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The Bus That Broke

For the first time in all of my crossings through Foz do Iguaçu, I stopped at the border crossing to get my passport stamped. Leaving the bus behind, as they do not wait for this process, I headed to immigration and filled out the paperwork. Once done, I would need to wait for another bus to continue my journey.

There are two lines serving the Argentina to Brazil route. My journey was free if I used the same company. As I waited, I watched both time and two buses from the other line pass by. Eventually a bus from my company showed up. My goal was the centre of Foz city, where I would be staying the night, although we did not make it quite that far.

The bus was full when I climbed on at the Brazilian border although it almost emptied out at the turn-off for the waterfalls. With a long weekend in both Argentina and Paraguay, there were plenty of tourists around. Once they had gone, there were only six of us left aboard.

As our journey continued towards the city, our bus suddenly turned off and parked on the side of the road. We were all surprised to find our bus stopping such a long way from town. Buses never turn off their engines, even when fuelling, so when our motor stopped we knew the news was bad. Our driver got off and after a short wait returned to tells us that the bus is broken. Our only choice is to get onboard the next bus which he assured us would be coming shortly.

We all get off and wait outside the bus. Some of the more inquisitive of us wander around to the back to see what the problem is. The engine hatch at the back is closed, but there is steam pouring out of most seams. It looks serious. When the hood is opened we can see that the fan belt has slipped off and the engine is boiling. We wait, expecting another bus, but it does not come.

Broken Bus
The broken bus, and fellow passengers waiting for a miracle – which comes.

Meanwhile, our driver digs around in the bus and returns with a stick to prop the engine hatch open and the only tool onboard. With all of the expertise of a mechanic, or someone that has been through this process many times before, he coaxes the fan belt back onto the pulleys. To tighten the belt a special sized spanner is needed, or it would be impossible. Our Mac-Gyver bus driver puts his only tool to work. It fits perfectly. One more thing that makes me suspect it is not an isolated incident.

Looking longfully over the hill at the coming traffic, our rescue bus never does appear. Instead, our driver tops up the water in the bus, starts the engine and gives the all clear for getting back onboard. We stop at the nearest service station and add more water before continuing our journey. The bus is serviceable once again.

The bus that broke was now un-broke once again, thanks to our Mac Gyver driver.

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Why Computer Technicians Don’t Help

Entering “The Club”
Having been a computer technician, I guess I should know better. There is a kind of a club that evolves around each group of technicians in a company. You do not ever just “enter” this club, but rather “earn” your way into it by demonstrating over a period of time (and problems) that you really do have the know-how. Of course things such as paper-work and a known history help out a lot in this regard too.

Outsiders
Although there is nothing directly wrong with this sort of club forming, there is a problem that occurs the moment a technical issue arises. You see, if you are not in this “club” then you simply are not a technician. If you are not a technician, then you cannot possibly know about anything technical. Therefore all of your thoughts and ideas on the problem really are insignificant.

In the eyes of those belonging to the “club”, you are a dunce, a drop-out, a know-it-all that knows nothing. Saying that you actually belong to another “club” just like the one that the kindly gent looking at your equipment belongs to only serves to cement their certainty that you are a know-it-all that really knows nothing.

The worst part about all of this situation is that even if the tech you are talking with OBVIOUSLY knows very little about your particular problem, the assumption is that he still knows a tremendous amount more than you. Even if this happens to be your area of specialty.

The Dance
So when it comes to reporting a fault or problem with computers, I need to go through the same dance every single time. The one thing that I have learned however is that there is absolutely no point in telling them that you are a tech. After all, if you ARE a tech, why are you not solving the problem for yourself instead of involving us in it? The fact that you bought the item from their shop and want them to deem it faulty has nothing to do with anything.

The dance goes something like this: bring the faulty item to the tech and tell him that there is a problem with it. Watch while the tech does the same things as you did and then tells you that your item has a problem with it. If he doesn’t find the problem first off, then the dance continues.

Insist that there is a problem with the item, and explain how it occurred and why you think that there is a problem. Watch the tech repeat the same steps as before, totally ignoring your explanation of how to locate the problem, and tell you that there is nothing wrong with it. Repeat this insistance, but this time, as the tech goes through the steps, tell him what he needs to do step by step, until he finally does it. Listen to him tell you that your item is faulty.

