MUNGO EATS Latin America

Okay…we are not in Argentina.  Remember when we couldn´t leave Guatemala?  Apparently, this place has the same hold on us…except that we are not happy about it! 

On the way into Tupiza, the brakes started making ¨not good brake noises¨.  When Kevin looked into the problem, he discovered that 3 of the 4 brake pads were due to be replaced.  One of the brake pads was ¨beyond due¨and we were grinding metal to metal.  Need new brake pads.  In Canada, you would just walk into a Canadian Tire, get some new brake pads, for $20, and away you go.  Ahh, but this is not Canada!!  First you have to track down someone who has anything to do with brakes.  So, after walking pretty much the whole town, we find the one place in town that does brakes.  They don´t actually sell new brakes…why would they do that?  They will fix your old brakes, but not right now, you have to wait for the son to come to the shop, come back at 2pm.  Poor Kevin, this really goes against the grain for him.  He wants to walk in with a part number and get a NEW part.  But the 60 year old grandma behind the counter in the autoparts store doesn´t DO part numbers!!!  Come back at 2pm. 

We return at 2:30 pm, knowing that no one will actually be there at 2pm, and are told that the ¨son¨ has not come back from lunch yet, but I am sure he will be back soon.  Finally…he comes back about 3:15, after a call from his mom( how embarassing).  He starts to repair the pads right away, but every customer that enters the store, distracts him, so that it is about 4:30 when we finally leave the store with 4 ¨repaired¨ pads, and 60 Bolivianos lighter (about 10 bucks)! 

So now the brakes are good.  We (isn´t it cute how I say ¨we¨?) discovered that a little welding was required on the frame as well, while we were checking out the brakes, so this morning, Kevin got a welder to do a  little spot repair.  So….. finally, we think the van is in shape to make the final push to Argentina!!!  Please, please , please!!! 

We really think that all this bad luck is the fault of the condor amulet that we picked up on La Paz at the witches market.  We think there is a power struggle going on between St. Christopher and the amulet, and all this is resulting in bad carma.  But, how do you get rid of a charm?  We are afraid to smash it, because that might bring WORSE luck.  We think it needs to find a new home, but we can´t bring ourselves to give this bad luck charm to anyone we like.  We think it might just find it´s way onto some other vehicles rearview mirror some day.  Hopefully soon!   

By the way, Sara and I got haircuts today.  This set us back a whopping 20 Bolivianos, for the pair, a total of about $3.33.  Harsh!