So, life is interesting here in many, many, ways. One of my favorite things here are the drivers. Well, many people (mostly gringos) think that the typical Puerto Rican is crazy on the road - but, hey, I learned to drive in Boston - I'm not afraid of a little agressive driving... The typical PR driver is in no rush, possibly a little tipsy, and definately not a good driver.
When you sit at a light and the light turns green you are ALWAYS treated to a symphony of horn blasts. When we first got here, we thought 'hey everyone here is in a rush'.... wrong. They only typically drive 40-45 on major highways... then we thought 'hey everyone here are a bunch of A-holes'.... wrong. The consensus at this point is that EVERYONE LIKES TO MAKE AS MUCH NOISE AS POSSIBLE. This is simply the fact. For example, in the continental US you honk your horn to warn someone that they are doing something wrong or to give them a friendly F-You in traffic... Here in PR, the horn is used for the sheer joy of making noise and expressing frustration, not at others, but at situations in general. I have been sitting in a traffic jam with no end in sight, and someone will invariably honk thier horn.... what use is this you might ask (I know I did)... but then someone else will honk, and then another, and then before you can believe it, as far as you can hear HUNDREDS of car horns. I think it is still strange, but I honk too, and it feels good.
Hummm.... so the roads here are less than what you would call smooth, or even bumpy, or frankly sometimes rutted would be a nice way of putting it. Oh, and they flood. SERIOUS WATER. Enough that I have been worried that the Jeep isn't going to make it through, very deep, not good.
Let's see, why am I writing this today? Well, I got HIT today by a dummy who ran a red light and smacked the front of my car. I was not pleased to say the least, but the interesting thing was that 10 seconds after impact nearly EVERY pedestrian within 30 yards was inspecting the car to see how bad it was, offering advise, and saying what an idiot the other driver was. It was like something out of a movie. Minor damage and I sent her on her merry way to some major collision in the future unless she learns the difference between RED and GREEN.
About a month ago (right after we bought the Jeep) Chris and I had to go to Fed-Ex - well, this isn't on the right side of the moon, it is hell and gone down a swamp road around the back side of the airport on one of the lovely rutted roads... chris was driving, it was raining, and we ran right over a HUGE IGUANA. somehow we missed it with both sets of tires (I'm still not sure how)... and Chris says 'boy the rain is sure knocking off a bunch of palm fronds'.... right, it was a palm frond, silly me.
Last week I was driving, and I hit a BAT. Christ all mighty, I hit a BAT! where the hell does that happen? maybe a bird, a cat, a dog.....but a BAT?
Anyway, I haven't driven in the Virgin Islands, but they drive on the wrong side of the road... and no matter how brave my Boston training was, I'm not stupid. We take cabs.
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