A Problem Arises
Now that I know this dance, life has become much easier. So when one of the items I bought in Ciudad del Este failed to work as expected, I needed to race back to the shop again to start my dance. I had bought myself an external hard drive case and a nice 250Gb hard drive to go inside of it. But it was not working.

Time was very limited, as the shops shut at 4pm Argentina time and it was 3pm when I discovered the problem. I did not go through every step possible nor read through the documentation as I would normally do to ensure that there was not a simple explanation for the problem. This explains the final outcome.

The bus journey from Puerto Iguazu through Brazil to the Bridge of Friendship took 40 minutes. It may have taken longer but there were only two of us onboard so our driver took the short way there. From here I climbed aboard a motor-taxi and raced over the bridge to the door of the shop where I had bought my drive. And then my dance began.

Doing The Dance
The problem was that the drive was making some very nasty noises and refused to start spinning up to the 7200RPM that it was rated at. Well, it just refused to start spinning. So I explained this to the young technician, who listened to the drive and agreed with me that there was a problem, but told me that they had already closed up for the day and that I should come back in the morning.

After a heart-pleading cry stating that I would be in another part of the world (Corrientes) in the morning and that I raced back here from Argentina to fix this problem, I finally coaxed them into action, and recieved my replaced drive. But the drive comes in two parts, one part is the drive itself and the other is the box that encases it. The new drive was doing the same thing, making the same noises as before. So it must be the box.

There was another technician nearby who off-handedly said that “they all do that”. This was enough for the tech attending me to tell me that this was not a problem at all and that I simply needed to install the drivers and prepare the drive for use in Windows. This seemed odd to me, so I insisted that they check the box and show me the drive working.

After much pleading, the tech started the process of showing me, but never succeeded. I assumed it was the box, and told him that if he could replace the box and it did the same thing then I would believe him that it was the “normal” thing and that I simply needed to install some driver and all would be well. But the box was not under warranty, only the drive. I had to buy another box.

False Hope
Truly believing that this would fix my problems, I raced over to the counter which was now closed. A shout from behind me told the guy sitting uninterested behind the desk to attend me. Computers were off so he nonchalently found a book and went through the manual process of paperwork. I sat waiting in a now almost vacated building, listening to the second hand tick off the minutes.

Finally he finished the process and I paid for then received my new (and hopefully working) box. After putting everything back together again, I plugged it in expectantly. I was waiting for the whizzing sound of a whirring drive. That sound never came. It was the same horrible click click noise.

There were two techs standing there now, both looking at me with that sort of look on their faces that said, “I told you so.” I believed them too, after all, what are the chances of two boxes failing in one time. I must have been wrong. So with two boxes in my hand, one with a drive in it that still went “click click”, I headed back home to install the mystery driver and set up my drive for Windows.

The Problem Persists
Another drive on a motor-taxi over the bridge and a bus ride through Brazil and I was back in Argentina again. The problem was that no matter what I did with this drive, it just never worked.

So now I am left with two boxes, and one drive. I assume that the drive works, but the boxes don’t. Perhaps they were never designed for such a big drive. So what do I do now? Well, I hope to find a solution somehow. It should have been resolved by the tech, but instead the problem has been left with me. Maybe I am wrong still, but the future is looking dim.

But this is a great example of why computer technicians do not help.

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CDE – Home Away From Home

It was only two weeks ago that I found myself in Ciudad del Este. During that time I was able to renew my visa and buy a couple of things before returning back for a hectic week of further travel to Buenos Aires. Now it is shaping up to be the third week in a row for travel.

After returning with a broken item purchased in that infamous city (not uncommon) and exploring all of my options, the best ended up being a return visit. So tonight at 1am I am riding a bus back up to this famed location, for a stay of two days during which time I will be able to replace my broken purchase with one that works and enjoy the temporary change of atmosphere.

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Mad Rush to BsAs

9am Wednesday Morning – Daily routine of checking my emails
Still pushing the sleep from my eyes, I lazily pull the blanket that covers my computer during the night from the table, then fold it and place it over the back of my borrowed plastic chair. Going through the now familiar motions, I open the screen and punch the on button, enter my startup passwords and sit down to wait.

As I wait my eyes drift around the room. There is not much to see, a bare wall with Isaac’s clothes hanging on his free-standing rack to one side, and our little kitchen bench with a concrete sink to the other. The shelves above our kitchen bench look more crowded every day, but I cannot complain too much as I have taken a chunk of shelf space for my own stuff there too.

