When the rains poured down on lakeside early last month I was dismayed to discover that my aging auto’s windshield wipers were on the fritz…again.

The malfunction first arose several years ago. A friend managed to find a replacement for the necessary under-the-hood electronic gadget that runs the wipers at a Guadalajara junk yard. Once it was installed I was back in business, though only the slow and high speed options worked properly.

Last year the repair job failed, leaving me stranded in Chapala during a heavy after-dark downpour. My daughter and son-in-law came to the rescue and the next day I went back to town to retrieve the vehicle and hustle off for a visit to the shop of an ingenious electrical mechanic named Ulises. With a promise to search for another used motherboard, he rigged up a quick fix.

Understanding nothing about any kind of mechanics, I only know that he ran a wire from somewhere inside the motor to a gap beneath the steering wheel, attaching it there to a simple switch held together with black tape. Getting the part for a more sophisticated repair never happened. But I got through last year’s wet month with just off or on wiper modes, with no sweat until the switch crapped out just as this year’s first raindrops fell.

Clever Ulises is a busy guy, so it took several trips to Chapala before I was able to find a parking spot outside his taller just this week. He diagnosed dampness as the cause of the problem and fitted me up with a new on-off switch in the blink of an eye. The cost: 25 pesos for the parts plus a modest service fee.

For the interim I had avoided troubles on the road hurrying home whenever I spotted storm clouds gathering in the sky. For extra measure I stocked the car with emergency supplies to get me by in a pinch.

One technique I know is to pour a bottle of cola on the windshield. It makes the rain wash off in a sheet, clearing the glass enough to travel in moderate storm conditions. An alternative is to cut a raw potato in half and rub the inside part across on the windshield, leaving a coat of starch for a similar visibility effect.

This peculiar knowledge stems from a personal history of windshield wiper woes. Years ago I drove into Guadalajara for a shopping jaunt. On the way back to Ajijic, I stopped to at a gas station to fill up the tank.  A salesman haunting the Pemex station approached, offering to sell me a set of new wiper blades at a bargain price. It was in late May, so I went for the offer.

Low and behold the skies opened as I reached the outskirts of Jocotepec. As soon as I turned on the wipers, the blade installed on the driver’s side flew off in the wind. Luckily I wasn’t far from a little store where I bought a Coke, spilled its contents on the windshield and drove off to journey’s end.

I appreciate Mexico as a land that ticks thanks to improvisation and ingenuity, keeping you smiling in the face of adversity.