Mexican AAA

Our hero...

For all of the doubters and naysayers.  For Janet and Larry H. and other friends and family members who thought moving to "dangerous" Mexico was an insane idea. This blog's for you!
On Saturday we took a day trip by land to Todos Santos, a small city about an hour away by car. Todos Santos is said to be a charming town with aspects of Sausalito and Key West, lots of artwork and shops and very gringo friendly (they take US dollars). We were riding with friends who had had a bit of trouble with air conditioning in their car, so Bill and Larry spent a few minutes adding freon before we took off. Dana was driving and we hadn't gone very far before the car overheated. We pulled over and the guys got out checked things out and thought they had rectified the situation. We debated going back to the marina and retrieving my Mazda but decided, as Bill put it, to have an adventure.
All went well on this leg of the trip. We left the air off while in town but found the engine temp was steady once out on the highway. Larry and I were happy to see that the construction of two years ago had been completed and the trip to Todos Santos was comfortable and uneventful.
We spent a lovely day in the city (more about that later.)
Before leaving the area we drove around some of the residential areas reached only by deeply rutted dirt roads, climbing steep hills that overlook the Pacific Ocean. As we headed back to the highway which would return us to La Paz the car began overheating once again. We turned off the engine and let it cool off, the guys agreeing it might be alright once we got up to highway speed. Not so. Within a couple of miles steam began rolling out from under the hood and the gauge read H!
We pulled off to dirt area and with the city in the rear view mirror and what looked to be a house a few hundred yards back, we knew it was time to reassess the situation.  In my mind we had few choices: we could leave the car and walk back to Todos Santos and get a motel; the problem there being the next day was Sunday and who knew if a repairman would be available. Larry always travels with a basic tool box but we didn't have anything with us which meant we were at the mercy of whomever might be available. Or we could drive on stopping every ten minutes to cool down and add water.

Yep!

Soon I saw a green pickup truck make a u-turn, come back and pull in behind us. The man pictured above (I believe his name was Ernesto) got out...and spent the next hour plus trying to help us get back on the road. He spoke no English and with our pitiful Spanish most communication was done with hand gestures. We ALL understood muy caliente! This gentleman offered to walk with Bill to the house (which turned out to be a bar) for more water. Dana had suggested -several times- that there might be a vapor lock and it would seem that she was right. In any case, more water was required and this time the bar owner returned with his contribution, a three liter container of water. This craggy-faced guy asked my name and told me he is called Emilio. Soon after that a young man, Christian, came walking up, carrying some groceries, took off his shirt (uh huh...) and began offering advice as well. By general agreement the engine was started and water poured into the radiator; at last the engine cooled down and it was deemed safe to drive back to La Paz.

Muy caliente!! Mas agua!
We all understood those words.

Now these three Mexican men, who spoke virtually no English and  did not know each other, were much kinder to us than most Americanos would have been to some Mexicans sitting on the side of the road in Ft. Lauderdale, or Raleigh or just about any place else in the States. I wanted to take all of their pictures, but Ernesto seemed so uncomfortable with picture taking I didn't want to embarrass the other two.
There are bad people and bad areas everywhere. But I feel safe here. I love the spirit of the Mexican people, the sense of family, the fact that several generations of a family can be out having fun at ten o'clock at night on the malecon. I love that these three men stopped to help strangers with no thought that they were doing anything special. I raise a glass to our three guys and say thank you. We all agreed it was time to pay it forward.
 So if we invited you to come to the Baja to visit and you have hesitated for fear of peligroso conditions....fuhgeddaboudit! Ya'll come on down.
And yes, we traveled swiftly and safely back to La Paz and celebrated with cervezas and a few games of pool.