Ten minutes later I determine that the problem with the credit card was caused by a
hold placed on the card by Dollar Rent-a-car.  Apparently, when a person rents a
car, the rental agency places a hold on your credit card for an amount they deem
necessary and sufficient to cover the car rental during the expected rental period of
the car.  The hold on the credit card acts just like an actual charge against the card.  
Anyway, the hold on my card by Dollar was preventing me from renting the van at
Budget right now.  I explained this to my bank, informing them that I was returning the
car in just a few minutes to Dollar, so they removed the hold from my account.

The Budget agent, Nora, and Edward and I walk on out to the vehicle.  Funny thing
was that we walked straight up to a car, not a van.  Edward and I laugh.  How could
this be?  The very first thing I said was that I wanted a van.  So I point to a van
parked an aisle away and I say, "I want 'that'."  'That' was a Mitsubishi van.  Nora
apologizes for a mistake that was partly my own, because earlier she named the
vehicle and I thought a Chevy Lumina was a van.  To rent me the van though she
needed to redo all of the paperwork.  Visions of problems with the credit card all over
again appeared in my head.  I thought, "Good thing I brought the five hundred
dollars in American Express Traveler's Cheques I purchased in Pompano Beach.  I'll
probably have to use them instead of my credit card."

By now it is starting to get late in the day.  Not wishing to be charged an extra day for
the compact car by Dollar, I decide I had better return it while Nora is redoing the
rental agreement.  So, I unload all of my belongings from the back seat of the car,
along with all of our uneaten submarine sandwiches and sodas, and form a mess of
a heap next to the rental building.  I leave Edward to protect the heap while I take off
to return the car.  I promise Edward I'll be back in a few minutes.

I drive the car over to the Dollar office which is no more than a hundred feet away.  I
walk in with the rental agreement and keys to return the car.  Lucky for Dollar I had
just filled the gas tank so they were getting a free tank of gas.  I wait a while as Rosa
completes the rental agreement.

Just then a fellow who checks in the cars comes into the office and tells me to come
out and look at the car.  Wondering what he wishes to show me I follow him on out.  
He takes me to the driver's side of the car and points to a pea-sized ding in the
door.  I said "Yes, that's a door ding.  Obviously someone opened their door and hit
the door of this car."  He said, "Aye, yes.  You've had an accident, señor" to which I
replied with a laugh in my voice, "An accident.  That's not an accident!  That's a door
ding."

We walk back inside the office and he continues on into the back room.  He comes
back out with the manager, Felix, at his side, the same manager I abruptly met
yesterday while phoning Kirk.  We all three walk outside to look at the "accident".  
Felix tows the same line saying, "You've had an accident and you'll have to make a
police report."  

I looked at him and said, "Be real.  That's not an accident, I never had an accident.  
That's a door ding that someone else did.  I didn't do that.  Besides, that may well
have been there before I rented the car."

He then tells me to come inside with him, so I follow along.
On our way in I tell him that I am not going to file a police report for a door ding.  I
also tell him that I had full insurance on the car anyway so I didn't see what their
problem was.  

We went into his office where he takes his seat behind his desk and I take the chair
in front of his desk.  He then picks up the phone and places a call.  

I again make my point to Felix that a door ding is not an accident.  I then tell him
again that I had purchased their full insurance on the car and that if he wishes to call
the police and file an accident report he could go right ahead, without me, since I
have much to do today and I have no time to waist with him.  I get up and start my
way out the door.

He then points at me and tells me in a demanding voice “sit right there and don't go
anywhere.”  He says, "You won't go anywhere until you file a police report."
That really got to me.  I quickly ask him, "Are you requiring me to stay here against
my will in your office?” to which he replies, "Yes, I am."  I then tell him I want that in
writing and I want it now.

As I sit back down I shake my head and I tell him again that I am not filing a police
report for a door ding.  At this time another Dollar employee comes into the office
and sits beside me.  Felix continues placing calls on the phone.  All business over
the phone was being handled in Spanish so I was unaware of whom he was calling
and for what purpose but I assumed whoever it was it was regarding 'the accident'.

