Car trouble

On Sunday, we decided to leave the village by making an excursion to the Saladin Castle near the coast. It's the remains of a big citadel situated in the mountains.

All went well the first day... we had dinner in a restaurant with a view on the Castle and a nice and comfortable hotel which for me these days is a real treat as I'm lodging in a house with the real basic comfort. And I mean, really basic.

The next morning, after a big breakfast, we left the hotel to take a road into the mountains towards Hama and then back home. After a few kilometers, the car was stopped, because of a noise coming from under the chairs were the motor is located. This was the noise of boiling water and the motor not being happy... What to do next ? No "Touring Secours". After a prayer by Mohamed, we filled up all the empty bottles with water and continued slowly towards the first big village pouring water on the engine and stopping every five minutes to fill the water reservoir.

It seemed like forever, but we arrived after about half an hour in a big touristic village. After asking around, there seems to be no car technician in that village. So, we filled all the bottles again and continued our journey. This time, I sat in the back, so water could be poured on the motor during driving. Of course, it got worse and worse. And being on a mountainous road didn't help a lot.

After 35 km and a lot of water consumption, we arrived in another village with a resident car technician. He was sleeping. After waking up and having heard what seemed to be the trouble, he called his sons - about half a dozen - and they started working on the car. But not before providing me with the best chair they could find and having served some tea.

It took an hour before we could continue our journey. After a few kilometers, the temperature of the motor was rising again. What to do ? Going back or continuing the journey. As it now seemed to be only a matter of high temperature, we continued slowly towards home where a befriended car technician would take over.

We arrived home late in the afternoon. The car was almost completely dismantled and lots of cleaning went on until 10 o'clock at night.

The next morning... motor getting hot again after a few kilometers. Another friend engineer had a look at it and discovered it was a minor problem that still wasn't fixed yet. So, back to the garage, where finally the problem got solved.

After these few days, my conclusion is that a good car technician is hard to find in any country. And, that it is good to have a lot of friends.