Zacatepec – Oaxaca

Today we got up at 5 as instructed. Then again at 6. At 7 there was finally some sign of action, and at 8 we were ready to start trying to get the car on the lorry. The general plan was to use two metal supports which were for the building work that was going as ramps. The only problem was that these supports were very, very thin. So thin that they bent under my weight. The builders started putting wooden struts under the ramps to support the weight, and after one of them had walked up the ramp and knocked it over with his body weight, it was decided that it was time to start trying to get the car up.

The next problem was that the car, being huge, was quite heavy. A lot heavier than they had predicted, and so pushing it up with ten or so strong men, it soon became apparent, wasn't going to work. Nonetheless, we got it about half way up, whilst Nicky got gradually more and more scared for his life. After that the brakes were put on and a new plan emerged. Equipped with a very long rope, we attached the car to another truck, in front of the lorry, and towed it. This proved to be a lot easier, if even scarier for Nicky because of the speed, and in seconds the car was on the flat-bed. How we actually managed to get the car up without damaging it or hurting/killing anyone I'll never know.

Since we're in Mexico, the next item on the agenda was obviously going to be a break, conveniently for breakfast, which the owner of the lorry kindly bought us before taking all of our money off our hands to pay for the transport of our car. After a few photos, laughs, thank yous and goodbyes, we mounted the lorry to begin our trip back. The lorry, like most of that size, had a bed in the cab, and I was soon fast asleep, leaving Nicky to sit for four hours in silence with the very uncommunicative, but thankfully very competent, driver.

We finally arrived near to Oaxaca, and were taken to the nearest garage with tow-trucks. Here the task of unloading the car was taken out of our hands, and we gratefully watched as it was pushed with ease onto a tow-truck, and secured. It was then that we noticed that the strops that we had used to tie it down to the lorry had made the sides of the car buckle and overlap the bonnet, but this was very rapidly sorted out by a man with a hammer and a plank of wood. Not quite high tech, but it did the job. It turned out that this garage couldn't fix it, so we were charged 65 dollars to take it 200 metres down the road to someone who could. Extortionate, but we didn't really have a choice.

This mechanic, after he had eaten his lunch of course, filled us with a lot more confidence, and soon established that no current was passing to the spark plugs. He couldn't work out why, but he assured us that he could fix it, and the car is still with him until it's repaired. We crossed the road to try to find a taxi, and after avoiding being forced to drink Mezcal by a couple of over friendly american bar owners, had a long chat with the husband about how our other options after a pair of days like ours were to find something high and jump off, or “buy a big old bag, go back to your hotel, and smoke the lot”. We didn't take him up on any of his suggestions, but he provided welcome comic relief from an otherwise relatively sober day.

And so here we are sitting back in the same hotel, in our boxers, and are about to go to sleep at 9, following our early morning. We're continuing to Palenque by bus tomorrow, and are going to do the Yucatan section of our trip on coaches, and then go and pick up the car and go on from there. Whether it was good or bad, it was an experience we'll never forget!

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1. Oaxaca — ? : ? km
2. Oaxaca and Monte Albán
3. Puerto Escondido – Oaxaca : 426 km
4. Oaxaca – Veracruz : Dodge Dynasty Delight
5. Palenque : Ruins