I try to keep my life chill. When a problem arises, too often the pull is to pour gasoline rather then step away from the ledge. I make problems bigger and scarier rather than talking them down. This week I had the ultimate test of my resolve…a car accident.
Pulling out of our drive in Austin, Texas
The Tortas drive a large Ford F-150 truck that was perfect for hauling our possessions to Mexico but does not work well maneuvering in a small town like Bacalar.
A busy mercado with limited parking.
During a quick stop at the mercado to pick up some veggies for dinner, I found a taxi double parked in front of my little fruteria and leaving me little room to maneuver. I squeezed through but did not leave enough room to pass the car parked on my right. I clipped the bumper and tore it off completely. My stomach began to flip flop and I was in a panic before I even got out of the truck. We all know what’s it’s like having a car accident, not fun at best and a complete life-altering disaster at worst.
A man and his wife and adult son emerged from an older sedan. They circled the car, pointing out damage and shaking their heads. My fear was that they would call the police. It’s not that I’m afraid of the police, but the more people that get involved, the higher the price goes.
Local police.
I didn’t know what to do. They began discussing mechanics. I was pouring gasoline.
When I asked what they wanted to settle things, the man meekly asked for two thousand pesos which I did not have and was an outrageous price. I pulled a 500 peso bill from my wallet and offered it as compensation ($30us). The woman looked me in the eye and said, “we’ll take it”. I handed her the money and we shook hands. When I came out of the store, they were gone. To put this in perspective, most laborers make about 250 pesos a day for hard manual labor.
It took me hours to get the adrenaline out of my system. How often do I create problems where there are none, but there “could be”? Valuable lessons were learned, among them, always deal with the woman. DOS TORTAS
the adventures of dos tortas 
Hola! Just thought you might like to know that there is now a Facebook group for blogging about Mexico https://www.facebook.com/groups/1596121287353178/?ref=bookmarks Please consider joining and putting up links to your posts!
Date: Sun, 31 Jul 2016 14:51:54 +0000 To: thelmadatter@hotmail.com
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What a fun idea. There do seem to be a lot of us. Lol. Thanks.
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Ha….love it~ “always deal with the woman”…sage advice!
Glad you walked away from this experience only 500 pesos lighter…
Cheers,
Katie O’Grady
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Glad to have you on board. I figured it was a duct tape project.
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Could’ve been worse ;-(
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You are so right.
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Yes, sure could have been worse. Someone backed into me in Mexico. The man didn’t know, I guess, he should ease back until he could see clearly. He shot out in front of me. Smashed the whole front left side and destroyed the bumper. No headlight. Car wasn’t even drivable.
Thankfully he was a Frenchman with a it of money so it all got fixed but I was without a car for a week. Getting parts in Mexico can be a challenge!
Glad no one was injured in your situation. Put the gasoline away, okay?
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