Hi All,

Want to live vicariously? Here´s your chance to weigh in and let us know what you´d do....

We have run into car problems. After a significant amount of testing and diagnosing, we have determined that we have blown rings in engine cylinder number two. Now, I don´t know much about engines, but doesn´t that just sound bad? You know, rings, valves, cylinders, gaskets....

We do not think the ring issue is related to the oil that leaked on the loading dock in the C´gena port. That was corrected when we had the powersteering pump rebuilt. We travelled on our merry way until we got to San Gil and then we noticed a substantial loss of power and suspected something was amiss.

As you know, we are in Colombia. Forget everything you´ve heard about ´lots of old VWs in South America´. Here, every 3rd car is a Renault. New Renaults, old Renaults and really old Renaults.

I honestly don´t know if I have ever known anyone who owned a Renault; I certainly don´t know anyone who drives one now, especially a 30 year old one. I digress.

The good news (there is always good news) is that we are in a stylin' town. You couldn´t ask for a better place to be ´stuck´. Here are a couple of links from the New York Times about Villa de Leyva Colombia. Seriously, you´ll want to come here.

http://www.nytimes.com/slideshow/2009/10/25/travel/20091025-villa-slideshow_index.html?scp=4&sq=colombia&st=tcse

http://travel.nytimes.com/travel/guides/central-and-south-america/colombia/overview.html?scp=1&sq=villa%20de%20leyva%20colombia&st=tcse

We have had many, many conversations about what to do. Early on we eliminated the option of scurrying back to Cartagena and shipping the vehicle back to the US. We are both still very much committed to this trip. We also knew when we signed on for this adventure that situations like this happen and are to be expected on a journey like this.

So after determining that we do not want this set-back to be a trip-ender, we evaluated what our other options were.

Necessary decisions included the extent to which we wanted to make this repair, and the best way to obtain the parts needed. Do we go big and replace the whole engine, or just address the parts we know are needed? Do we have the parts shipped directly to us, have someone fly down with the parts (Colombia, anyone?), or secure the parts from Bogata through the mechanic here in Villa de Leyva.

As you an imagine, each of these decisions comes with sub-decisions regarding costs, time, logistic, risk, etc.

We have found a good mechanic in Villa de Leyva, referred to us by the great people at Colombian Highlands and Renacer Hostel (not where we are staying, but they have been super helpful). Though Mechanic Javier speaks little english (no english, really....very few people in Colombia speak english, not even un poco), he has the same VW manual (the Bentley you´ve heard so much about) as we have, only his is in Spanish. Seriously, what were the odds of that??

Soooooo, take a minute to consider what you´d do. Sell the Beast and fly home? Ship the Beast back to the US? Replace the whole engine? Replace only what´s needed? Secure parts from the US? From Colombia? Start drinking heavily?

Weigh in. We have pretty much made our decision, but this little exercise will give you a moment away from your life (that´s why you´re reading this, isn´t it?), let you think about how you would handle this situation and it will be fun for us hear from you.


If you are someone who wants to know all the details before weighing in, here is a link to the Samba website, that online forum (cult) of VW owners. They have been very helpful in pointing out things to test, what to check next, and other things to be considered. Spoiler alert; I think Mike may have posted our plan there for the other Sambanistas to see.

http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=409796

More on our travels, the big-ass ants in San Gil, and our new life in Villa de Leyva in a few days.

Trish

P.S. Great news about the hot water at the Aquatic Center! Bacano!