into his computer. To add a little extra flair to the morning, into the office strutted a very animated well-dressed woman who marched through the crowd, right over to Beto and proceeded to spray perfume all around his neck and shirt. Beto, in turn, then visited every woman agent behind the counter to be sniffed and evaluated for scent appeal. Apparently it was a good smell, he purchased the perfume and returned to Meg's papers...which she signed...and was sent back to Alma.


Alma checked the papers and sent Meg outside the office to report to an inspector (Carlos), neatly dressed in a blue lab coat with a "Sheriff's" badge on the pocket, seated at a small table. At this point Meg was directed to drive ItV over to Carlos so that he could check the Chip sticker...which it turns out, was missing. So Carlos pulled out his camera, snapped a picture of the VIN under the hood and out comes a chip transponder sticker which he attached to the windshield. Apparently the transponder is checked by sensors mounted on highway overpasses throughout the country. It compares the information on the chip to the license plate number to check if the vehicle is stolen. 

Having been chipped, now Meg was sent to the next inspector (David) who rubbed carbon paper over the VIN plate, then pressed tape onto the blackened VIN plate, captured the impression and stuck it to a piece of paper from which Meg had two copies printed at Maria's and present to Carlos who filled out some more papers and sent Meg around the corner into Banamex, past the crowd of waiting clients to the 2nd office (Effrem) to calculate how many pesos were required for registration and plates. After 15 minutos of reprocessing Beto's paperwork, Effrem got Meg to show her driver's licence, calculated her senior's discount and sent her off to Banamex office 1 to meet Frida who was situated 

in a cage. Here Meg handed over pesos for registration and then more pesos for the plates, got her receipt and headed back to Maria for 
another 2 copies.

Back to the Dept of Transport, checked over for receipt and copies of receipt by Alma, Meg signed a paper then was directed to Window Tres (Gaby) who processed the "Executuve Order of the Secretary-General of the Governor of Colima" along with a copy of the registration with Meg's name and CURP number on it and, hallelulah, hands Meg two licence plates, a licence sticker, says "Congratulations" and shakes her hand. Meg felt like jumping over the counter to give her a kiss but Carsten, thank goodness, restrained her.

It took three trips into Manzanillo, three trips to Armeria, two trips to Tecoman, untold hours of dealing with various levels of bureaucracy over 8 days in 32C heat to get those gosh darn placas. There is no way that we could have been successful without Carsten's help in translating, navigating to the numerous offices in obscure corners in all the towns, and his moral support when things looked very bleak. Whatta guy!!

Considering that Ingrid, the car sales agent, has not followed through with many of her promises, we decided that calling the van Ingrid would tarnish the aura of the Voyager...so she has been re-christened "Alex" as she is a Voyager LX.

Unfortunately we have yet to attach those placas to Alex. She currently is at a mechanico electrico in Armeria undergoing some diagnostics. From the sounds of it tomorrow we will be off to Colima to another mechanico electrico for more in-depth procedures. 

Ni mod, asi es la vida!!

Not so Bon Voyager...

It hasn't taken long for our next adventure to begin...

As we decided, at the last minute, not to drive the usual 4800 kms from Aldergrove to Cuyutlan this season, we are sans vehicle. It would not be a problem in an urban setting but our casa is rural - 3km to Cuyutlan, 10km to Armeria, 28km to Tecoman, 50 km to Manzanillo. True, there are buses but the thought of slogging 3 km in 32C heat is not all that appealing. We had toyed with the idea of importing a vehicle into Mexico but heard horror stories of the costs and hoops which had to be jumped through and scuttled that plan. 

So on Monday we tootled off to Manzanillo to check out a van that our friend, Carsten, had come across. There is a great restaurant in Manzanillo called Godzilla's...run by a very amiable fellow, Paul, formerly from Bellingham. Turns out Paul's ex, Ingrid, sells cars and happened to have a 2003 Voyager LX for a decent price. We met up with Ingrid at Godzilla's, test drove the van, liked it but wanted an oil leak checked out. Back to Cuyutlan we went to the open pit (see previous post)

Two days later Ingrid (Spanish speaking only) called Carsten to say the oil leak was fixed. Since cash is the rule of thumb, Meg and I had to call VanCity to up our daily withdrawal limit, borrow Carsten's car, drive into Tecoman to try to withdraw enough cash to cover the deal. After quite a few attempts we managed to get some but not enough.

