note: similar gps as last entry (about 10 blocks away)
so, this morning, patrik and i tried to leave the hotel (8ish am). we didn’t end up leaving till closer to noon. why?….the car wouldn’t start
we tried a bunch of stuff….fuses, relays, jumpstarting, etc. nothing worked. we called in a mechanic….nothing again. just when we had given up hope. he tried one last thing. banging the starter motor with a hammer. it worked.
so we went to a repair shop, where they confirmed that it was the ‘carbone’. so 1 hr and $40 later, we had a working car again. the children (child labor laws do not seem to be in effect here) removed the starter motor with their agile fingers, then took apart the motor and replaced the brushes of the motor (pic below shows before and after….see how much the heads are worn?!). pretty cool….although much different than the US, where they’d replace the whole motor…and probably charge $200 for labor.
….also the plug on the rear tire fell out (…actually in, i think)….so we just popped on another tire, and will get the tire fixed one of these days.