Busted knuckles and Botero

After a few days in Bogota, I finally figured out the best way to go find the VW parts I was looking for. Jump in a taxi and ask the cabbie for help.

The front-desk lady at the hotel warned me against even getting into a cab because it was so dangerous. I would be kidnapped or robbed for sure.

It turns out my cab driver was the nicest guy in the world and we spent 2 hours together driving around town, chatting, and eventually finding everything I needed. Naturally, all the parts were where everyone said they were – barrio 07 de Octubre. The trick was actually finding what I needed within the labyrinth of car parts tiendas.  There were plenty of VW places, but they all kept sending me around the corner until I found Volkswagen Colombiana. They’ve got the goods.

I had spent a few days soaking the clutch cable tube in solvent and trying to ream out the insides. By finally getting a piece of baling wire through a few days back, I convinced myself it wasn’t impossible. After the soaking and manually boring with the cut-up end of the old cable, I finally got through the hardened grease and dirt in the tube. Literally a major break through.

I could finally run the new cable in and fix the thing properly. Ten minutes and I was done – like it was supposed to go the first time. I was quite pleased to remove my jerry-rigged cable and put it in the trash.

While I was down there, I took a look around and was surprised to find both of my front brake calipers soaked in fluid. Crap. I thought the brakes felt a little soft as we were driving into town a few days ago. Time to rebuild the calipers? Clearly we’re not leaving Bogota today… or tomorrow.

I looked around a little more and notice that both of my rear shocks are leaking hydraulic fluid. Not my day. Apparently, I destroy shocks. Frequently.

I claimed my one victory and got cleaned up so we could do something fun today. More museums.

The Botero museum here is quite good. Aside from his own work, he donated his own personal collection that includes Dali, Renoir, Monet, Toulouse-Lautrec, Picasso, Chagall, Max Ernst, and more. Of course, the price was right – free.

Next door we went through Bogota’s money museum. It was interesting for Bode, because he could touch everything and he was impressed with the huge old presses and machinery for making coins.

In Colombia, more than anywhere else, we have attracted odd looks from strangers. The most common one is that they walk up to Bode and look into his blue eyes, then go to Angela and stare at her brown eyes (at uncomfortably close range) in confusion. If they make it to me, they solve the mystery, but they still seem overly curious by the whole thing.

Today, this happened a few times and we ended up with a posse of kids following us around wanting to listen to us speak English and take our photos in the museum. We felt a little like part of the display.

6 thoughts on “Busted knuckles and Botero

  • October 25, 2010 at 11:31 AM
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    Dealt with the same issue with the clutch cable last year on my ’71. At least I was home and in my garage at the time, with the engine out too! Fixing it in a foreign country, now that’s a whole new obtacle!! Hoping for the best for all of you!!

  • October 25, 2010 at 1:28 PM
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    in the first picture – is that an owl or a cat? i’m going with owl ; )

  • October 25, 2010 at 6:46 PM
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    “The front-desk lady at the hotel warned me against even getting into a cab because it was so dangerous. I would be kidnapped or robbed for sure.” – You’d better stay in that hotel room for the rest of your life! LOL

  • October 25, 2010 at 7:47 PM
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    So, I spent a large portion of my day getting criticized by a overly judgemental, know-it-all coworker. He found out about my upcoming week’s vacation and railed me about how “you cant just go driving around in a van now that you have a kid” and “traveling around isn’t responsible parenting” and a bunch of other b.s. It’s nice to come home from that and log on to your site and see two great parents sharing a wonderful adventure with their awsome kid. I just wanted to take a moment to sincerely say how much I admire you guys and the way you share the wonders of the world with Bode. He is very cool and you have every reason to be proud of him. I hope to share the world with my son in much the same way and you are very much an inspiration for that goal. Thanks for sharing the family adventure with those of us that are (temporarily) staying put.

  • October 26, 2010 at 6:44 AM
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    hey jason congrats on the cable , It would have been a lot easier if you had a drill. I have had to clean that tube with an old cable a lot of times. Had a bug that was FI and the throttle cable is inside a plastic sleeve that came apart and clogged the tube. took me 3 days to clean it out what a PITA . Hope you guys are well give Anglea and Bode a hug for me later and have fun mark d

  • October 26, 2010 at 8:36 AM
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    Juergen – I’m a little surprised at just how overly-cautious some of the local recommendations have been. I suspect they are just being unnecessarily protective of the tourists.

    Nick – As for the overly judgmental, know-it-all’s… get used to them. The only advice I’ve ever given friends with kids is to ignore everyone’s advice. And, thanks for the kind words about Bode – but, I’m sure we’re screwing him up in some other way 😉

    Mark – A taladro would have made things much easier! People think we’re here on vacation, but I’ve spent my days under the car in a parking lot covered in grease and dirt. Good times!

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