Yesterday morning Carsten, our buddy and fluent translator, drove us back to Manzanillo to another bank to withdraw more cash. The first ATM would not accept our cards, the next would not give us enough pesos but we could came up with just enough to cover the deal. At 10am we met Ingrid at her car lot and started the process. She thumbed through an inch thick pile of documents over and over. Each year's registration documentation and decals must be presented with the vehicle. After an hour we were sent down the street to a specific bank to deposit our cash into a specific account while Ingrid returned home to pick up the extra set of keys for the van. Receipt in hand we returned to the car lot where Ingrid copied Meg's passport and other documents. At one point it looked like we would not complete the deal since we did not have a bill (telephone or electric) with our Mexican address on it...but Ingrid conceded that everything would be okay. We questioned whether we needed to be 'residente temporale o permenente' but Ingrid said of tourist visas were okay. Then Ingrid took her dealer's fee, handed us the keys and walked us to our new vehicle. She removed the plates and sent us off to the Oficina de Transportes. At this tiny office, filled to the rafters with people, we eventually squeezed our way to the counter only to find that we needed the plates to be able to purchase a temporary permit to drive to Tecoman to get our plates. For some bureaucratic reason they would not sell us plates in Manzanillo. We attempted to call Ingrid but she did not answer. So back to the car lot and there she was. Carsten explained our predicament, Ingrid jumped into the car and off we went to a government kiosk at the nearest mall. Half an hour later and 15 minutes to closing time at 2pm we were back at the Oficina de Transportes. The clerk seemed to take a dislike to Ingrid and would do nothing. Ingrid would have to make an appointment for the following morning.

So here we are with a vehicle with no plates, stranded in Manzanillo. Back to Godizalla's...park the van...ask Paul if it's okay to leave it there overnight...grab some lunch...quaff a couple of beers and head back to Cuyutlan empty-handed.

Ingrid, the van with no plates, at Godzilla's...

I stressed all night about finding no van in the lot when we returned to Godzilla's!!

This morning Carsten picked us up and back we drove to Manzanillo. (OAN, the highway is tolled so every time we go to Manzanillo it costs 128$ or $10 one-way. These extra trips add up not to mention the fuel costs.) Approaching Godzilla's, I was so happy to see our van - now christened 'Ingrid' - in the parking lot. In time Ingrid, the agent, arrived from the Oficina de Transportes with a document indicating that the former owner's plates had been turned in, apparently allowing us to drive to Tecoman. Feeling uneasy, we asked Carsten to ride with Meg in the van in case an interrupter was needed if Meg was stopped by the police. I drove Carsten's car. 

Next we drove to Armeria to a municipal office to inquire about proper procedures for getting plates. Here the clerk could not help and sent us off to Tecoman to another office. In the office in Tecoman, after a lengthy discussion, they told us we could not get plates because Meg did not have a ID card with her CURP number on it. We had a card like this a few years ago but have no idea where it is. I have an expired 'residente temporale' card with my CURP number but the van is registered to Meg (because Ingrid told us that only one of us could be on the registration document) and, since Meg does most of the driving, her name went on the paper. 

Now we were sent off, through the maze of one-way streets, to another 'office of something or other' on the other side of Tecoman to plead our case. It may have worked if not for the fact that this fellow's computer was down and he could not search for Meg's CURP number. Back to Armeria to the municipal office only to find the CURP-searching clerk had left for the day and would not be back until Monday.

Such is our bureaucratic nightmare of automotive paperwork in Mexico.

After many attempts, Carsten reached Ingrid to explain our current situation. She said she would handle things manana...

To be continued...

Iguana...parte tres...

No one ever said our life is not an adventure! 

