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DENNIS
Platinum Nomad
Posts: 29510
Registered: 9-2-2006
Location: Punta Banda
Member Is Offline
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| Quote: | Originally posted by jimgrms
Having spent 24 year in the Navy you will find the same ingenuity in almost all 3rd world countrys , in the philipine island i witnessed then
repairing sealed compressors on refrigerators |
In Ensenada, I once saw auto jumper cables clamped to the power lines. 
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Oso
Ultra Nomad
Posts: 2637
Registered: 8-29-2003
Location: on da border
Member Is Offline
Mood: wait and see
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| Quote: | Originally posted by Bob H
Once upon a time I rode around in a pick-up truck.
It was an oldie but a goodie. It reliably got me from place to place.
However, the driver's side armrest was missing. On long drives, this became uncomfortable. My elbow would sit directly on the hard surface where the
armrest should have been.
Initially, I did not seek to fix the problem. I accepted it based on past experience.
During my childhood, in Miami, I remembered occasionally visiting a repair shop. In the 1960s and early 1970s repairing things was fairly common. In
fact, the place where, as a kid, my 10-speed bicycles had been purchased was called "Mr. Fixit."
"Mr. Fixit" was a store run by a fellow who repaired most home appliances, things in Mexico referred to as "electrodomAcsticos." You could bring in a
non-working television, iron, toaster, etc., and the owner would fix them. Rarely, was someone turned away because it was unfixable.
Mr. Fixit - as the man who ran the store became known - also repaired bicycles in addition to selling new ones. This was until the mid 1970s when he
closed his store.
This foreshadowed a new era. By the end of that decade, fixing things was no longer in style. Repair shops went by the wayside.
The era of "cheaper to buy new" had arrived.
Now, I was already in Mexico but had become accustomed to the "Do not fix. Buy new," mentality.
I resigned myself to the fact I would be informed that a new armrest for the pick-up was out of the question. I half expected to be told that since
the truck was old, I would be better off buying a new one.
One day, I went to an auto body shop to have the truck's oil changed. I sheepishly asked the man in charge if he could find a replacement for the
missing armrest. He said he would check around and that I should call back.
Later that day I phoned. He apologized that there was no replacement armrest to be found anywhere.
I was not disappointed. I had fully expected that answer.
With what he said next, though, you could have knocked me over with a piece of lint.
"We can make an armrest if you like," he offered.
I asked how that was possible. He said that since the body shop worked in fiberglass, they could make a mold and cast a new piece out of that
material. It would not be exactly the same as before but it could be done, if I was interested.
I asked how much it would cost and was told 500 pesos. At the time, that meant about $43. If I were going to be using the truck much, it seemed like a
reasonable investment for driving in comfort. I picked up the truck a day later, complete with new armrest.
That was about five years ago. The truck - which is almost 20 years old - continues to run well. The armrest is intact and works like a charm.
If I had gone to a body shop somewhere in Miami, and asked about casting a fiberglass replacement armrest, I would have been looked at as if I had
three heads. I had been down similar roads with things since "Mr. Fixit's" closing.
You would not buy a new truck because of a missing armrest. But, the armrest is a symptom of something bigger.
I can hear a voice saying, "That truck is old. You are going to have headache after headache with it. Sell it for scrap. Buy a new one. Save yourself
money."
I was told similar things time and again in the '80s and '90s.
Mexican ingenuity, on the other hand, dictates "There is a way. We just have to find it."
It is an attitude developed away from opulent streams of endless consumer goods and people drowning in plenty.
Employing ingenuity to make or fix things occurs when we are put to the test. Through the prism of challenge, few things remain unfixable.
In Mexico, any number of mechanics, masons, repairmen, carpenters, engineers, architects, etc., never got the memo saying things are not worth fixing.
They are living out Napoleon Hill's statement, "Every adversity, every failure and every heartache carries with it the seed of an equivalent or a
greater benefit."
I have mentioned Hill's quote before. It speaks directly to the times we are in.
