Back of a Cop Car in Ecuador

Thank you Mr. Officer

This is the story about how a day at a spa ended up with Shannon and I in the back of a cop car on a rural mountain road with no cell phone signal and no way out. Every word of that last statement is true. However, at the same time it is also misleading. Let me explain.

After working very hard to get settled in, coaching sports, and fitting in to new job roles at school Shannon and I were really looking forward to a nice vacation over spring break. Or to be more accurate, a few smaller vacations spread out over spring break. Everything was booked and when Friday afternoon rolled around we were out of school before the kids.

Our first vacation was a short weekend trip up into the mountains of Otavalo, which I believe Shannon is writing about so I will leave that story to her. We arrived back at home on a Sunday afternoon with plans to spend all day Monday at Termas de Papallachta. Papallachta is an area that is well traveled by tourists and locals alike. It is an amazing layout of natural thermal hot springs with a spa and resort built around it. We have been hearing about it for about four months and wanted to check it out. We set out yesterday morning with a plan to spend the day in some hot springs in the mountains, get some lunch, and maybe even a nice massage. It was a nice day trip planned out for us and a nice way to let off some steam.

We left at about 7 in the morning and drove out of Quito and up winding mountain roads. The view was incredible at every turn. Ecuador is truly one of the coolest places to drive in terms of fun winding roads and gorgeous views.

After driving for about an hour we heard a quiet and subtle clicking from our car. It worried me a little bit since we had been driving it all weekend and it was an automatic going up mountain roads. Shortly after, the car drifted to a stop on the side of the road. It was overheated and at least temporarily dead. I looked at our GPS and realized that we were ten minutes away from the spa, a phone signal, and civilization in general. Of course we were. When I opened the hood I heard the coolant boiling and after letting it cool for a few minutes figured that if we could get the engine to cool down, we could make it up to Papallachta and call a mechanic. We were without any way of calling anyone since we were up in the mountains in an off the beaten path area with no cell signal I resolved to get the car there and figure it out later. After a few minutes I lifted the cap to the coolant canister and boiling hot coolant flew up into the sky like a child’s volcano project. It coated my face, hands, the hood of the car, and parts of the overheated engine; which of course led to tons of coolant burning smoke.

I have a very limited knowledge of cars. It was very apparent to me at that moment when I wiped the coolant off of my face and saw the warning on the canister saying DO NOT OPEN CAP IF CAR IS OVERHEATED. Oh well, I was still determined to get the car to civilization and to a place where we could call for help. After all, it was only 9am and we could still salvage this day! Or so I thought..

After getting the car to cool down we were able to start it back up and continue our journey. Only…it got us around a corner and no more than 3 minutes of driving time before dying again. In my head I thought that if we could repeat this process three more times we’d be there. We were so close! But after allowing it to cool down some more, and realizing that we were still without cell service I tried to start it again and it would not turn. We were stranded.

Let me paint you a word picture. We are up in the mountains on a rural road where we see one car every seven minutes or so, and that car is a supply truck full of cement blocks or rocks or other such things that a child would envision as they played with their newest Tonka. It starts to rain which helps with the car overheating but does not help our internal temperature as it is about 45-50 degrees with a strong wind. We are within a few minutes of driving to the destination where massages, good food, and soothing hot water await, yet we are too far to walk. We are parked uphill just around a bend on a highway that causes close calls every time a car rounds the corner and sees us. We are without a cell signal. We are without any food. We are in a country where we are passable but not fluent in the language.

Sitting in the back of the cop car, clearly
amused at what the day has thrown our way

So after realizing what we are up against, we sit dejected on the curb out in the elements as to minimize any chance of being smashed to bits when a cement hauling grown up Tonka truck winds the bend and obliterates our car, which by the way we still don’t have all of our final paperwork to. Yes we purchased it December 19 and paid in full at purchase time.

After waiting for about twenty minutes and having no luck turning the car over a nice man named Jhonny pulled over and began trying to tinker with the car to help us out. We were fortunately parked near a stream so we filled some water bottles and poured it in with the coolant with the hopes we could cool the car and get it running to a place where we had cell service. Jhonny spent about twenty hard working minutes with us which unfortunately led to no progress. He vowed to call 911 as soon as he had cell service and get us some help and was on his way. There we sat again hoping to see a tow truck passing by or some other sign of refuge as we thought of the massages that might have been.

Coppers standing guard

About  a half hour after that, two police officers showed up and asked us what was wrong. They had received a call from Jhonny and came to investigate. After looking at the engine with raised eyebrows, it became apparent to me that they knew as much about repairing a car as we did and they suggested we go with them to find a place where they had a signal so we could call a tow truck. We tried persuading them to go by themselves to make the call but the cops insisted that we talk to the tow truck driver to negotiate a price. They were extremely persistent. We tried sending one person with the cops and leaving one with the car due to the fact that we were in a country where stuff gets jacked all of the time. They again rebuffed our requests and demanded we both go.

This is how we ended up in the back of a police car in rural mountain Ecuador instead of at a spa. They drove us up the mountain and called a friend of theirs who was a tow truck driver and then turned back around and let us out. No negotiating was to happen. They drove us back down the mountain and to our cars and said the tow truck driver would be there in an hour. In what is either the most chivalrous mountain act I have ever seen or sheer laziness, they both sat in their cop car and dozed off watched over us while we waited.   

Pepe finally decided to show up

One hour turned to two. Two turned to two and a half or three and eventually a 3 foot 11 inch man named Pepe came and strapped our car up to his truck. He drove us back to Quito while speaking and laughing like a tiny Hispanic version of the Joker for an hour and a half. We stopped to say hello to his cousin. We stopped for gas. He orchestrated a cocaine sale on one of his three cell phones. Our car alarm went off every 90-120 seconds or so due to the bumpy roads, even when we turned it off. He invited us to his house for fried fish. Then he charged us $150 and dropped us off.

Pepe completing his drug deal

When we were dropped off we told the story to our mechanic. He told us a story of a couple who broke down in almost the same spot a month or so earlier. When two good samaritans pulled over to help they politely declined, explaining a tow truck was on the way. Then the good samaritans pulled out a gun and cleaned out the couple. Amid all of the other carnage to our day, we hadn’t realized that this wasn’t only a possibility but a likelihood in the area we were broken down. We were very lucky that our police escort decided to take a nap watch over us while we waited.

We are now awaiting a quote for whatever in the world happened to our car and it appears the rest of our vacation is destined to be spent on the couch at home instead of in the Amazon Rainforest as our previously booked reservations would have suggested. Everything here is an adventure.