November/December 2009

Limping Home From Central America

By Charles Wirrell

What to do when you're in Central America and you break an ankle? How do you and your manual transmission BJ60 get back home?

This very scenario happened to me recently. My wife, Petra, and I are Canadians and have been volunteering in Central America for the past five years. I've been teaching at a school for missionaries' kids and my wife has been working with medical teams. In the course of that work, I tripped and broke my left ankle, tearing the ligaments as well. Getting the surgery necessary to repair this at a private hospital in Guatemala was not a problem and my ankle was suitably repaired and pinned and all that was needed was time to heal.

The accident occurred at the end of April and by the end of May, we were due to return home to Canada for a brief visit with friends and supporters. But the orthopedic surgeon said no weight-bearing until the end of July. After discussing with the surgeon, I determined that some small amount of weight was OK, just not full body weight, and that the weight needed to depress the clutch would be acceptable. Of course, driving a stick shift when your left foot is in a cast is not easy. It makes any feedback through the clutch that much worse—it's hard to tell when you're actually stepping on the clutch!

Feeling confident that, if I had to, I could in fact drive, the plan was that Petra would drive. This plan worked OK for part of the first day but Petra is not cut out to be a long distance driver and after 6 hours, she was cramped and not able to drive. So I took my first turn driving with a cast on MX200, a nice four-lane highway north of Tapachula, Mexico, a good first try, not many shifts required for the distance traveled. It was a little bit of a rough start as the cast would slip off the clutch pedal and the engine would stall. I was able to get us to the first hotel in Tonala, where we parked in the courtyard (we always look for secured parking at hotels).

The next day, I started driving and after an hour or so, got to Salina Cruz where the curves and hills start for the headlands along the coast. Petra took over at a military checkpoint and lasted about 3 hours before she was cramping and getting tired again. I took over shortly after Puerto Angel and Huatulco, when the headlands had mostly ended, and drove to Pinoteca Nacional where we spent the night.

I discovered that Petra shifts far more frequently than I do and after thinking about it, I decided that I could probably drive the headlands as well, letting the torque of the diesel take over for some shifts I would otherwise have made. Acapulco was the destination for Friday evening and I started out the driving and continued through the headlands, military checkpoints and the multitude of topes, reductor de velocidades and vibradores, most of which required reducing speed to second gear. Driving through Acapulco was a challenge as I had to keep moving or taxis were more than happy to take the space that I left in front for safety. I was finally able to drive through our hotel gate and park in the courtyard as directed by the hotel staff.

 

Toyota pickups en route from wholesalers in the States to Guatemala and points south—a common sight near the Guatemalan border.

Photos by Charles and Petra Wirrell