It’s Haiti v6 – We Get Our Bikes Fixed

     There are three mountain bikes in the front room of our house. The tires are all flat. There is also a bicycle pump. One morning I pumped up the tires on two of the bikes (did not have the right attachment for valve on the third bike). By afternoon, the front tires on the two bikes were both flat. So we had three bikes and four flat tires. I asked Meer if there was someplace we could get the tires fixed. Sure, he knew a place. So Sunday afternoon we piled the bikes into the back of the Dodge and Herold drove us down to the repair shop. Meer and I rode in the back with the bikes and after 10 minutes on the road, Meer banged on the cab to let Herold know to turn left. We had arrived. The “repair shop” was unmarked. Most places are like that. How do you even know that it’s here, I asked Meer. He shrugged, you just know.
     Behind a sheet metal door hanging rather precariously by who knows what, we pulled the bikes into a guy’s open air workshop where he repaired tires. Not just bikes but all kinds of tires. But, sure, he did bicycles, too. He quickly found the hole in one bike tire and then the second. He had two air compressors. One had a regulator, the other did not. He regulated the pressure on the second compressor by bending the hose over and using a string wound tightly around the hose to stop the airflow. We decided to get both tires changed on two bikes. They were worn out. So with the four new tires, inner tubes, a new seat on one bike, a set of pedals and new brake pads on two bikes, the total (labor included) came to 1500 gourdes, about $35.00 US. Not a bad price.
It’s Haiti.

Bicycle repairman with Herold and Meer

Herold calculates the total bill (on his hand)