So my camera is not only a piece, it`s officially broken.  After my whole experience with the con-artist/camera-repairman I decided to take things into my own hands and fix the camera myself.  I spent basically a whole weekend tinkering with this thing.  I took the entire lens apart, cleaned it, and then reassembled. 

Camera chingada in pieces

Lens in pieces

Stella and Karla seem to think that I actually broke my camera by trying to fix it, however, the truth is that I actually did fix it.  I got the lens to close and got to the point where I could actually take a photo.  In my excitement of having fixed the camera, I took a photo (and date stamped it because I saw something like this coming)

Last shot

This is what I got.  I was able to have it to take a shot but couldn`t get the shutter to open.  Shortly after, the lens decided to jam again and the camera is still in the same state it was in before I took it apart. 

I am still debating as to whether I should pay to bring it to another place to have them look at it.  Though it is slowly setting in, I still haven`t fully accepted the fact that my camera is dead.  I`ve looked into buying the same exact camera new and am coming to terms with the fact that this is probably the more realistic option.