A NASCAR PIT CREW CAN CHANGE ALL FOUR TIRES in under 20 seconds. A good Indy crew can cut that time in half. It took me about nine minutes today to change the flat tire on our Nissan Quashqai—not bad for an amateur. We were on our way Las Baulas National Marine Park near Tamarindo, the second largest nesting site for Leatherback Turtles in the world. It’s the wrong season for leatherbacks, besides we’ve seen them laying eggs in both Australia and Oman. We were hoping to scope out the birding opportunities when the parking lot guy pointed that our llanta was baja. But it was only flat on the bottom, ha-ha.
These Guys Are Fast
Male pride overcame my aged back as I pulled out the spare and located the jack and lug wrench—I worked my way through college pumping gas, changing oil and fixing flats after all—and ten minutes later we were off to the rundown tienda de reparación where we left the tire while we went into Tamarindo for our grocery shopping. When we returned he put the repaired tire back on. I gave him 5000 colons (about $8) for the 2000 colon job and told him to keep the change. It would have cost at least ten bucks in the States and the surprised look on his face was worth the extra money. Pura Vita.
UPDATE: A week later and I decided to check ALL the tires before our 300+KM drive to Arenal. It turns out that the tire that went flat wasn't the worst of the lot. The other rear actually had steel cords showing. The folks at Avis back in Liberia were quick to replace it with new rubber but I can't believe that a "reputable" company like Avis would allow something like that on the road. Pura Vita my ass!
