fixed, finally

"And God is able to make all grace abound toward you; that you, always having all sufficiency in all things, may abound to every good work..." 2 Cor. 9:8

The car is FIXED! After almost a month, we have wheels again. I drove yesterday - it felt good. We had to return the borrowed wheels, so I had to follow Tony in the other truck in ours. Had to, you see. Technically I'm not supposed to drive our van (it is being registered in Tony's name, therefore, according to Customs and Registration, Tony is the only one who can legally drive it for the first year)... anyway. I drove it yesterday. It was heaven. Driving is the only time I feel like I'm in any sort of control over anything in my life here. A glorious feeling.


Dani installing the new radiator (in the foreground on the right), and Tony acting as if he's actually helping.


One of the things we are learning here (besides patience) is Creative Car Repair. If it can't be fixed, it can be made. Or ordered from Miami.

The car had two problems: a leaking power steering hose and a cracked and leaking radiator.

For the power steering hose, after talking to about half a dozen locals, we first checked out the local Ford dealer (surprising benefit of living in a city - a Ford dealer). They only carry the hose for the Ford Ranger, not the Econoline. The hose we needed can not, in fact, be purchased here in Argentina. No fear, we went ahead and bought the hose for the Ford Ranger. We took it somewhere else (don't ask where, I hardly know, we went so different many places), and had the ends adapted to fit our car. No problemo. Dani popped it in and it works great.

The radiator was another story.

But, it all worked out. Miraculously. I can't believe the radiator we ordered from the States actually arrived. But it did. It came into town on the same busline we did, down below with all the luggage. Tony had to go to the bus station to pick it up. I also can't believe we didn't have the money to buy it, but then we did. I also think it's amazing that we even know someone that could install it for us (Dani deserves his own post, he really does. He is just amazing, and all he's done for us is just amazing.). God was in ALL the details. We're amazed, as usual.

Thank you to everybody that helped us fix our car. It's our only car. We don't have two like back in the States. It's this one or nothin'.

Next trip: remote mountain village!

So. excited.