Caribbean Mechanics
Well, today was my first foray into the interesting world of VI auto repair shops.
[Sorry for the long post with no pictures (or sketches).]
Kendra’s coworkers all suggested the same place to get car AC fixed, so that is where I went (“Auto Kool”). Once I finally found the place, I was astounded by the spotless exterior on the building out front. Then I realized that I would never actually go inside that building, as it was still under construction/renovation. Oh well. I was directed to the back of the shop, and to a spot under a 3 car carport. There, a mechanic met me, and through my white boy mainland English and his Carib Spanglish, he was able to ascertain from me that my AC didn’t work, the car was last serviced a few months ago, and the make of the car was a Saturn (which he and the other mechanics had never heard of… hmmm… great). After about 20 minutes, he told me that it would cost $230, including labor, to repair the AC, and it would take about 2 hours.
Anyway. Here is some setting info for you, so you can get a nice visual, tactile and olfactory mental image.
Three vehicles, all with hoods open, were in the carport/repair bay. One was a church van, which was having some part soldered with a lit acetylene torch that was balanced on the rim of the hood (Look Ma! No hands on the highly explosive canister!). Generic (to me) Latin music blared from the cooking hut/living quarters behind the carport. The middle car (a Honda), tapped in time to the music thanks to a wrench wielded by a mechanic on the underside of the car. Spurts of Carib English and Carib Spanish (neither of which I can decipher that easily) are shot between the mechanics at seemly random intervals, interspersed with off-key singing, sometimes synchronized from multiple mechanics, sometimes one would take the chorus, while the other sang the primary verses.
Mosquitoes flitted about in the warm humid air, homing in mercilessly on the foolish fresh meat (me) who decided to take a seat outside and watch the mechanics in their musical dance of auto repair. Chickens wandered through the carport, pecking (nearly in time to the music) at morsels, that while invisible to me, somehow kept them pecking for more. Lizards waltzed and swayed in the wake of the chickens, followed by a lone rat (who was not musically inclined at all).
The occasional passerby walked through the repair bays to the apartments directly behind the shop, from which various smells –onions, chili powder, beans, rice and vinegar- wafted through the air. “My” mechanic took a break and returned from the cooking hut/living quarters with a pot of rice and beans and plantains (all together) and ate his meal dividing his time between looking at the Saturn’s engine, singing, and talking with the other mechanics.
Now that you have an idea of the setting, here’s some info on the mechanic. “My” mechanic (the one who spent most of his time working on the Saturn), managed to work on the car (unscrewing bolts) while talking on the phone. When the bolt fell to the ground under the car, he went and fetched a golf club and used it knock the bolt from underneath the car. My confidence was (slightly) bolstered when it became apparent that the other mechanics came to him with questions more often that vise versa. He seemed to be the most diligent mechanic (maybe b/c I was sitting there); he disappeared the least out of the 5 or so mechanics and he spent at least 1/3 of his time actually working on the car. Speaking of the multitude of mechanics… they went from car to car, performing various tasks, detaching and attaching hoses, flipping switches on attached machinery, unscrewing bolts, ect… each car had a primary mechanic, but there also seemed to be extra people around who messed around with the shop equipment/vehicles when the primary was absent.
The bottom line… 2 hours and 10 minutes after I arrived, I was leaving, $280 less in my pocket, but with a working AC system. Despite not knowing what a Saturn was, they seemed to know AC systems forward and back, and they provided an accurate time and cost estimate, which is more than I can say for quite a few mechanics in the states. Plus, it was quite interesting.
In the spirit of interesting, we are trying a new meal for tonight’s dinner. Left-over steak, cut into strips, salad, and my version of the popular Caribbean Rice and Beans dish (traditionally called “Moros y Cristaianos”, literally, Moors and Christians).
Moros y Cristaianos, Dave style
Add 3 tablespoons oil to a large sauce pan, heat oil
Add to oil:
1 diced onion
Cook until onion is clear, and then add:
2-8 cloves garlic
2 bell peppers
2 Cuban peppers (like bell peppers)
1 pinch oregano
Hot sauce
(Cumin, thyme if you want)
Mix well
Add 2 15 oz cans black beans and rice, plus enough water to cook the rice (see directions for stovetop cooking on rice container). I plan on adding 1 cup rice and 2 cups water.
Cook until rice is done
[Sorry for the long post with no pictures (or sketches).]
