The Spanish Vacation

Harry Purdy,
Canada
November 8, 2013

This is a story that took place a few years ago in Spain. I was working as a radio announcer at a Canadian Military Base in Germany and each year we took a month camping holiday to explore a different country. This particular year had taken us to the Basque region of Spain on our way to the beaches of Portugal.

I had a Dodge Family Wagon camper, which is very unusual in Spain. I also had brake problems from a lot of mountain driving. The brake pads on my front brakes had worn out and were causing a lot of metal to metal contact. I knew that I couldn't continue to Portugal without brakes. I also couldn't return to Germany. I also knew that it would be nearly impossible to get brake parts and I was looking at shipping my camper home on a truck. We were stuck in a Spanish campground.

It had been raining for a few days and we were a little dejected with the weather and brake problems. I went for a walk in the small town one afternoon and passed what appeared to be a small garage. When I went into the building I found it was a rather large garage which had been cut into the side of a cliff. With a lot of hand signs, some very broken German and English, I managed to explain my problem to the mechanic. He told me to bring my brake shoes to the garage and he would see what he could do.

Well, he found the largest set of Fiat brake pads he could find, which just about fit on my well worn brakes, but there was no way to attach the pads to my metal retainers. He set up his lathe, cut special bolts, drilled holes and tapped threads to screw the Fiat pads onto my brake shoes. He spent most of the day doing the repair and then drove me back to the campground.

I tried to pay him for the parts and his labor but he refused take any money. I even offered to take him and his family to a restaurant for a meal. He refused.

He saved our holiday and we continued on to Madrid and then back to Barcelona and spent the rest of our holidays on the beach. I still think of this Spaniard's kindness to this day.