So Meg and I arrived back in Mexico last Friday...an effortless early morning flight (6am) from YXX (thanks so much, Lyn, for the ride to the airport) via Calgary to Manzanillo. Our good buddy, Carsten, picked us up at the airport and we were in the pool at our casa by 6pm (0:

Considering that la casa withstood Category 5 Hurricane Patricia a few weeks ago, we were thrilled to see it still standing, a little battered, but seemingly problem free. Our screened room off the upstairs bedroom suffered the most damage...twisted aluminum screens and supports...destined to be reconfigured soon.

The far wall of screening & door blew out..

We settled into the sunshine and humidity, 32C air temp, 29C pool temp and felt that all was well...until we noticed that the shower was overflowing downstairs while we were using the washing machine. The toilet was burping and the drain in the kitchen was gurgling. It was not a good sign. Meg used the plunger to see if that would dislodge the blockage. With each plunge of the shower drain, water would spurt out of the bolts securing the adjacent toilet. Not a good sign either! Because a fair amount of water was accumulating at the base of the toilet, we removed the toilet to see if we could solve the problem.

Fortunately, our trusty handy hombre, Gus, happened to drop by a few minutes after we discovered the drainage issue. He immediately jumped into action and started to work on the problem.

Meg and I had to leave for Manzanillo to look at a van and buy a new toilet at Home Depot. We returned later in the afternoon to see a huge mound of sand in the backyard; Gus's brother,Ismail, neck deep digging out the hole and the exterior wall of our septic tank exposed.

Gus and his crew had worked all afternoon to unplug the pipe using a snake and water to no avail. 

In Canada we would have rented a power auger to blast through the blockage but there are no equipment rentals in our region of Mexico. We do not have "as-built" plans for our casa since they are non-existent, as well, so we did not have much of an idea in which direction the sewer pipes were installed.

Since it was dark, we told Gus and his gang to head home. Meg and I could survive the night without a working toilet or shower. We could improvise. 

Ad hoc loo...

Meg started dumping large amounts of bicarb of soda and vinegar down the drain. It bubbled a lot...hopefully it would do the job overnight?

The next day Gus and crew were back in the afternoon. The bicarb/vinegar boluses (boli?) had not worked. Nothing would break through. The next option was to expose more of the sewer pipe which lay below the tiled floor and concrete. With no plans of the house piping, it was going to be a (pardon the pun) crap shoot! 

 

First lifted tile and pile o' sand...

Before we knew it there was a big pile of sand in the bedroom but, alas, no sewer pipe. Meg started to go through photos of our casa construction back in 2007 and found one picture showing a pipe heading out the other direction. So the guys removed the vanity beneath the sink, another tile was chipped out of the floor (BTW, these are 13 x13" tiles) and, lo & behold, a pipe!!  Gus cut into the pipe, inserted the hose, cranked the water but, darn it, nothing budged. 

Hole below the sink 

With visions of the whole bedroom floor chipped open, we had another thought...a high pressure hose. Surprisingly we tracked one down and within an hour Gus had it in hand. Although he could not use the trigger attachment to create full pressure (it couldn't bend around the joint), after much time and effort, there was a sudden burst and the water began to flow. Yipee!!

We surmised that there must have been a buildup of paper causing the blockage although we do not flush TP down our system. Perhaps former renters had not followed house rules and flushed TP down?  But no, it wasn't a massive wad of paper....

Remember the iguana that was living in our storm drain last year?

I had looked for it since we arrived back at the casa but it was nowhere to be seen. From what we can gather, said iguana had managed to crawl all the way up inside the storm drain, two stories up to the roof and made a fatal error in judgment by entering the sewer air vent, falling down into the drain. Poor critter...what a (pardon the pun) shitty way to go!!

Yesterday we arrived home to see that Gus had miraculously repaired the holes in the floor, removed the piles of sand from the bedroom, and filled the big hole by the septic tank. This weekend Meg and I will install the new toilet and all will be well. Inshallah!

You can hardly tell...

  

Just a little concrete patch needed...

What will tomorrow bring???