For the past month it seems like it has rained every day. Sebastian tells me that it isn't really the rainy season, we just have a "Norte," I'm not really sure what that means but I think it may be a weather pattern that comes from the north. I have really been enjoying the cooler temperatures and the extra wind we've been getting, but hen you have a car like El Vocho rain is not always very fun.
The first problem is that there are many holes in the floor of the car. So many that when you drive through a puddle your feet get very wet. Cancun's road don't really have gutters so a lot of times the roads appear to be small lakes. It has become normal for me to put my feet on the dash whenever we're about to drive through a puddle (only when Sebastian is driving of course.) But this has caused many laughs amongst Sebastian's family because it has become instinctive action for me. Several times, while riding in cars without any holes I have lifted my feet to avoid getting wet as we drive through a puddle.
Just last week the holes caused another problem. I was on my way to teach my first English class of the day in the pouring down rain. When I came to the place where I needed to merge onto the main road the car stalled out. This no longer phases me, I don't even hear the horns anymore, I just tried to start it up again, but no go. And it wasn't the nothing sound that happens when the starter doesn't engage, this time it was almost starting, but not completely. I tried enough times to flood the engine and then just sat there in the rain and wondered what to do. But help was on the way, right as I as about ready to walk home in the rain a car full of my students passed by. They waved at me and I frantically waved my arms for them to come help. They backed up on the crowded street and parked beside me. When they saw the car wasn't going to move of it's own volition they got out and pushed it, in the rain, to an out of the way spot and then let me ride to class with them.
Turns out that the entering water had soaked the fuses and all Sebastian had to do was replace them and the car was running again, but we couldn't use it because the driver's side door wouldn't close. The door hasn't opened from the outside for some time, but not closing was new. Sebastian ended up spending 3 hours in the driveway in a down pour completely taking the door apart before finding that the piece of the handle that had broken preventing the door from opening had slipped down and jammed the mechanism that allowed it to close.
But, as of this particular moment the car is working well and we're getting around fine. On a non-rain-related we have also finally gotten the driver's seat re-welded so that when taking corners the driver can stay firmly in place.