Saturday after Thanksgiving, we took a day-trip to a small town about an hour outside Santiago where they sell a certain type of earthenware pottery. It would have been a simple trip, except when we arrived in our Hyundai van, the lower radiator hose cracked. As we were climbing out of the van, we hear a whistle from underneath. Then the pop. Hmmm.

Well, that could have happened to anyone, anywhere. But in Chile, in small towns at least, after lunch on Saturday ends the work week. Very few "regular" businesses are open after 1 or 2 o'clock, and they stay closed until Monday morning. By "regular", I mean the businesses that are for the regular folks, not the tourists.

That fact turned out not to matter much, after all, because in this small town there wasn't anywhere to buy car parts. No, if we wanted to replace our radiator hose, we would have to drive 6 kilometers to the next town. But their car parts store wouldn't be open until Monday. And, no, there were no hotels in town. Hmmm.

The best thing that happened to us that day, it turns out, was the decision when we first drove into town to park at a shaded parking lot with an attendant. It turned out that Mark was able to salvage the remaining hose (the cut was at one end) with a knife the attendant loaned us, tie it into place with the attendant's string, and fill the radiator with the attendant's water from his home behind the parking lot. That attendant earned his tip that day!

All this goes to prove something I have been learning about Chile: it's all about who you know. It doesn't matter if you have an idea of how to solve your problem or if you think you can do it. You will eventually need to know someone to make it all work out. Otherwise, you're toast.