I\’ve been putting off posting, because there really hasn\’t been any \’good\’ news to report, the situation with the car seems to have gone from bad to worse, Javier and the Diesel \’expert\’ appear to have had us over a barrel, it appears there was nothing wrong with the old injectors a clean would not have resolved, so we paid out millions of pesos for nothing, as a result Marcela has told Javier just what she thinks of him, and we have taken the Nissan back to her Uncle, who we used, before a fall out five years ago, over work supposedly done.
As a result the Nissan was sent for a diagnostic report, and it appears that the problem is not with the Turbo part at all, but with the engine itself, so \’Uncle\’ is going to strip it down and give us a quote, before we decide whether to pay out more, he has had the car since Thursday, and we are waiting fingers crossed. He thinks it would pass it\’s Revision Tecnico in it\’s current state, as they have stopped the black smoke, but there is a compression problem, so if it looks like being silly money, we will get it through it\’s revision, and sell it at a loss, and start again, but no more turbo diesels!
The Bike has also had it\’s problems, but they are getting sorted quicker, the day we took the car to Medellin, I noticed a knocking coming from the back wheel area, so the following morning after taking Marcela to work, I called at the workshop in Copacabana to see Andrés, he took it for a run, and decided the problem was the wheel bearings, I thought I would have to return at a later date to have it repaired, but straight into the workshop, back wheel off, bearings replaced on the wheel and the chain cog, and it is fine…Great service!
Then on Friday, when going to fetch Marcela from work, I couldn\’t understand why I was getting hooted at, I thought it was just impatient drivers, but I then realised that the rear right indicator wasn\’t working, so when I arrived home, I took the bulb out, it was fine, so the problem had to be electrical.
Therefore yesterday morning, Marcela and I had to go to Copacabana shopping, with her acting as my right rear indicator, her arm was up and down like a Dolphin\’s flipper, again I stopped to ask Andrés, who had a look and said he knew what the problem was, the cable is fed up the inside of the mudguard, and they drop, rubbing on the tyre, that section of cable needed to be replaced, but it meant removing the rear wheel again, so I arranged to call in on Monday, I will just have to be careful in the meantime.
The Viewers for the finca, I mentioned in my last post, came last Monday, and showed great interest in the house, although they are not cash buyers as we were lead to believe, so we are now waiting on them seeing if they can raise funds.
The Government in their wisdom, are looking at changing the laws on property purchases / selling, no longer will people be able to leave the value unchanged on the escrituras, the escritura will have to show the purchase value. They are saying that direct cash purchases will no longer be allowed, all money will have to be deposited through a Bank Account, to ensure no one avoids paying their taxes, and they are also going to add IVA onto purchases, but at what rate hasn\’t been stated, this is just an attempt at filling the Government coffers, but I think it will backfire badly on the Government, because people just wont sell their properties, and the housing market will become stagnant, reducing the income the Government receive. Now we just have to wait and see if and when this is introduced.
An Englishman in Colombia 