Making a bike for Ana's Birthday

Today, I went to the bike shop across town, and set about to build or refurbish a bike for Hotel Imperial loose-ends coordinator Ana. It was her birthday a couple days ago, and I promised her a bike. Better late than never. The bike shop manager brought me in the back with one of the mechanics and showed me what there was to offer me to fix up. I asked about a 20 inch frame bike, and he consented. I began using a wire-brush to de-rust the bike. I then adjusted the seat and seat post, and pumped up the tires. The back tire held air but not the front. I flipped the bike over and began to de-rust the chain and gears. Then I lubed them up. The rear wheel rubbed against the brakes, so I set about to remove the wheel and true it. One of the mechanics helped me adjust the nuts on the rear axel to make the wheel spin smoother. After truing and that adjustment, I replaced the back wheel. The mechanic gave me a new inner tube for the front wheel, so I set about to replace it. As I was putting the new tube in the wheel, another mechanic showed up and basically took over. He quickly finished putting the inner tube in, and pumped up the tire. Then he replaced the front wheel, and began working on the brakes. He decided the back brake needed a new cable and housing. He went in the shop, and returned with new cable and housing. He deftly took off the old cable and housing and replaced it. The manager then brought out new brake levers, and cable, housing, and brakes for the front wheel. The mechanic installed the brake, cable and housing for the front and back, adjusted them, and declared the bike was ready. The manager cleaned the handlebars, and seat, and put a new seat cover on the seat. He began to spray paint the bike black, asked me if I liked that color, but I told him I had already selected purple, and the first mechanic had already brought it out. He wiped off the black, and sprayed some purple on and asked if I liked it. I told him I did. He told me it would be better to spray it in the sun, that I could come back tomorrow and finish it up. I told him I would come back tomorrow around 3pm, and we agreed upon 300 pesos or $30 for the whole deal. Putting in my time and helping refurbish a bike was the only way I could strike a deal this cheap in the whole town. Someone wanted 2000 pesos or $200 for some used mountain bike the other day when I was trying to find cheap used bikes. I might have to borrow money to pay him tomorrow since my card hasn't arrived yet, but I am happy with the success of the day. I have also added a bunch of new features to the blog to the right which I think enrich the blog and better explain my trip. Hope you enjoy them.