After being in the Dollar rental office for over half an hour trying to return the vehicle
and being held against my will by a power hungry young manager I finally got up and
left the office.  As I left I told Felix that I would be back in a few minutes to pick up the
written statements he had made to me earlier.  I told him I wanted it to say exactly
what he instructed me to do.  I left the Dollar office and walked on over to Budget.

When I arrived back at Budget there was Edward with a worried look on his face.  He
was probably thinking I had taken off and left him stranded in San Juan nearly an
hour away from his home town of Humacao, but I hadn't.  I explained to him the 'little
problem’ I encountered at Dollar.  I got the keys to the van from Nora and Edward
and I walked out to the van.  This time I made certain a physical damage check was
completed before we left the lot.  I circled every single spot of damage to the vehicle
no matter how small it was.  One other thing I should note here.  I did not take
Budget's Collision/Damage waiver; I would drive bare.  

Edward and I hopped into the 1991 Mitsubishi minivan, pulled up to my big pile of
belongings, threw it into the back of the van and headed over to Dollar to pick up my
written notice from Felix.













I parked the van and took Edward inside the back office with me so he could listen to
what they were talking about in Spanish.  I asked Felix for the letter but he told me
that he hadn't written it yet.  I told him I would wait.  

As I waited in Felix's office and Edward stood nearby outside his office, Felix was still
busy on the phone.  After a few exchanges of words, Edward and I headed outside
to wait.  

A couple of minutes later Felix comes out to the front office to give me the letter.  I
read the short letter and it mentioned nothing about a door ding and it mentioned
nothing about his requiring me to stay in his office against my will.  All it said was that
I had an accident and that I was not willing to report the accident to the police.
I looked him straight in the eyes and said, "This is not what we agreed you would
write in this letter.  I asked you to put in writing exactly what you had required of me
orally."  

I then asked him, "Didn't you require me to stay in your office against my will," to
which he answered back, “I never required you to stay against your will."  
Again I looked him straight in the eyes and said, "You're a damn liar."  I whisked the
letter back at the front counter and Edward and I walked on out to the van and drove
away.

Edward was in awe by the scene and my blood was boiling from the manager's
audacity.  I looked at Edward and told him that if I get in an accident Dollar will have
a good lawsuit on their hands.  I was shaking as we drove.  Next stop, unknown to
Edward, was the Puerto Rico Telephone Company.  Hopefully that would go well.  All
I needed was my cell phone turned on so it would work in Puerto Rico.

I asked Edward where the Old Lottery Building was.  He didn't know.  I found on the
semi-map provided by the rental agency the area of San Juan in which I had been
told it was located and we drove in that direction.  Once in the area I stopped at a
phone and called the Telephone Company for directions.  They gave me the
directions and informed me that they close early today because tomorrow is a
holiday.  They would be closing in an hour at 2:30.

We arrived at the Puerto Rico Telephone Company just shortly before two o'clock. I
park the van and search through my pile of belongings for the cell phone.  I find the
phone and I run inside the building since they’ll be closing in a few minutes.
Once inside I am given a security badge displaying the fact that I am a visitor.  A
Puerto Rico Telephone Company employee leads me into the cellular phone office.  
Once in the office I am helped by a man who asks me what I need.  I show him my
cell phone and I request that he perform the necessary operations to turn it on.  I
also explain to him that my charger isn't working quite right so that the battery might
nearly be dead.  He takes the phone and exits to a back room.  I sit down in a lobby
like area where several employees are waiting for the day to end and their long
holiday weekend to begin.  

In the course of a casual conversation with one of these employees I ask if he knows
of a good lawyer in San Juan.  That perked up everyone’s ears.  They all now
wanted to know why I needed a good lawyer.  So I explained to them in short what
just happened to me at the Dollar rental office.  I tell them that the over zealous
manager at Dollar probably has the police running after me right this minute.  
Unfortunately, no one knew of a good lawyer.  

