There's a Mayan belief that every once in a while you
have to pay the debts of your good fortune. And it seems that this was the year for
Narú'
s reckoning.
No matter what the road conditions, we have travelled unscathed to the some of remotest communities of Alta Verapaz - even when our trusty Pathfinder started to fail at 20 years of age.
Come April, and while we are with donors Ayuda Maya in Antigua, someone makes off with the replacement; a younger and fitter Mitsubishi that was never to be seen again.
So the Pathfinder is brought out of retirement and just-as-trusty Dave Newton is driving us and a Q'eqchi' technician homewards through the Polochic Valley. We're at the end of the dry season, so as a truck approaches in a dense cloud of dust Dave pulls over and slows almost to a stop. Which is no doubt what saves us when the face of another driver appears out of the dust - overtaking at speed on our side of the road - just seconds before it hits us.
We spend the next 21 hours in a farce of police bribery and judicial corruption that had us charged as the guilty party, even though - apart from anything else - the other driver's license was only valid for scooters. The Pathfinder would, we were told, be impounded unless we paid the other vehicle's damage. We declined, and only managed to exit after another day of shenanigans and some serious bluffing on our part.
Since then we have begged and borrowed vehicles to get to the projects. Now with our
good fortune debts surely settled, Narú really needs its own car: a 4x4, high clearance, diesel and manual, maybe five to 10 years old (please). We're part way there, but any support/ideas to get us mobile again most welcome!
Our thanks for hiring/lending to Alberto Tonda, Ayuda Maya, Charity Anywhere and
Miracles in Action.
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