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10.01.2020: Quito
The next morning we spoke to José our mechanic. This time in Spanish but that's not a problem for us - we've been to so many garages in Spanish speaking countries over the years that we're fluent! I had to drive onto a ramp - not easy because our width meant our tyres barely fit! Then they set about taking off the front right tyre and getting everything off to take a look at the drive shaft joint.
The joint has 6 large rolling balls inside and one was scratched because something had got stuck inside. That probably happened on one of the many occasions when our axle cover came off - an ongoing problem for us. José said it probably just needed cleaning and greasing.
We'd also asked them to check our brake pads and they told us we needed new ones but they couldn't find the Fiat parts here in Ecuador. There are some Fiat vehicles here but only the newest ones, certainly no Ducatos from 1999! In Argentina and Chile we don't have problems finding parts but here in Ecuador it's a completely different matter.
We checked online and found a new drive shaft joint for 33 Euros ($40 US). The question was - could we get it sent and how long would it take. Marcello came to us and said he'd sent our part to a workshop nearby who could give us a new one for $300. Way too much! When we asked more questions it turned out not to be a new part but our original one machined and cleaned. But there still wouldn't be any guarantee.
It would take 3 weeks to get a new part from Europe but there was a problem for us because there's too many different part numbers for different models of Ducato!!! We might end up ordering the wrong one. It's not easy searching online either! No wonder most garages want to take the part out and then take it to a parts shop to get a new one!! He offered us an alternative - cleaning and greasing which would cost $50 US. But no guarantee it would solve the problem or, if it did, for how long.
José had already told us we might be better off in Colombia because he thought we'd get parts there. So we decided on the cheaper clean and grease option. We needed rear shocks ($90), and we could get our tyres rotated and balanced. They phoned up a different place and a man came to look at our sliding door hinge.
The sliding door roller on the bottom had broken off and we'd tried various ideas including making a new one ourselves. But nothing worked properly or for very long. It was becoming harder and harder to close the door and we'd started climbing in and out through the front drivers cabin rather than opening the door. Not ideal.
We'd bought a new part when we were in England for a wedding 7 months ago only to realise it was backwards!! We have a German Ducato and the sliding doors in the UK are on the other side of the vehicle!! Yep, dumb and dumber!
A man from another workshop nearby came to take a look and said he could take out the rivets and turn one half of the hinge so it would fit. He returned 2 hours later and attached it. Worked perfectly and only cost us $20 US. Super!
They were supposed to close at 5pm and wouldn't be open over the weekend but it took ages to get our cleaned and greased drive shaft back. It was 5pm before they could start putting it all back together. They also wanted to do the tyre rotation before they finished for the day but that meant I had to drive Winnietwo slightly further forward on the ramp. Sounds easy right? Nope, not at all. We barely fit on the ramp with our width but our back tyres weren't fully on. The front tyres were in a 10cm (2 inch) deep groove and there was very little space further forward on the ramp. I had to rev up the engine to get him out of the groove but then immediately brake, otherwise we'd fall off the front and hit the wall!!! There was no space for mistakes!! Jeez! I was too careful on the first attempt and my heart rate was probably exceeding various limits on the second ... but I made it without driving off the end! Phew!
No way I would ever do that again!! Even José our mechanic gave a thumbs up. I think I somehow gained a bit of respect. Not bad for an old biddie, huh?
It took quite a while to get the tyres rotated because we also wanted a rim from the spare tyre put onto one of the back tyres. We'd been driving around with the rusty spare tyre rim on the back since we bought new tyres over to years ago! It took a bit of hard work getting the spare tyre off from underneath the motor home and a steel part broke off the rack in the process! But they finally finished at 6-45pm, a lot later than they'd hoped, but when we turned the tyres sharply in each direction there was no noise!!! So maybe it's worked. We'll have to wait for a better test once we drive out.
Our rear shocks didn't arrive so they said we could stay over the weekend and gave us a key for the gate to get in and out. Really good.
11.01.2020: Quito
The next morning we got up at 7-15am as Rafael the electrician who has his workshop next door to the garage (but within the same grounds) was due to be there at 8am to take a look. I think he was on a different time though because he didn't arrive until 9-30 am. It took just over 3 hours but we got everything sorted out.
We needed to solder a fuse connection for our electric windows because one end had broken off. He tried to solder it in the fuse box but there wasn't enough room. So we took the fuse box out and then it only took a few seconds. Next we needed a new relay for our indicators and he actually had the right one!! Wow, that was a surprise. Then he took our steering wheel off to try and mend our horn. We didn't want to keep shouting "Beep, beep"!!
That took a while because we couldn't even find the horn!! So he said he could attach a new one. Yeeha, finally we have a horn! The final problem we managed to sort out ourselves whilst everything else was getting fixed. The fuse connection we'd just had soldered is the fuse for both the electric windows and our central locking system. We've had to keep removing the fuse because there's a problem with the central locking system. If the fuse is left in, the doors will automatically open after a few minutes, even when we've locked everything and left the vehicle!!!
