I decided to take Cavok’s recommendation and go to Mello in Cabarete for my air-conditioning problem. Here’s what happened. Following Cavok’s directions, I came to a derelict junkyard-looking place set back from the road. I figured that must be the place. I was right. Upon pulling in, I was immediately greeted by a young Dominican kid who I would guess was about 10 years old. He greeted me with “hello”. His English surprised me, so I asked if he spoke English. He responded “pocito” which of course is Dominican for “no”. Nevertheless I was impressed by the kid's attempt to make me feel comfortable.
I expressed to the kid in my broken Spanish that my air-conditioning was getting weak. He told me to release my hood latch and then disappeared into the ramshackle trailer. I assumed that he was going to fetch his dad. Wrong again. Instead the kid returns with hoses and gauges, opens my hood, and connects the gauges. He immediately diagnoses my problem and tells me that I am a little low on gas, and he asks if I would like him to add some gas. I respond “si”. So the kid carefully hooks up the gas canister and begins to release some gas into the system while at the same time dousing my radiator with cold water from a hose. I’m thinking to myself “this kid seems to know what he’s doing”. While he’s working, I ask him if he thinks that I might have a leak someplace, and he responds with his professional opinion of “no”. The car is 9 years old and I believe this is the first refrigerant recharge that it has ever had, so hopefully the kid was right. After finishing his work, the kid advises me that he is done, and he wants me to feel the air coming out of the vents in my dash. I agree that it is much better now, and I ask him how much I owe him. 350 pesos.
As I was driving home, the air coming from my dash was so cold that I had to add a little heat to temper it. I never met Mello but instead was serviced by a young child who seemed very knowledgeable and gave me excellent service. Gotta luv the Dominican Republic.