The benefit is that with creativity, value can be realized from things we had believed to be obsolete or useless. Unshackled from the gluttony of
rampant consumerism, a clear mind can be employed to take joy from restoring things.
When we are not busy binging on bounty, when we are not pigging out on plenty, our minds can creatively focus on fixing, repairing and restoring
value. As a result, we save money, help the environment and become reacquainted with the truest notion of usefulness.
The ethic of Mexican ingenuity is as timely as it has ever been.
Applying ingenuity to everyday living can empower people, particularly when money dwindles and job prospects are less than robust.
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So true, so sad. The very last place in Yuma that repaired TV's is gone. They repaired a small portable for me a couple of years ago, but when my
big old Sony went on the fritz they had folded tent and were gone. I ended up giving it to a Mexican friend who thought he could get it fixed in
Mexico. For me, there was some consolation in having an excuse to spend the money for a new bigger flat screen. He loaded up the old one in his
pickup, took it home and it worked fine. Apparently the road vibrations put back together something that had gotten separated. I should have tried
the classic method of smacking it...
My personal proud moment of ingenuity was in Mexico, in the desert with no mechanics. I was having trouble with the carburetor on my '53 f-head
Willys. I took it apart, cleaned all the parts with tequila, then with no place to buy a new gasket, I took the top half and pressed it hard onto a
piece of wet leather. It left impressions of the holes needed which I then cut out. I bolted it back together and put it on and it worked fine for
years.
Nowadays, if you go to a US mechanic and say you're having trouble with your carburetor, you'll get a quizzical look and "Your what?"
[Edited on 4-11-2011 by Oso]
[Edited on 4-11-2011 by Oso]
All my childhood I wanted to be older. Now I\'m older and this chitn sucks.
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durrelllrobert
Elite Nomad
Posts: 7393
Registered: 11-22-2007
Location: Punta Banda BC
Member Is Offline
Mood: thriving in Baja
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ever see a Mexican jump start another car by taking his good battery out and putting it upside down on the dead battery in the other car?
Bob Durrell
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Oso
Ultra Nomad
Posts: 2637
Registered: 8-29-2003
Location: on da border
Member Is Offline
Mood: wait and see
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I've seen them clean carburetors by pouring oil into them. Clouds of black smoke but apparently it works.
[Edited on 4-11-2011 by Oso]
All my childhood I wanted to be older. Now I\'m older and this chitn sucks.
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Cardon
Nomad
Posts: 241
Registered: 4-23-2004
Location: Salt Lake City
Member Is Offline
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It would be hard to top the video of a pickup truck being transported to Isla Carmen. Fast forward to about 55 seconds into the video.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QfOhBENw_d4&feature=playe...
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Yakfishing
Junior Nomad
Posts: 72
Registered: 3-2-2007
Location: N. Hollywood, CA
Member Is Offline
Mood: Onshore wishing I was offshore
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 WOW - that makes me laugh and cringe at the same time...
| Quote: | Originally posted by durrelllrobert
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I never finish anyth
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mcfez
Elite Nomad
Posts: 8678
Registered: 12-2-2009
Location: aka BN yankeeirishman
Member Is Offline
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Love the street signs...
Old people are like the old cars, made of some tough stuff. May show a little rust, but good as gold on the inside.
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TheColoradoDude
Nomad
Posts: 287
Registered: 2-10-2009
Location: Colorado/San Carlos, Sonora
Member Is Offline
Mood: Paz, Amor, y Tacos de Pescado
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That rocks!!!
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CasaManzana
Nomad
Posts: 398
Registered: 7-4-2004
Location: Was Mulege:Posada Beach/now Zihuatanejo
Member Is Offline
Mood: Naykid
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Just no end to the fun is there!
Things are expensive, but at least we get a free trip around the sun once a year
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fixtrauma
Nomad
Posts: 389
Registered: 11-17-2008
Location: El Centenario & Lebanon,Oregon
Member Is Offline
Mood: Monomaniac
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| Quote: | Originally posted by morgaine7
| Quote: | Originally posted by Oso
I should have tried the classic method of smacking it...