So we were checking through our books and I checked the fuses. I noticed some very small writing on one of the relays under the fuse box. It was in German but looked like it said central locking. So I just pulled it off. Could it be that simple? After a few tests ... yep, problem solved!!! Oh boy, we could have worked that out ages ago right?? Oh well, at least it's fixed now!!
All of that cost $65 and we were really happy to get everything fixed. We parked W2 back in his spot, had a coffee and then set off just before 2pm for some sightseeing in the capital ... which ended up taking 7.5 hours!!
We walked down to the main road thinking we could get a bus directly into the city centre. Wrong! Very helpful ladies at the bus stop told us we needed to get a bus to the bus station first which is in the wrong direction! We took their advice but each bus costs only 25 cents per person regardless of how far you travel so it wasn't too bad. Then more friendly people explained our next steps - a free bus connection to the trolley station and a free trolley ride into the centre.
The whole journey took us 1 hour 40 minutes - not exactly fast! But we'd finally made it into the centre after 18 years! Back in 2002 it was really dangerous for tourists and we had to go in a large group and keep watch every time someone got their camera out for a photo because bands of kids would surround you and grab everything you had.
In 2020 it was completely different and far safer. We still needed to be a bit careful of course - it's still a capital city and everyone knows we're foreigners - but it meant we could spend time wandering around without any problems. We went to see the Arco de la Reina archway and then to the oldest church in Quito, San Francisco. Built between 1534 and 1604, the interior is very ornate and everything is in gold. The main altar is a baroque carving.
At the Plaza Grande we got a map from the tourist info centre and tried to get into several churches but they were closed. So we walked uphill to the Basilica. We only had 20 minutes before it closed so it was a bit of a rush. We saw some people above us and wondered how they got up there but we couldn't find the stairs. (We checked it out on the internet later.)
By the time we left it was already dark so we walked back downhill and watched the most extraordinary rubbish collection and removal system we've ever seen (see video). Afterwards we decided to go for food at the Lena Quiteña restaurant. Kirsten decided on an Ecuadorian dish with fried pork which was a bit dry, Mote which is large corn kernels that we've had before and didn't like (!), plus hard beans and, the best part, croquette potatoes. I had yummy chicken with mushroom sauce, chips and salad and had to share the sauce with Kirsten to make her meal more palatable!
Afterwards we walked around for some night shots and got the last trolleybus at 8-40pm back north, which wasn't free but only cost us 25 cents each, and got off at the Plaza de los Torres. We hailed a taxi within seconds to take us back to the garage because it was safer than walking the streets. We bought ice creams from a little shop opposite and got back at 9-25pm, exhausted!!! We needed lots of cups of tea, watched football highlights, and made the mistake of watching Emma Thompson on various talk shows! So We didn't get to bed until 2am!!
12.01.2020: Quito
Our late night meant we didn't get up until 10-30am the following morning and, after breakfast, set off back into the city centre for another day of sightseeing. This time we walked to a different bus stop and got a direct bus into the centre which only took 40 minutes!! We're finally working out the system here!
We went into 3 different churches, a five star hotel on the main Plaza, and tried the Palacio (closed) and the cathedral again, also closed. So we walked back up to the Basilica. We'd checked on the internet and decided it was a "must see" attraction to go up into the tower. It cost $2 each and was a different entrance point which was why we hadn't found it in our rush yesterday.
We spent 1.5 hours there and had a fabulous time!! Well worth a visit! We rode up a few floors in a lift, then walked along a covered wooden walkway built above the brick roof of the church. Next came some extremely steep and very narrow metal stairs to get up into the tower with long queues to get up. It was basically one way, so you had to wait for people coming down before going up. Even Kirsten, who has problems with heights, managed to get up!!
The views from the top were really good across the whole of Quito surrounded by mountains. We queued to get back down, walked back along the wooden walkway and went across to the towers on the other side. The spiral stairway took us even higher up. We thoroughly enjoyed it and decided to skip the Compañia church because we'd been inside 18 years ago when it was still free. Now there was a queue and they were charging $5 per person.
We found a bakery to buy some cakes and took a trolley on a different route back. It was still light so we felt safe enough to walk back to W2 and picked up some fruit on the way.
13.01.2020: Quito
Another workshop day for our motorhome but we persuaded José not to put us up onto the ramp this time because our tyres just spun trying to get back off the last time we were on it! So José changed our rear shocks outside, where we were parked.
It should have been a 5 minute job but, as ever, Winnietwo needs more time and it took over 2 hours!! They allowed us to stay another night which was really great as it meant I could get some hand washing done and we could work on the website and make a plan for the next part of our journey.
We were really happy because we'd managed to get lots of repairs done and had a safe place to park with electricity and water so that we could go and see everything in Quito. Super. Big thank you to Autoexpert.
Super rubbish system! And great views of the city.