The fellow returns from the back area with my phone and tells me, "We can't get this
phone to work.  It's too new for us to program."  So I asked him if he had a cellular
phone I could use for the week.  I tell he I am even willing to buy another phone.  I
took out my credit card and laid it on the desk in front of him.  The man takes my
phone and returns to the back room.  In the mean time I ask one of the employees if
I can use their desk phone to place a call with my calling card.  I wished to call Sound
Advice to speak with the manager I spoke to yesterday to let him know I am still
unable to get the cell phone working and to let him know I am planning to return it
once I am back in Ft. Lauderdale.  The employee allows me to use the phone.  The
manager of Sound Advice however wasn't available when I called.  Since I was at the
phone anyway I decide to call my lawyer in San Diego, now for two reasons.  First, I
wish to inform him that my uncle in Seattle will be calling him today about forming the
new business and second, I want to know how to handle the Dollar Rent-a-car
problem.  I tell him a little about my desire to form a corporation and I then explain to
him the Dollar Rent-a-car situation.  I ask him if I should do anything about that
problem.  He informs me to just sit tight and not to worry about it unless the police do
pick me up.  Then, and only then, should I begin to worry about it and look for a
lawyer.  I thank him for his advice, hang up the phone, and return to the lobby.
The phone company employee returns with my phone and once again tells me, "We
can't get your phone to work."  

I look at him a bit puzzled because I thought we already knew that.  
He then asks me if I have the charging stand for the phone.  I tell him I do, so he
asks me to go get it.  I walk quickly out to the front security desk where I return my
badge and continue on to the van to get the battery-charging stand.  I search
through my messed up pile of belongings in the back of the van and eventually find
the stand.  I return to the building, sign in at the security desk once again, enter the
lobby of the cellular phone office and I find the man who was helping me earlier.
He takes the charger and phone into the back room again.  

A few minutes later he comes out and says, "I still can’t get your phone to work.  Do
you have the instructions for the phone?"  

I answered, "I do somewhere in my van but it will take me some time to find them",
picturing in my head the chaotic pile of belongings in the van.  He says that with the
instructions he might be able to turn my phone on.

So he heads on out to the van with me and we look for the instructions.  Just as I find
them he comes up with the most brilliant idea of all.  He says, "You know, it would be
much easier if we just rent you a phone for the week.  We rent phones all of the
time."

I smile and say, "That's a great idea!", while thinking, "Isn't that what I asked you
when you first told me you couldn't get my phone to work?"

We head on back into the building, check me through security once more, and we
walk into the cellular phone lobby.  I sit down again among a new set of employees
and the man goes back to fill in the paperwork for the rental of a phone.

Still slightly worried that the police might really be looking for me after the Dollar
Rent-a-car problem, I decide to again ask one of the employees if he knows of a
good lawyer in San Juan.  Again he asks why and I explain the problem at Dollar
once again to the group of employees sitting around the lobby waiting for the day to
end.  

A man who appears to be a manager overhears my conversation.  He walks into the
back room where the fellow is preparing my paperwork, returns to the lobby with my
phone and charger, and he asked me to leave the building.  I stand up and tell him
that I am waiting for a rental phone.  He tells me they can't rent me a phone today as
the fellow with my paper work comes out of the back room.  He tells me everybody
has gone home early due to the holiday tomorrow.  I didn't believe him but not
wishing to be involved in another problem, I thank him and the fellow who had been
helping me.  I grab my phone and I leave their office.  I left knowing that if I hadn't
opened my mouth about the problem at Dollar I would have had a functioning cellular
phone in my hands right now.  And I left knowing that I wouldn't be welcomed here
ever again.

Back at the van I get in the driver's seat and take several big deep breaths.  Edward
smiles knowing darn well things didn’t go well and with a chuckle he asks to hear
what happened.  We sit in the parking lot as I tell Edward the latest story with a big
smile on my face.  