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A guy here in La Paz fixed the my '87 Samurai that way when I came out of a tienda and found it dead in the street. After checking all the cables,
etc., he gave the starter a good hard whack with a hammer, grinned at my startled expression, and said "¡Golpe técnico!" The car started right up.
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Been there and done that!!! The one time that stands out in my memory the most was as we were leaving a "fancy"
restaurant 40 yrs ago when my Linda was my just my girlfriend and not yet my wife and girlfriend. The car didn't start so she must have really been
impressed when I gave the starter a whack with a hammer and it started!
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fixtrauma
Nomad
Posts: 389
Registered: 11-17-2008
Location: El Centenario & Lebanon,Oregon
Member Is Offline
Mood: Monomaniac
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| Quote: | Originally posted by CasaManzana
Looks like the improvised water was not used before that picture was taken!!
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That chair CRACKS me up......no...wait
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flyfishinPam
Super Nomad
Posts: 1727
Registered: 8-20-2003
Location: Loreto, BCS
Member Is Offline
Mood: gone fishin'
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There I fixed It
There, I fixed it is a website I think, with photos a la "people of walmart", a friend of mine e-mails me there I fixed it photos once in awhile but I
gotta say, living here has desensitized me to this.
A few years back someone posted a pick-up jacked up on about about 20 jacks on the side of the street and on a hill. I think it was somewhere in B.C.
Maybe someone can post that again! its the most impressive I've ever seen.
A few years back I made a video about two pangas transporting a pick-up truck to Carmen Island. I heard about it and couldn't believe they'd do
something like that so I just had to film it. Here's the link to "Carmen Island Ferry" (under 6 mins)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QfOhBENw_d4
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mulegemichael
Super Nomad
Posts: 2310
Registered: 12-24-2007
Location: sequim,wa. and mulege
Member Is Offline
Mood: up on step
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several years ago i purchased a lot in la ribera on the east cape...divorced, despondent, alone, i drove my truck and camper to baja and my newly
purchased lot and thought i would just drop out, disappear, off the radar....drove up to my property mid morning and commenced taking my camper off
the truck...found a few blocks of wood to place under the "legs" of the camper and started jacking the unit off the truck...got to a point where it
was clear and drove out from under it...very proud of myself....then...the wind came up..like it can on the cape...after a short period of time i
noticed my blocks of wood disappearing in the sand..the soft sand...down they went...no my camper was beginning to take on a bit of a "cant"..not
can't, cant...i foolishly rushed to the downwind side of it and tried to hold it from tipping over to no avail...i was just able to get clear as it
slowmotioned it's way down to the ground...both of the leeward side jacks broke off...i was screwed....everything i had inside emptied out into the
central part of the camper...say, "broken jars of green olives."..etc......anyway, now i'm REALLY despondent...so, i'm just sitting there on a rock a
few hours later, wondering what i'm gonna do, when up comes a couple of really raggidy looking guys...i mean, skinny, dirty clothes, unshaven, haggard
looking dudes....they're carrying armloads of rotten chunks of wood, an old hydraulic jack and a bumper jack....they motion that they think they can
help me...i drunkenly wave them on....in around 4 hrs or so they had the camper upright, blocked with termite ridden 2x4s, chunks of fenceposts, old
car parts, etc...problem is, it's at ground lever and i can't get my truck under it...so...by morning they had dug a huge ditch under the camper and
directed me to drive down into it and they would lower the camper down onto me....i drove down into the trench and could only see out through the top
of my side windows...they somehow lowered it down on the truck and i miraculously drove out...resourceful????...uh...yeah!
dyslexia is never having to say you\'re yrros.
