Two Flats + No Spare + Rain = Fun

[Pictured above: Doug and Matt realizing there are TWO flat tires]
Two Saturdays ago, 48 hours after we arrived and in route home from the Bush Fire Festival, we had our first ‘Welcome to Africa’ moment. As Matt and Doug and I had all just arrived, we were reliant upon the generosity of others for transportation. Matt had borrowed a car from one of the veteran PAC doctors, Peluca, as she lived in the same apartment complex with another PAC doctor (Lucia) and could borrow her car, if necessary. I have to admit, we were pretty excited to have our own wheels and a sliver of a taste of freedom as we set off for home from the festival. Uncharacteristically for the winter or ‘dry’ season, it was pouring with rain. It was only the second time that Matt had driven in Swaziland and given the fact that they drive on the opposite side of the road, it was late, dark, and like I said raining, we were being careful…’er, so we thought. As Matt accelerated onto the highway in what he thought was a merge lane (which, FYI, merge lanes don’t actually exist in these parts), we heard a loud thud and then a lot of repeated dud-dud-dud-dud-dud-duds. Because there are not in fact merge lanes, or shoulders, as Matt thought that he was driving onto the highway, he had actually driven off the side of the road and blown two tires in a pothole (which we named, ‘the abyss’ shortly thereafter). Fortunately, about 15 meters ahead on the same side of the road was the entrance to the King’s Mother’s residence. As you can imagine, this entry road was very well lit, so we rolled on our rims and pulled off of the highway in order to figure out our plan. Given that we had two flat tires, and only one spare, it was immediately evident that we would need to be towed. Granted, it was eleven o’clock on a Saturday night in the pouring rain in Swaziland…we weren’t hopeful. But, since it wasn’t our vehicle, we couldn’t really abandon it on the side of the road. So, to spare you the lengthy drama that unfolded, I will summarize here:

1. The spare tire in Peluca’s car did not fit on the car


2. We had to take off one of the front tires to put on the back of the car so that it could be towed on two working tires, but we only had one jack and needed to support the car in two locations in order to make the switch


3. There are in fact tow ‘trucks’ (picture a pick-up truck with a jimmy rigged ‘towing’ system) in Mbabane and they can be reached via the dispatcher via the phone number on the sticker on the inside of the windshield of Peluca’s car
   
4. The tow truck people are prompt, nice and helpful, however, they do not assume responsibility for damage done to your vehicle in the process


5. Nor do they let your ride in the tow truck with them


6. We were actually ‘towed’ along with our car as we sat in the backseat


7. Damages as a result of towing extravaganza: 1) jack was placed on insecure ‘sideboard’ of car which buckled under the weight of the vehicle as front tire was moved to back tire, 2) front bumper was pulled out as car was being removed from towing system


8. Total damages while borrowed car was in Matt’s possession: 1) two flat tires, 2) two destroyed rims, 3) buckled sideboard, 4) detached front bumper


9. Miraculously, we did arrive home soaking wet but safe and sound just before two a.m.


10. Moral of the story…don’t lend Matt your car (no, seriously – continue reading)

The story really only gets better, because Matt had to spend the better part of the next week (his first week on the job at the clinic), running all over town and coordinating work with the PAC friendly mechanic, Nelo (you should remember his name, because I have a feeling he will be an intricate member of our Mbabane family in the coming years). The truly ridiculous part is that after 5 days of restoring Peluca’s car to the state in which she lent it to us, Matt borrowed it again to take Doug to pick-up our car from the ‘dealership’ this past Friday (the same day Matt had picked-up the car from Nelo’s to finally return it to Peluca) and on the way he blew another tire. But, I’ll stop here, because Doug really wants to tell the story of the day that he went to pick-up our car from the ‘dealership.’ It’s priceless. [Picture 1 below: Matt and 'the abyss' taken a few days later when we went back to see what exactly wreaked so much havoc on our car - Picture 2 below: Aptly named, 'two flat tires and no spare' - Picture 3 below: the infamous rear tire that we spent hours trying to replace so that we could be towed!]