We have an uneventful drive back to Humacao and on the way I ask him to write in
my red travel book about the problems he saw me having with everybody today.  He
wrote in Spanish but it wasn't as detailed as I wished him to write (see insert).




















(Spanish translated: 21 March 1991 - I received from Kory 20 dollars for working with
him.  I was with him from 10:30 a.m. to 6:30 p.m.  We went to rent a van.  We were
late several hours because he did not want the car.)

Once in Humacao I paid Edward more than the promised twenty dollars and he
rushed off to his home for he was a couple of hours late.

I was alone now at the market where I met Edward this morning but that didn't last
long.  Soon a couple of fellows began to talk with me.  I walk with them into the store
which also functions as a bar and I order a glass of water and they all order beers.  
We step outside into the warmth of the evening and talk some more through the
dusk into nightfall.

We talked about the concert I planned to set up and about how my company would
be formed around a fun atmosphere instead of an oppressive atmosphere.  I used
the pay phone with their help and their change, trying to reach Marsha at her home
and her parents at Palmas del Mar in hopes of meeting them for dinner again.  Both
attempts failed.  I then tried phoning Carlos’ cellular phone and his families home
phone.  No luck there either.  

I talked with the guys a while longer about politics and the ending of the Iraq/Kuwait
war.  I also mention how I thing George Bush is the stupidest man in the world since I
had worked on a system to inform him of an impending attack by Iraq on Kuwait and
still he chose to wait for the attack to do anything.  Before leaving I had them sign my
red travel book and I put their names in my electronic organizer.  Several other guys
nearby saw this and wanted to write a few words in my book as well.  One of the
fellows noticed that I had quite a few other people’s signatures already and he read
to the other guys the name of the town the other signatures were from.  He read the
words aloud, "Buena Vista".  

The guys look at me with an astonished look and say, "No way!  You couldn’t have
been in Buena Vista.  You wouldn't be here now if you had been in Buena Vista.  
You'd be dead."  Another guy grabbed the travel book and looked for himself.  I
answered back with a squinted look, "I guess that's where I was.  Is that the people I
met this morning?"  I grabbed the book back and took a look.  Sure enough, most of
the fellows I had met this morning had put their town name "Buena Vista" beneath
their names.  

So, I tell them the story about leaving all of my belongings under the watch of one of
the residents there and about how everyone was nice and friendly.  I also tell them
the story about the store owner.  They still couldn't believe I was in Buena Vista.  
They thought for sure I had to be making it up.

Then one of them says, "The guys in Buena Vista are real bad.  We don't even go
near there.  They're all into drugs and killing.  You're lucky they didn't kill you just for
the shoes you were wearing."

That gets me into chuckling as I say to them satirically, "Well, I guess it was a good
thing I didn't wear any shoes there this morning then," which broke them up into one
of the loudest laughs I’ve heard in a while.  Little did they know I was speaking the
truth - I actually was barefoot the whole time I was in Buena Vista.

Talking with these guys the time passed quickly, the sun was already setting and I
wished to get to Palmas del Mar by eight o'clock.  So I said my good-byes to my new
acquaintances and took off to Palmas del Mar.

On the drive through Humacao to Palmas del Mar I passed a fellow dressed in Army
fatigues hitching a ride.  I pulled over and picked him up.  Amazingly, he wanted a
ride to the entrance of Palmas del Mar.  I told him I was heading straight to Palmas
del Mar, so he hopped in and off we went.  

He explained to me he was just getting back from the war in Iraq and that he was
happy that it was pretty much settled but he was even happier to be home.  The ride
to Palmas del Mar was quick.  I dropped him off at the entrance and drove on down
the long road leading to the beach resort.

I parked the van in the guest lot and walked past the guard shack along side the golf
putting green and into the lobby.  I went straight to the front desk to have them
phone Aunt Lori's room.  The receptionist dialed her room but no one answered.  I
then explained to her that I was waiting for a friend to call me at their room so I
wished to know if they had any messages from a Carlos waiting for them.  They
didn't.

