El Salvador - Captiva-ted (eventually)

September 6-9

Hello everyone!

I was supposed to be at the beach this weekend. Travelling to the southeastern tip to one of the most beautiful areas of the country I now call home, I was supposed to be telling you all about the stunning sunrises, surf and shenanigans of a large group adventure to Punta Mango. I’m not because I had to sort out this…

What I got: our new car

What I missed: Punta Mango sunrise

This is my new car. As yet it is unnamed, though ‘problema’ would be just as apt as ‘Mavuto’ was for the Malawian automobile. A week later, it still hasn’t been driven. Acquiring it, however, took me down a stressful and irritating path which had to result in my withdrawal from the Punta Mango trip.

Pictures from friends of the beach at Punta Mango

I haven’t been in a rush to find a car. The main reason has been that I brought my bike across from the UK, so have a free and relatively quick way of getting to work. Getting home through often hectic traffic and up a couple of steep hills is less appealing, though at least I haven’t had to pedal home in a downpour yet.

My bike, which took a long time to wrap!

The commute is short but intense

If that happens, I have my backup: Uber. Getting a ride is usually quick and cheap: most trips seem to cost less than $3 unless it is rush hour. Getting home from the pub after playing football, for example, is relatively straightforward with Uber.

I even got to the beach for only $20

Lots of people use Uber for ease and safety

The main target for a car was to have one by the time the two dogs arrived in El Salvador. Due to complications which will be a separate blog in themselves, their transfer has been delayed. I’d much prefer Mini and Maxi to already be here at this point (it was supposed to be just after this weekend), but the delay has at least taken off the pressure of buying a car.

Still waiting...

This has its own challenges in El Salvador. Firstly, they are EXPENSIVE. I was not expecting this, and we certainly didn’t budget for having to spend 5 figures on transport. After a brief dalliance with the idea of bringing down a car from the US (it gets complicated), that led me down the very second hand route, and into a Facebook group for used cars.

The group I used to find cars on Facebook

In this group, it seems that no one speaks English. In this group, it also seems that any old banger can be sold at a price higher than I’ve ever spent on a single item before.

Que?

Initial browsing led me to a couple of relatively cheap sedan cars. I then went to the beach for a weekend and realised that a sedan with low clearance simply wasn’t going to cut it for me out here. 

San Salvador has some excellent roads. Outside of the
cities, however, things are apparently different...

Feeling there was no harm in doing so, I started sending private messages to basically anyone selling a 4x4 car on this site for under $8000. I had set myself an absolute maximum budget of $7000, including inevitable repairs as it would be second hand. All responses were in Spanish, with some being nicer than others…

Unfortunately the conversation in which I was told
to F%#* something has disappeared from the thread

A more polite conversation

Of course, setting up the opportunity of seeing a car would be very difficult and not worthwhile with a significant language barrier. All new teachers had been recommended a mechanic who speaks English and had offered to check over any cars for free and make suggestions. He did this a couple of times for me. The first time was an eye-opener: I went to meet him and the car owner at 2pm after school one day. I said hi and chatted with him whilst the car owner came across town. I was told to wait in the reception whilst he disappeared. I assumed it was to do other things. Turns out he had gone to check the car himself without me there. He returned 20 minutes later, showed me videos of white smoke coming out of the car, and said, “You’re not buying this car.”

$5000...but possibly over $3000 in repairs...

The search expands, with Google Translate probably overheating from my constant copy/pasting of messages from car owners in order to understand their thoughts. On a different website I find a Chevrolet Captiva, which is described as a ‘compact SUV’. Looking like an ideal car, I make contact with a man called Julio. Its advertised cost is $7500. 

I actually found the car on this site

Being a middle man between the mechanic and the car owner, when I don’t speak Spanish, was irritating at times. Eventually a time is arranged for the car to be checked. Erik seems to like the car. He likes it even more when he haggles the price down to $6000.

Happy days

This is Tuesday. The deal is agreed to take place on Thursday. It became a bit more complicated when Julio demanded cash. I thus had two days to organise finances, which involved getting a couple of signatures. 

It didn't look quite like this. Also the bank only had $20
notes, so there were three rather large bundles.

Things got a lot more complicated when a major global event happened on Thursday…

The Queen's death was at about 11:30am for us

I asked for a delay until Friday. Julio said no. It was today or never. The mechanic…was in a meeting so only able to send sporadic written messages.

A very long meeting, it seems

Eventually I manage to get the missing signature at about 3pm. The bank closes at 4pm. I drove across with someone from school who can help explain what I need to do. Whilst driving, she’s also on the phone with Julio, who seems very annoyed with life…but particularly with the mechanic. Who, of course, is still in a meeting.

The top message is from the mechanic,
and Julio found it quite insulting

I’m also annoyed with the mechanic. Whilst on our way to the bank, I discover that he won’t be there when we do the deal. More concerning for me was that the lawyer, who would sort the contracts, also wasn’t going to be present. It was going to be me, a person I’d never met who doesn’t speak English, and an angry car seller. It’s now 3:55pm, and my last chance to get the money.

Ultimately, I wasn’t comfortable, so I told (well, the person from work told) Julio that it couldn’t happen today. I got the money just in case. For a hot minute, the deal was off…and then it was back on. The following day. He wanted to meet at 8:30am. As I was organising cover for my lessons, I told the mechanic…who said the lawyer wasn’t available. Not said, actually. Wrote. He was still in a meeting, after all.

The garage. It's filled with cars.

Eventually a time was able to be agreed. Friday at 3pm. I was supposed to leave for Punta Mango at 2pm. Instead of heading to the beach, I walked quickly and carefully to the garage, complete with $6000 in my bag. 

I'm hoping to have the car in time to
drive to Comasagua on the 25th

Short term pain for long term gain is how I’m viewing it. Once the car is ready, I can go to places as beautiful as Punta Mango whenever I want (I’m already signed up for the next large group trip in November). It should even have a name by then!

See you in November, maybe after driving down in the car!

Love you all,

Matt