When Melaney bought the car, there were
several hoops to jump through including a four day wait for the license. We had taken the rental car back, because it
was expensive to have it just sitting in the yard. Now we had the other wait, and it was strange
having no vehicle.
We
drove into town yesterday morning, with the intentions of my hair getting
shortened. I was beginning to feel like
I had a football helmet on my head. The
door was open this time. We had made the
trip yesterday, but it was closed.
Apparently, Monday is the day off.
We went to the bank and withdrew the colones for the month’s expenses. (This is our bank...armed guard and all!--Mel)
Tuesday
the door to the salon was open, and we went in, thinking success. There was a young woman inside. She welcomed us, but through struggling
Spanish, when she found I wanted a hair cut, she was able to convey the message
that there was no person in the shop who could cut my hair. We finally got the message that I could come
back either Thursday afternoon or Friday morning. I opted for the afternoon on Thursday. I hope she understood.
Now
we were free to find Olivier’s shop. For
the past few days the horn on the car wasn’t working, and here you need a
horn. Mel had phoned for Monday, but he
said he was too busy. We knew where the
shop was located, so we drove there.
Olivier had offered to bring his mechanic out to the house but I knew
that would be another $50.
When
Olivier came out to the car with Mel, he brought a piece of paper with him that
he said must be kept in the car. We
checked and it was the ownership transfer document and should have been with
the papers in the car all the time. Then
he said because we had a one at the end of our license plate number, we had to
have the car in to the RETIVE during the month of January. After all the fol-de-rol that we had gone
through when we first got the car, we were under the impression that all of
that was done. We were even sure that
the car was purchased in January, but in later checking out times, we decided
that it was purchased in December. This
is a government check to see that everything is working properly on the car and
the emission is within regulations.
Where
can this be done? Mel asked and Olivier said in Alajuela, Where in Alajuela?
And Olivier said he had a friend who could take it. We had to hurry back home
for the FRIEND to pick up the car. We
waited all afternoon and thought the friend had been joy riding, then just
before dark, Olivier came with the car. He
told us the FRIEND had been going back and forth with many vehicles, so our car
was parked at the garage until Olivier could bring it home. We asked him to come in for a cold drink from
the fridge and in a very short time a half ton pulled into the yard. It was another FRIEND coming to pick him
up. He did all of this gratis, because
he felt he was responsible for not making us understand properly in the first
place. What a FRIEND.
We
also found yesterday that Olivier has a friend in town who repairs home stereo
equipment. He lives a hundred meters up
the street and across the road from Rita’s house, so we will look into this
another day. His name is Gustavo. It appears that everyone in this town has FRIENDS.
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