Day 11: Did I Really Just DO That?!

Jon and his carpenter finally were ready to put in our curtains and the bed foundation. He was here for several hours doing that. Meanwhile Diego invited us up to his house to see his herb and vegetable garden and we wanted to go but realized we had to be here because the guy was coming to put in the curtain rods, etc. We never like to leave workers in the house alone, not in the USA and not here.

So they did that and we began to try to learn how to use the washing machine.

This is a washing machine like I've never seen before. It is probably only used in 3rd world countries and it has the washer on one side and the spinner on the other side and you have to manually fill the water, manually put the clothes in the spinner side after they're washed, and so on. To me and Yoli it looks like something from the 40's or 50's and we couldn't believe this is what they meant when they said they were going to furnish the house we're renting with a washing machine. I mean, yeah, it works, yeah it washes clothes... but we assumed this would be a washing machine like everyone I know has had since around 1959 or so...

I asked a couple people about it and they made comments like "Yeah, I used that once in China" and "Yes, I used one like that years ago. It works good" and "Yes, it's the cheapest washing machine you can buy."

Anyway Jon hooked it up and then we tried it and it took a while to figure it out but yeah, it works, but it is like going back in time about 50 years, it seems to me.

While Joanie was busy showing the guy where to put the curtains and dealing with the washing machine, I decided I should go up and pay Diego what I owe him - he'd asked me about his pay which I was late on due to so much busy-ness on our part and he had every right to be paid asap, so Joanie and I agreed that I should go while she stayed here with the worker in the house.

I went out to the car and drove to the gate, got out of the car, opened the gate, came back to the car to drive through and ...

... realized I left the key in it and it was locked up.

Yes, the car was locked up with the key in it and the motor running!

I couldn't believe it! HOW did this happen? How did it get locked? Did I lock it? Why would I have done that??! Did it lock itself? Did my elbow hit it and lock it as I got out?

Well I still have no idea but the bottom line is that it was locked and there was no way to get in: no open window. No side vent to push in. No easy-to-pop trunk to climb through... I spent about an hour trying to get in with no luck.

By the way it began to POUR rain just as soon as I locked myself out of the running car!

Ironically, I had put on my list of Things To Do for TOMORROW: (at the TOP of my list!) GET A COPY OF THE CAR KEY MADE! But unfortunately this happened today and I have no 2nd key.

I called Diego to see if he knew how to get in. He came and tried too.
Diego and I both agreed that probably calling a locksmith was the best idea. I tried to open it by using a long curved machete blade down inside; we had no coat hanger... which I very well might have had success with but neither us nor our neighbors had a wire coat hanger, only plastic.

After an hour or so of the car running and my not being able to get in I had Joanie call the locksmith so I wouldn't get quoted a gringo price, as sometimes happens here. She got a price of $40 for him to come out here - about 12 miles from San Ramon - and open the car. So we gave him directions - he wasn't familiar with our little pueblo of San Francisco (what a misnomer for this little pueblo!).

Within half an hour or so he got here and opened the car within 15 seconds and all was well again. Just a little less $ in our wallet...

After all that Joanie and I drove up to our farm to sit and watch the clouds blow by and relax listening to the birds and watching some hawks or falcons fly around. Being up there makes everything so much better! Every time we go up there we feel more relaxed and feel that once we get in our home - however tiny - things will be much better.

At dark we drove back home (about 1km - we walk sometimes but didn't because of Joanie's sore knee) and fixed some dinner and watched Homeland which I downloaded.

Fell asleep during Homeland and went to bed around 10pm.

Read Day 12 of our blog here.

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