An evening in Jarretaderas

Some of you might remember a story we told a few years ago about a car in a hole. Well, here’s another one and it is the hole truth.
First a disclaimer – Harold did not want me to write about this. He says everyone will think “what a dummy he must be.” I thought the story has a happy enough ending to be worth that risk.
We had finished eating dinner in the little town of Jarretaderas. Most of the streets there are pretty rough and bumpy. Sort of like many of the towns around here! And curiously, many of the streets are one way for no apparent reason. The streets are wide and there is very little traffic. It also seems most everyone ignores the one way signs.
We had driven by a big tent that we saw from the restaurant, it was a circus set up in the middle of a big field. The loudspeaker announcing the circus, the times and the prices was loud enough to hear for blocks around. After passing the circus, we drove toward the plaza. Jarretaderas has a very nice plaza with lots of plants and a nice gazebo.
The street on one side of the plaza was blocked by big piles of dirt. We headed down another side of the plaza, the road looked like it had recently been worked on. As we turned the corner, we saw a big pile of dirt in that street. We drove down that street and were going past the big pile of dirt when Harold noticed a very large hole in the dirt street. It was right next to the big pile of dirt. And right about then the car came to a sudden halt. We were stuck! I got out to look and the 2 wheels on the passenger side were firmly on the street, almost in the big dirt pile. The front driver’s side wheel was on the dirt, but inside the hole. But the major problem was the rear driver’s side tire, which was, well, just hanging over the big hole, not touching the ground at all!
We walked up to the nearest person we saw and asked if they knew where we could find a tow truck. They did not. On the next block were a couple taco stands. I asked at the first one, and the woman running the stand said yes, she knew a guy, Chuy, who could help. She had her son take me to the Chuy’s house about 3 blocks away. Harold stayed behind with the car.
When I got to the house, the kid, Reynaldo, explained to three guys standing on the street what had happened. They had him repeat the story and they all looked surprised and laughed. They asked me, did I really drive my car in the hole? Well technically I hadn’t, but this was not the time for explanation. I said yes, I did not know the hole was there and yes, the car was stuck. They asked a few questions about the car and told me they would meet me back at the car with the dump truck which would pull the car out.
They arrived with the dump truck and chains. After analyzing the situation, they wrapped the chain around some portion of the back of the car, underneath. I am sure they knew what they were doing, and I didn’t have a clue. Harold had the dubious privilege of staying in the car to steer while they pulled it out. They seemed to be taking good care to not cause any damage to the car, but just as the chain got tight, the car shifted and I was sure it was going to flip over into the hole. But, it didn’t and the dump truck was able to pull it out with no problems.
I talked to the truck driver an asked him how much I owed him. He said, nothing, that’s OK. I asked couldn’t he use some money to buy his buddies a beer for the help. He said, well, OK, I guess. I tried to hand him a 200 peso bill (about $20 US) and you would have thought I tried to hand him a snake. He pulled his hand back quickly and then said, oh no, I can’t take that. He really wouldn’t take it, he said next time I could pay him. (ha ha, next time!) I hurried and got a 100 peso bill and asked could he please take it. He still looked uneasy about it, but did take it.
This was after dark in a little town where we knew no one and barely can speak the language. Don’t you know we would have been willing to pay much, much more to get our car safely out of there? And the man wouldn’t take 20 bucks! You just have to love it!