Mechanics are Like Curandeiros

This is about our car.  Our car is a 2000 Nissan Terrano.  This is what they call the Pathfinder in countries where you drive on the left.  Our car had problems from the beginning because the apparently genuine honest Aussie who sold it to us claimed in the end not to be very knowledgeable about all of the repairs needed on her car.  Right after we bought it, we discovered that the seatbelt in the back didn't work and both back windows were permanently stuck.  She refused to fix it, pleading ignorance and claiming she didn't know about these things the entire time she owned the car. 

So Matias took the car to Vicente, a mechanic who was recommeneded to us by a very reliable source...honest mechanics are hard to find in Mozambique.  Sometimes they replace very good parts that function well with cheap knock offs from China that last a few weeks...sometime they just take out good parts and keep them.  Many times, your car returns in worse condition than you left it. 

When we took our car to Vicente it ran well.  He was supposed to change the oil, brake pads, filters for a grand total of $300.  Yes, this is a good price by U.S. standards.  When the car came back to us after 9 days, we were excited.  We were backing out of the driveway to take Nalia to her first horseback riding lesson when the car started coughing, sputtering, and choking out huge billows of toxic black smoke.  Then, it died.  Matias managed to get it started again so we could go to the horseback riding lesson. 

Later that night, he went to visit his cousin and it took him 4 hours to travel 2 miles home because the car would run for pregressively less and less time and then shut down.  In the end, because there appear to be no tow trucks in this whole country, Matias had to hire three guys to push the car back to our house at 2am.

I was so worried when all this was going on that I couldn't sleep and decided to spend my time reuniting with Facebook.  I got some good advice on how to deal with the problem with fellow Facebook nightowls.

Matias and I were both upset and disenchanted with the mechanic...  I wanted to call him up and give him a piece of my mind.  Matias was more philosophical and understanding- he said, "You know, mechanics are like cuandeiros (witch doctor in Portuguese)... sometimes they don't really know what's going on or what the problem is and have to try different remedies until they get it right."  Vicente came later in the day and got the car running, but it only runs when it wants to.  Meanwhile, while we wait for Vicente to find a cure, I'm too afraid to drive by myself....