Looking out the window I see blue sky. It has been unusual weather lately. We are supposed to be in winter still but recently the afternoons are heating up enough to cause us all to sweat. It looks to be another scorcher of a day today too. As I let my thoughts drift about the weather, they are suddenly called back to reality with the all too familiar sound of Windows logging in. The computer was almost ready.

Focused back on my work again, I reach over to my recently prepared hot coffee, lean back and enjoy the flavour as I wait for the final programs to finish loading. As soon as they do I fire up my email program and check out the latest happenings. As the mail came racing in, my eyes fixed upon an email that was a reply to a recent request. It was about my laptop.

About My Laptop
Since buying my laptop in February I have been having problems with the keyboard. At first it was three keys that were really stiff and needed excessive pressure to use. Later these keys softened up, but when typing there started to be letters always missing. It became so bad that I had to always look at the screen to be sure that what I typed was what appeared. Every word or two required corrections.

Not happy to leave things as they were, I quickly started communications with Acer regarding my options to correct this problem. They put me in contact with their warranty agents in Argentina, based in Buenos Aires. I was quickly informed that although my machine had an international warranty, I would not be covered as I had purchased the machine in one country and was looking for a warranty in another.

After countless emails, and dozens of explanations, I finally organised to have my keyboard replaced under warranty. It was a significant fight, and to have reached this point was a major milestone. It became even more significant when I was told that they had received the keyboard from Acer and were ready to replace it. Now my only problem was finding the time to get down to Buenos Aires and replace the thing. With a minimum turn around time of 2 working days and an average time of 4 days, it would take a lot of days away from the base during what was turning out to be a very busy period of time.

So when I read this email that had just appeared in my inbox, I was both excited and worried. The response said that it was possible to replace my keyboard within 24hrs. This was a complete break with their policy and something quite unexpected. It also meant that I would be able to head down and get it changed at long last. But what I read next concerned me. They said that for this to happen I would need to bring the machine in on Thursday. That was tomorrow. It was all so fast. I needed to see if this was possible.

Discussing the Possibilities
It did not take long to find David, our base leader. I discussed with him the email that I had just received and what I should do about it all. It was agreed that I needed to take advantage of this situation so there was left only two possibilities; head down there myself, or send the computer down via a courier company. I favoured going myself, but it made more sense to courier the machine down instead.

But then there was the factor of my needing a visa for Brazil as well. There was only one place to get a visa, and that was Buenos Aires. It was also possible to do this by mail, but again involved the risk of loss or damage. I decided that it would be better to go myself, and David agreed. It would be a quick trip, but well worth it. There still remained some unknown questions about my visa however. If I could not get it then I would not go, and would courier my laptop instead. To find answers to my questions however, I needed to wait until 2pm before I could make a call.

Decision Made
It was already 4pm by the time I got around to making the call. I had been deeply focused on my work and was now working alongside Oscar on a high-pressure job with a tight schedule. There was a time when I suspected that the visa requirements for Australians were removed – at least that was what somebody had told me – but that was wrong information. My call was via a computer-based Internet phone, resulting in many repetitions to get the advice I needed. The end result was that I would now be going to Buenos Aires. It was possible to get my visa while I was there.

Work with Oscar continued until 6pm and later as we moved from the design stage to wrestling with a printer. It was heading towards 7pm by the time I returned to my room to pack. Packing at this late stage turned it into a ruthless affair where the bare essentials found their way into my bag and the rest remained as an afterthought as I headed out to the bus terminal. I did manage to get the important items however.

Bus Ride
My ride to the terminal was courtesy of a friend on the base who just happened to be leaving at the same time as I was. There are only three people with cars here, so I was pretty lucky. He dropped me outside the terminal on the road, and I raced in to see if there was a spare seat waiting for me. Sometimes these buses fill up well before their scheduled departure, and I was uncertain if tonight was a busy night or not.

The seat I finally found was at the very back of the bus, underneath the air-conditioning unit and over the engine. The humming overhead and rumbling below seemed to interrupt my night of sleep as we hurdled our way over 11hrs of highway. It may have also been the narrow seats, or the flashes of headlights through the open curtains also, but by the time I arrived in Buenos Aires at 6.30am in the morning, I was feeling the wear and tear of bus travel.

And here I am now in Buenos Aires. For 2 days.