We have the brand new brake module finally and it was installed Wednesday. All our hopes were in the cardboard box from Jerry Ulm in Tampa. Installed, it fixed the brakes but the electronic stability control is now not responding. Drive too fast and the van tips over!
Somehow we have been learning patience through this process and so far our patience has paid off in that we aren’t at each other’s throats, we aren’t blaming Rusty for our delay (!) in the tradition of kicking the cat…and we aren’t spending too much time wishing for what might have been. But GANNET2’s computers are giving us fits.
So, as part of our program of trying to enjoy the unplanned as much as the hoped for, we went out for a beer.
One of the benefits of being stuck in Boquete is that we have come to quite enjoy this peculiar, ugly and yet attractive town. Everyone loves the climate up here, bug free, sweat free and even in the wet season not as bad as the swampy humidity at sea level.
If you have aspirations to flee the United States for whatever tin foil hat reason Boquete is the answer. You are expected to speak only English here as weird as that sounds. I’ve seen Americans flummoxed by making a simple greeting in Spanish, or being unable to formulate the Spanish to ask the clerk to sell them two of something instead of one. There is zero incentive to speak the local lingo.
For travelers like us who have spent months eating locally and getting used to all manner of local customs each slightly varied in each tiny Central American country to find ourselves suddenly immersed in small town America is refreshing after we got over the weirdness of finding ourselves in Panama USA. Especially as Panama has made a big fuss about reclaiming the cabal and gaining “total sovereignty” as the slogan says on this old license plate I found at our campground.
So we take advantage and enjoy the American-ness of our unplanned stop. Tuesday afternoon it was Boquete Brewing indistinguishable from any similar business in the US with no compromises!
Layne had a glass of hard cider and I had a session pale ale because I don’t like strong beer that resembles battery acid. It was very pleasant and gave us a chance to get out of ourselves for a while. There is the underlying worry running through our lives that this latest repair may not work.
We saw an appetizer menu on the food truck which gives customers a buzzer when the order is ready. It is I suppose a measure of how long we have been traveling because the idea of being served in this familiar North American way was half the fun of ordering a brat.
Layne asked a passerby how the burgers were (they got a big thumbs up) and that turned into a lovely session of chit chat with two snowbirds who have been coming to Boquete for many winters from their home in Pennsylvania. Naturally o forgot to ask for their photo.
The fact is we are in a bit of a jam. We are going to see if the Ram dealer in David van or will flash our van’s computer to get the stability control turning again. They don’t sell Promasters south of Mexico so it’s uncertain if our computer does can be solved here.
If we can’t get the can running properly we will have to make our way carefully north. Possibly we could get it checked in Mexico most likely in Oaxaca where we have a known comfortable base to camp in. We may even have to go back to the States. It’s all just a huge unknown.
As we strolled back down the hill from the brewery Rusty freaked out as he watched carefully for signs of movement in a painted tire going double duty as a flower pot. He got on guard, stalked it and carefully checked it out. It didn’t fight back much to his relief.
Disappointment stalks us but if we have to go back we shall and then we shall see how to press on. This journey is filled with delays and difficulties but I try to convince myself that is what makes the drive worth while. Perseverance. One step forward two steps back. More perseverance.