Kendra’s coworkers all suggested the same place to get car AC fixed, so that is where I went (“Auto Kool”). Once I finally found the place, I was astounded by the spotless exterior on the building out front. Then I realized that I would never actually go inside that building, as it was still under construction/renovation. Oh well. I was directed to the back of the shop, and to a spot under a 3 car carport. There, a mechanic met me, and through my white boy mainland English and his Carib Spanglish, he was able to ascertain from me that my AC didn’t work, the car was last serviced a few months ago, and the make of the car was a Saturn (which he and the other mechanics had never heard of… hmmm… great). After about 20 minutes, he told me that it would cost $230, including labor, to repair the AC, and it would take about 2 hours.
Anyway. Here is some setting info for you, so you can get a nice visual, tactile and olfactory mental image.
Three vehicles, all with hoods open, were in the carport/repair bay. One was a church van, which was having some part soldered with a lit acetylene torch that was balanced on the rim of the hood (Look Ma! No hands on the highly explosive canister!). Generic (to me) Latin music blared from the cooking hut/living quarters behind the carport. The middle car (a Honda), tapped in time to the music thanks to a wrench wielded by a mechanic on the underside of the car. Spurts of Carib English and Carib Spanish (neither of which I can decipher that easily) are shot between the mechanics at seemly random intervals, interspersed with off-key singing, sometimes synchronized from multiple mechanics, sometimes one would take the chorus, while the other sang the primary verses.
Mosquitoes flitted about in the warm humid air, homing in mercilessly on the foolish fresh meat (me) who decided to take a seat outside and watch the mechanics in their musical dance of auto repair. Chickens wandered through the carport, pecking (nearly in time to the music) at morsels, that while invisible to me, somehow kept them pecking for more. Lizards waltzed and swayed in the wake of the chickens, followed by a lone rat (who was not musically inclined at all).
The occasional passerby walked through the repair bays to the apartments directly behind the shop, from which various smells –onions, chili powder, beans, rice and vinegar- wafted through the air. “My” mechanic took a break and returned from the cooking hut/living quarters with a pot of rice and beans and plantains (all together) and ate his meal dividing his time between looking at the Saturn’s engine, singing, and talking with the other mechanics.
Now that you have an idea of the setting, here’s some info on the mechanic. “My” mechanic (the one who spent most of his time working on the Saturn), managed to work on the car (unscrewing bolts) while talking on the phone. When the bolt fell to the ground under the car, he went and fetched a golf club and used it knock the bolt from underneath the car. My confidence was (slightly) bolstered when it became apparent that the other mechanics came to him with questions more often that vise versa. He seemed to be the most diligent mechanic (maybe b/c I was sitting there); he disappeared the least out of the 5 or so mechanics and he spent at least 1/3 of his time actually working on the car. Speaking of the multitude of mechanics… they went from car to car, performing various tasks, detaching and attaching hoses, flipping switches on attached machinery, unscrewing bolts, ect… each car had a primary mechanic, but there also seemed to be extra people around who messed around with the shop equipment/vehicles when the primary was absent.
The bottom line… 2 hours and 10 minutes after I arrived, I was leaving, $280 less in my pocket, but with a working AC system. Despite not knowing what a Saturn was, they seemed to know AC systems forward and back, and they provided an accurate time and cost estimate, which is more than I can say for quite a few mechanics in the states. Plus, it was quite interesting.
In the spirit of interesting, we are trying a new meal for tonight’s dinner. Left-over steak, cut into strips, salad, and my version of the popular Caribbean Rice and Beans dish (traditionally called “Moros y Cristaianos”, literally, Moors and Christians).
Moros y Cristaianos, Dave style
Add 3 tablespoons oil to a large sauce pan, heat oil
Add to oil:
1 diced onion
Cook until onion is clear, and then add:
2-8 cloves garlic
2 bell peppers
2 Cuban peppers (like bell peppers)
1 pinch oregano
Hot sauce
(Cumin, thyme if you want)
Mix well
Add 2 15 oz cans black beans and rice, plus enough water to cook the rice (see directions for stovetop cooking on rice container). I plan on adding 1 cup rice and 2 cups water.
Cook until rice is done
posted by Dave at 5:36 PM
1 Comments:
Dave-
Love your description of the repair shop! Can hear the music and smell the rice and beans even here in the desert.
Karen
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