Sunday, March 29, 2015

March 27, 2015

The Flea of Central America.  There is an old children’s song about a hole in the bottom of the sea.  As it goes along there is a verse that says “there is a flea on the hair on the wart on the frog on the log in the hole in the bottom of the sea”.  Charlotte mentioned the man we met on the street here in Ataco who was from Texas.  He said that El Salvador was called “the flea of Central America” because it is so small.  I decided to google it and sure enough he was right.  I guess that means we are now living in “the flea”.  I never personally liked fleas but I guess God had a purpose for everything He created.  There are quite a lot of people living in the flea.  The internet also said El Salvador is the most densely populated country in Central America (# of people per square mile).  So we lived in Macau (the most densely populated city in the world) and now we are living in the most densely populated country in Central America.  Really, “the flea” doesn’t feel that tiny when you move around inside of it.  Yesterday was a long and interesting day for me.  I arrived at the garage where they had been working on the car at 8:30. Everything in the dash area and the middle console was completely disassembled.  When I told them I was not going to spend the additional $300 to have it fixed but just wanted it put back together so I could get it back they were a little put out with me.  They said it would take a lot of time to put back together and I could pick it up at the end of the day on Monday.  I said I was not leaving without it.  So after finishing a van they were working on they started on our car.  Then another large van came in that apparently needed a break job and oil change.  They stopped working on our car to do that.  Funny thing was that both of those vehicles were still there at the end of the day.  Anyway, since I said I was not leaving without the car so when lunch time came they all left, closed the doors and left me inside.  So I went over and started working on the car myself.  I have found that, at least when it comes to mechanics, that most of them here know no more than I do.  The owner had left for San Salvador about 11:00, before lunch, and I am pretty sure he told them to work on our car only in their spare time.  When they came back from lunch and saw the progress I had made they started back on it and we just talked and worked alongside of each other for the rest of the time.  It was really disassembled and of course they did not get it back together as good as it was to begin with.  But I was so tired and had not eaten anything or been to the bathroom since I left home so on a few occasions I said to myself when something was not perfect,  I can fix that better later.  At least when we finished everything but the AC was working and we could use it again.  I left the garage at 5:00 and called Charlotte to tell her I was on my way.  Of course, my sweet wife had dinner on the table when I got there and after a great meal and a “hot” shower I was feeling better.

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