So I asked her where there was a house phone I could use to make long distance
calls using my phone card.  She told me there was a phone down the hall near the
lounge, so I headed to the lounge.

I found the house phone and called the operator to leave a message for Lori and
Joe to come and find me in the lounge when they returned.  After I hung up, a live
band in the lounge began to play.  I realized the noise would not allow a normal
conversation on this particular phone, so I went in search of another house phone.

One of the bell captains told me of a phone in the mezzanine at a desk just up the
stairs from the front desk lobby.  I headed that way and I couldn’t believe it - I had
found the perfect place in Puerto Rico from which to do business.  There was a
desk, a phone and a large wicker chair with a nice cushion on it.  It was as if they
were thinking of me.  I pulled the wicker chair up to the desk, took out my paperwork
and electronic organizer, and I began my work.  First, I phoned my lawyer in San
Diego.  I briefed him on the company again and I asked him several of the questions
I had formulated last night while talking with my uncle.  After 15 minutes I ended the
conversation and he was going to call my uncle to find out what was happening.
Next I called the hotel operator to leave a new message for Lori and Joe, telling them
that I was not in the lounge but rather I was in the mezzanine.  I then tried to reach
Kirk at work but he didn’t answer the phone.  I needed a break to relieve myself and
on my way out of the bathroom I noticed a lady banging the receiver of a pay phone
against the phone housing as she muttered something in a foreign language.  I just
smiled and kept on walking.  Then my conscience grabbed hold and I turned around
to see if I could help her with her problem.  

I ask her what the trouble is to which she replies in a thick accent, "I've been trying to
call my friend in New York all day and I just can't do it with these damned phones and
operators."  I smile and say to her, "Tell me about it," while shaking my head in
agreement.  So I told her to settle down, I’m here now and that I could help her out.  I
led her up to "my office" in the mezzanine and sat her down at the house phone.  I
told her she could charge the call to my phone card.  That was the only way I knew
how she could call her friend in New York easily - well at least relatively so.  She said
she didn't want to put me out and I told her it wouldn't be a problem.  I said, “I believe
in good service and in fact I was forming a company that could give just that, good
service”.  She sort of smiles and then laughs.  I tell her that my current effort is to
look for investors to which she replies, "Well maybe my husband would finally do
right by investing in your company.  The companies he usually invests in don't do
well."  We both laugh.  

Her accent is familiar to me but I ask her where she is from anyway.  She replies,
"Germany."  I tell her in German that "I speak German" and we speak for a few
sentences in German.  I ask for her name and she introduces herself as Guenilla.
I pick up the phone and dial the house operator to have her dial the MCI 800-950-
1022 access number since I couldn't dial 800 numbers on the house phone.  Upon
connection to the MCI system Guenilla dials her friends phone number and then I
dial my calling card number.  As she begins to talk I head down the stairs to the
lobby to give her privacy while she chats it up with her friend in New York.  

After about 10 minutes she finishes the call and I walk back up the stairs and seat
myself beside her.  She thanks me for the "good service" and we talk for a while
longer.  I tell her of my world travel plans and I inform her that I plan to be in
Germany for Oktoberfest this fall.  She tells me with a surprised look, “I’m from
Munich, the heart of the Oktoberfest celebrations”.  Such a nice coincidence.  So,
she invites me to visit when I reach Germany and she writes her name and address
in my travel book.  After talking a bit she bids me good-bye and walks out of the
lobby, leaving me behind to do my hard work - searching for investors and working
partners on my new business ventures.

I called the hotel operator to see if Lori and Joe had picked up their messages yet.  
They hadn’t.  I also checked to see if Carlos had called yet.  He hadn’t.  So, I tried to
reach Carlos’ family again.  Still the line was giving the rapid busy signal.  
Sample of a 1991
Mitsubishi Minivan
3.4-3
My Second Day in Puerto Rico
Thursday Morning until Friday Morning
March 21st - 22nd, 1991
Counter
World Turned Upside Down
Three Little Birds,
Get Up Stand Up &
Stir It Up
by Bob Marley