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fixtrauma
Nomad
Posts: 389
Registered: 11-17-2008
Location: El Centenario & Lebanon,Oregon
Member Is Offline
Mood: Monomaniac
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| Quote: | Originally posted by mulegemichael
several years ago i purchased a lot in la ribera on the east cape...divorced, despondent, alone, i drove my truck and camper to baja and my newly
purchased lot and thought i would just drop out, disappear, off the radar....drove up to my property mid morning and commenced taking my camper off
the truck...found a few blocks of wood to place under the "legs" of the camper and started jacking the unit off the truck...got to a point where it
was clear and drove out from under it...very proud of myself....then...the wind came up..like it can on the cape...after a short period of time i
noticed my blocks of wood disappearing in the sand..the soft sand...down they went...no my camper was beginning to take on a bit of a "cant"..not
can't, cant...i foolishly rushed to the downwind side of it and tried to hold it from tipping over to no avail...i was just able to get clear as it
slowmotioned it's way down to the ground...both of the leeward side jacks broke off...i was screwed....everything i had inside emptied out into the
central part of the camper...say, "broken jars of green olives."..etc......anyway, now i'm REALLY despondent...so, i'm just sitting there on a rock a
few hours later, wondering what i'm gonna do, when up comes a couple of really raggidy looking guys...i mean, skinny, dirty clothes, unshaven, haggard
looking dudes....they're carrying armloads of rotten chunks of wood, an old hydraulic jack and a bumper jack....they motion that they think they can
help me...i drunkenly wave them on....in around 4 hrs or so they had the camper upright, blocked with termite ridden 2x4s, chunks of fenceposts, old
car parts, etc...problem is, it's at ground lever and i can't get my truck under it...so...by morning they had dug a huge ditch under the camper and
directed me to drive down into it and they would lower the camper down onto me....i drove down into the trench and could only see out through the top
of my side windows...they somehow lowered it down on the truck and i miraculously drove out...resourceful????...uh...yeah! |
Awesome!!!! That is ingenuity....making do with what ya got.....and they were willing to help!
The broken jars of green olives did bother me though. I really love green olives!!
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fixtrauma
Nomad
Posts: 389
Registered: 11-17-2008
Location: El Centenario & Lebanon,Oregon
Member Is Offline
Mood: Monomaniac
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| Quote: | Originally posted by flyfishinPam
There, I fixed it is a website I think, with photos a la "people of walmart", a friend of mine e-mails me there I fixed it photos once in awhile but I
gotta say, living here has desensitized me to this.
A few years back someone posted a pick-up jacked up on about about 20 jacks on the side of the street and on a hill. I think it was somewhere in B.C.
Maybe someone can post that again! its the most impressive I've ever seen.
A few years back I made a video about two pangas transporting a pick-up truck to Carmen Island. I heard about it and couldn't believe they'd do
something like that so I just had to film it. Here's the link to "Carmen Island Ferry" (under 6 mins)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QfOhBENw_d4 |
That's just NUTS!!!
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fixtrauma
Nomad
Posts: 389
Registered: 11-17-2008
Location: El Centenario & Lebanon,Oregon
Member Is Offline
Mood: Monomaniac
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| Quote: | Originally posted by Frank
Just throw it up on the roof and strap it down...
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And no one is even looking!!!
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vgabndo
Ultra Nomad
Posts: 3461
Registered: 12-8-2003
Location: Mt. Shasta, CA
Member Is Offline
Mood: Checking-off my bucket list.
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That part of me that I always claim is part Mexican....
Undoubtedly, there are people who cannot afford to give the anchor of sanity even the slightest tug. Sam Harris
"The situation is far too dire for pessimism."
Bill Kauth
Carl Sagan said, "We are a way for the cosmos to know itself."
PEACE, LOVE AND FISH TACOS
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Bob H
Elite Nomad
Posts: 5867
Registered: 8-19-2003
Location: San Diego
Member Is Offline
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Good stuff!
The SAME boiling water that softens the potato hardens the egg. It's about what you are made of NOT the circumstance.
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ddawson
Nomad
Posts: 103
Registered: 9-6-2010
Location: Hilo
Member Is Offline
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hahaha, wow!!!
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tripledigitken
Ultra Nomad
Posts: 4848
Registered: 9-27-2006
Member Is Offline
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Throw a shrimp in the "Sami"
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