Tire repair

This Sancti Spiritus tire repairman does good work, aided by supplies he picked up while visiting family in Florida and a compressor cannibalized from a 60-year-old Westinghouse commercial refrigerator. Like every other ponchero I have seen, he has rigged up an old clothes iron to seal patches on tubes.

He pays 60 pesos a month in taxes and charged me two convertible pesos to fix my car tire.

He’s friendly, but don’t ask for favors. His signs read, “No credit. Your problem is not mine.” And: “I don’t give or lend. Don’t waste your time.”