Again!? Waiting for the tow truck...

New Year's Eve is just around the corner and we are planning the return trip. In the calculation, we have two or three days left for Cabo de Gata on the coast a few kilometers before Almeria. On the way there, we take a siesta at a cala. With the help of a friendly German couple, we quickly push the Kangoo stuck in the sand and now we do what you do on a day at the beach. Relax, collect the treasures of the sea, take a walk, siesta. We skillfully turn our backs on the hotel ruin. The nice German tells us that it has been spoiling the landscape here for almost 20 years. They simply started building a concrete block on the border of the nature park and speculated that all Spanish eyes would turn a blind eye. But the nature conservationists had their eyes wide open and filed a lawsuit. There is now a court ruling from Madrid that the thing must be removed, but we are in Spain, that can take time: mañana…

In the sunset, we decide to spend the night here as well, the sound of the sea is too romantic. For that, the old clunker has to be moved a few meters so that the rice doesn't spill out of the pot.
I'm going ahead, but after a few meters, I am surprised that the vehicle is not following me. I turn around and have to look into Zappa's desperate face.
Nothing is happening with the Kangoo anymore! One last desperate rattle of the speedometer needle, then silence. Final. No display, no signs of life, nada! Not even the second battery, charged with plenty of solar energy, can help. There is no sound coming from the car! Zappa checks all accessible fuses again, without results.
This can't be true, no one will believe us! What has to happen for us to need a tow truck three times in Spain within a year with a four-year-old car?

In the last daylight, Zappa lifts the caravan a few centimeters off the ground with a jack so that stones can be placed under the right wheel to prevent the rice from spilling out of the pot, and now it's the end of the road for today. We both have lost our appetite because it's Sunday evening, and we have to wait idly until tomorrow morning.

There are not many places in this country without telephone and internet reception. We are currently in one of them. So on Monday morning, we walk one to two kilometers to the road until we can finally establish contact with the outside world. The membership in the ADAC is finally worthwhile in this damn year, and the yellow angels are quickly reached.
Yes, everyone here knows the hotel ruin, it was a thing when they started building in the nature park! We wait by the road for the call back, this time a young man is on the line. No, we don't need to wait on top of the tow truck, everyone here knows the hotel ruin, it was a thing...
According to him, the tow truck will be here in one hour, no the caravan is not a problem, just good to know that it has to come along.
We go back to the beach and first take a refreshing swim. After an hour and a half, Mr. Tow Truck calls and asks where the vehicle is. Oh, at the hotel ruin, everyone here knows it, it was a thing...

An hour later, the long-awaited service provider arrives, lifts the car and attaches the caravan. He must have picked up his wife on the way because only one of us can ride in the front seat of the car. Zappa lies down in the castle (maybe that's allowed in Spain...?) and gets shaken up quite a bit on the journey, even though Señor takes the bumps smoothly. We drive to his workshop in Carboneras, six kilometers away: si-si Taller Renault. Well, it looks more like a dump for all the local clunkers, but for now, it's time for a siesta.

We go to the Mercadona, we need to buy bread and the traditional empanada in such cases, which we eat at the communal beach with a view of the harbor. While doing so, we consider that the beach promenade is not the worst place for New Year's Eve. We expect to stay here for several days, given our recent experiences with Spanish workshops and we have a public holiday on the agenda!

Would you believe it, only half an hour after the end of the lunch break, the boss calls and asks us to come back to the workshop. When we arrive, he proudly presents the humming Kangoo engine to us! The original Renault battery was broken and had to be replaced. Zappa performs a wild dance of joy and hugs the compañeros who are happy to be able to say "kaputt!" in German for once.
Zappa illegally turns left onto the Pista with the caravan, but the boss personally checks if no car is coming. One last "bon año" and then we're on the road again. We can really and truly continue the journey, and I don't have to fly home with the ADAC!