The Orange Threat

Let me tell you a little story about my best friend.

She was born in 1978 (like me), her favorite color is orange (like me) and she is fond of French food.

We met on the computer like most people do these days and within a week we were inseparable.

OT became a part of my family when I bought her for 3,500.000 Pesos, the equivalent of about $1,700.00 USD. She was the only car being sold from that year that was still with her original owner and had its orignal exterior and brown leather interior. She was absolutely beautiful. I felt and still feel like I am in Dukes and Hazards every time I get near to her.

Since the beginning she has been quite challenging.

First, she was not automatic. I had to learn how to drive stick and according to people here who have been driving stick for a very long time, she was no easy ride. Not to mention the roads here are so difficult to understand and the drivers are maniacs. I began on the road around our house in Medellin and for more than two months I was too scared to drive alone. Mostly because I got a good handle on the driving but could not, by any means, get up a hill. And in Medellin a hill will come out of nowhere and there will be traffic smack in the middle of it. It was super difficult at the beginning.

Second, 2 months into driving we decided to take a road trip to Bogota, about 8 hours from Medellin. Within the first 20 minutes we kind of maybe, just a bit, collided with the mountain and the car, after flipping over and skidding along the wet, curvy road, ripped my hair

and lost many of its much needed parts to function properly. According to all those that saw us flip, we were extremely lucky. We were further lucky because we found some amazing men in Barrio Triste, one of the most deprived neighborhoods in Medellin (not including the guys who stored their drugs in our tires) to replace all the parts of the car that were destroyed including the roof, hood, front and back windshields, tires, sides, exhaust and the bottom parts under the gas tank and where it was repainted.

side note: Barrio Triste is what is says, a very sad neighborhood. There was recently an article in one of the Colombian newspapers about it that emphasized the danger of living and working there. It stated how most people there became addicted to drugs and did not live very long to talk about it. This same neighborhood is where you can find mechanics, painters and other car gurus who have been working every day since childhood. They are more efficient and effective that mechanics who go to study for a few years because this is and only ever will be their livelihood.

So, slowly but surely all her parts were removed and replaced.

Nuts and bolts were screwed back on, engine parts were put back together again and paint was re-applied. Over a month later she was almost back to new minus the front and rear bumper and what we found out very quickly after we took her home, oil and 4 bolts in the steering wheel. If we had been lazy and not checked, the entire steering wheel would have disconnected from the tires and we would have had another very nice little crash that maybe we were not so luck with this time.

The good news though, OT is back on her wheels, driving me everywhere I have to go and sucking me dry of all my money. But she is worth every penny and she is the first car I have ever outright owned.