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Tuesday, December 8, 2020

The Kindness of Costa Ricans

Like the proverbial stubborn mule, our Subaru refused to move another step as we were driving home from grocery shopping yesterday.

Here is where she decided that enough was enough:


 Waze put us as being stranded on Invu 3, Rincón de Arias - not far from Carlos, our mechanic.


Lance was able to reach Carlos who arranged for a tow truck (flatbed truck here) to bring our reluctant vehicle to his shop. The only issue was how long that might take. It turned out to be quite a while.We were stranded in a nice area, with houses on the left of the street and sugar cane fields on the right. Lance had guided the car to a space under a large tree so we were in shade.

Not much to do but hang around the car and wait. A fellow walking along the sidewalk stopped and asked us if we needed help and what our problem was. He indicated he lived not far down the road and if we needed anything to just ask. We told him help was on the way but we didn’t know exactly when.

About half an hour later, he returned - concerned about where our tow truck was. Not long after that, another fellow turned up on a bicycle. According to Jorge (that was our Good Samaritan’s name), this person worked on vehicle air conditioning systems. Then, another mechanic who lived on this street appeared. They all disappeared under the hood of our car.


Men doing man stuff:


The tow truck arrives:



More men looking into the engine area. This is our vehicle parked near our mechanic’s shop. They later pushed it across the street and into the garage.

Jorge said he would drive us to Carlo’s shop and he did. He said the next time we were driving on this road to stop by his house and have a coffee. In previous posts on my blog, I have related how Costa Ricas have stepped up to help us when we are having problems. This has happened time and time again and they never ask for anything from us.

We’re going to go to the feria this weekend and buy a big bunch of nice flowers for Mrs. Jorge. It’s a way to say thanks without making anyone feel awkward. This was Lance’s idea and it’s a good one.

(Click on photos to enlarge).

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