Boat repairs in exotic locations

Some say this is the definition of cruising: repairing your boat in exotic places. Yes, it's somewhat true, but boats that sit in the marina rarely break. As we mentioned before, our autopilot (Otto) smoked about 2 hours after leaving Bahia Magdalena in large quartering seas. (When the wind is over your right shoulder and it rolls you, the boat wants to turn up into the wind.) Otto had to work really hard to keep us on course and that was too much to ask, I quite often reach down to feel the temp of the servo motor and most of the time it's pretty cool, that day I almost burned my hand. Then the smoke leaked out and it was over; the smell was ghastly. The remaining time we had to hand-steer or use our Monitor wind-vane, Claude. (Named after Claude Monet, the famous impressionistic French artist. We chose that name because the Monitor is much less accurate than Otto, who is very accurate and particular about the course, Claude is free-flowing and generally steers the course +/- 10 degrees) So when there is wind, the wind-vane works well, when we're motoring with a tail wind, it's not so much fun. Lynette and I had to do 2 hour watches because it was so tedious. 
​
I was not able to find a Raymarine autopilot motor in Cabo San Lucas or in La Paz, both places boast really good marine supply and boat yards, but I could not find one. So I called Seattle Fisheries Supply and they had access to them. I paid extra freight and bought two motors. Our friends Kurt & Katie said, if one part breaks, buy two. Then I had to coordinate the parts delivery with our friends son, Peter, in Gig Harbor since they were coming down to Costa Baja for Christmas. It all worked well, Fisheries Supply delivered the parts and Peter threw them in his suitcase, I'm so grateful for friends. 
Along the same line, my phone decided to do a forced update between San Diego and Ensenada, which required the phone to activate with a Verizon cell tower, which there was a sever lack of in the ocean or in MX. After about 4 hours of calls with Verizon, Apple and everyone in between, I had to resort to sending my phone back to San Diego where my daughter Danielle could activate it. So we journeyed into town found DHL and a $50 bill to send it out of La Paz. It arrived a day early and missed my daughter, then she coordinated with DHL to deliver the next day and she took the day to work from home, but the delivery guy found it too hard to get into her apartment complex and did not deliver it. Finally the next day it was delivered. She activated it, then coordinated to have our same friends daughter who lives in San Diego to pick it up to take down for the Christmas in La Paz. So from Nov 18th till the 14th of Dec I've been without a phone. No texts, calls or all my cool apps. I struggled along with my iPad and Macbook but it was not very fun. (I know, first-world problems!) 
​
I love getting things done, repairing things that have been broken for years, there is something about redeeming things and restoring them that is satisfying.