Hugo can do anything!

Awhile back (because it's been that long since I've written!), the government decided to crack down on vehicle safety. When owners came in to renew their vehicle registration, the police would inspect the cars to make sure they were functioning properly. Our car works pretty well, but we did have some cosmetic issues.

Do you remember me writing about getting in a car crash when I was seven months pregnant? Nothing really happened to the car except a broken headlight. The blub wasn't damaged, just the crystal was shattered. We didn't worry about it much because the light still worked and we could see just fine. But that was one of the things the police wouldn't like about our car.

When we bought our car, we didn't know much about car ownership in El Salvador. Turns out a VW isn't the best purchase. Most cars (and therefore car parts) are from Asia. So a European car is difficult (and expensive) to fix. We looked high and low but couldn't find a headlight anywhere. So...what did Hugo do? Took it to a friend and had him make a new crystal surround for the headlight. How? I have no idea. I think some plexiglass and a lot of super glue were involved.

Another thing that had to be fixed was our windshield wipers. Only the driver's side wiper worked. Again...parts are hard to find, so Hugo decided to make the piece he needed to fix the wipers. Apparently, there is a motor with two metal "arms" that extend out to operate each wiper. One of the "arms" was broken. Hugo found a piece of metal the right size and cut the necessary holes. But, when he tried to install it, he realized the metal was too heavy. The little motor wasn't strong enough to move the metal piece. Hugo (apparently...unknown to me) spent weeks thinking about how to solve the too-heavy metal problem. One night at dinner he said, "An umbrella. That's what I need. An umbrella. The center piece of metal is strong, but lightweight."

I thought he was cookoo. How on earth could part of an umbrella fix a car's windshield wipers?! But prove me wrong he did! He broke the umbrella apart to get the piece he wanted, cut it down to size, and drilled the necessary holes. And by golly...it worked! Every time it rains, Hugo proudly turns on the wipers and shows me just how perfectly they work!