The Dread

I stared at the front wheel of GANNET2 buried deeply in the clay. Our winch rope had split. A gravel truck that had come to our rescue was sunk up to his axles in the clay. I was feeling defeated. “We get this fixed and keep going,” Layne said firmly as she handed me a glass of lemonade from the fridge. I have now had to face my dread of breakdowns on the PanAmerican Highway. 

I should have listened when she wondered if the sand was too soft. That failure to listen haunts me even as I write this. If only…the most useless words in the English language reverberate around my head.  If only.

We got stuck lunchtime Friday and we got out just before dark. By the time we got towed to Hattieville, south of Belize City it was pitch dark so not only were we driving in the dark, we were being towed down the Southern Highway in the dark. 

The lady in the orange T-shirt above, Greslin was calling the Ram dealer in Chetumal, Mexico to see if the had a radiator. In five days they said, $700US payment in advance. A radiator? Why a radiator? Because a Toyota 4Runner that tried to pull us out broke it’s hitch and launched the shackle into the front of GANNET2. Not only were we stuck, now we were broken. 

The radiator shop said the part was broken beyond repair. But there we were with a van stuck in clay with no radiator and a bunch of people helping and it was all my fault. My planned roadside lunch stop turned into a three ring circus and I was the clown. I felt like shit.

Kenny was hauling gravel and he stopped by to lend a hand. Four hours later the back hoe that had been loading all the trucks on the highway showed up and tugged him out. Four hours and he was still smiling.

Another gravel truck stopped to try to get him out and that failed. The second truck nearly got stuck too. Tim the Englishman who has married into Belize was the man who stopped by originally to help with his Kia SUV. That didn’t work and we ended up snapping the winch rope. Tim helped me splice the winch rope back together later at his home. At least that is fixed. 

Germaine, a law enforcement officer with Belize Port Authority had the four wheel drive Four Runner and he came close to getting us out till the hitch fitting snapped. I should have put my tie mat on the rope to suppress it in the event of a break,  but I forgot in the hassle of the circus. The fitting flew back and wrecked the radiator. I have endless reasons to blame myself. 

Tim the Englishman was a helicopter engineer with the British Army for eleven years. Of all his assignments around the world he liked Belize so eventually he came back, married Desiree and decided to dump the rat race and live off grid on fifty acres her father deeded to her. The radiator came out frighteningly easily. I had already dug in to the winch previously in Mexico with Marcus the other English aircraft engineer I’ve met on this trip..! So now we went behind the winch and took the radiator out on the spot hoping for a repair. 

Look at that lovely clean radiator as was. Oh well. Finally Hernandez showed up with the back hoe. Had we only waited for him patiently we’d be back on the road now. If only…

He got Kenny out in a flash, loaded him with some dirt so he could make one load of landfill and with $60US from me as a thank you off the red gravel truck drove. 

My turn. That’s Ronnie below who lives across the highway  

Germaine and Ronnie preparing my 30 foot strap for the back hoe. 

I told you it was a circus. What a moron I am sometimes. I failed to control this event. Completely. 

Hernandez lifted the front end of the van up out of the clay and walked me to the highway. Scariest ride I’ve ever taken. 

Tim towed me home to his cabin in the woods. Murder was not on his mind and we have a safe place to park. A radiator and an air conditioning condenser (a small radiator essentially) are being shipped by Amazon to E-Zone a freight forwarder in Miami. We hope they will make the Thursday flight to Belize City though when customs will release them we don’t know. The country shuts down Friday through Monday for Easter. Sigh.

I always dreaded the mechanical breakdown and how well I could deal with it. Now here we are living in the bush with a family of Jehovah’s Witnesses treating us with all the kindness you could imagine. And no, I’m not going to convert. I’m pretty sure. But I am seeing Belize from a very different angle and that is fascinating. More than I ever expected to know. I see a rental car in my future if they aren’t all bagged  for the Easter holiday already. I still like to drive. And happily for me so does Layne. 

Argentina or bust.