Navigation of the Streets

Here I am, now officially a high-schooler for two days. Woop-dee-do. How so super exciting. 

It actually is fun.

Anyways, on the way home from school, I noticed something not for the first time.  The automobile system.  This dysfunctional system is one of the many things that can at first challenge newcomers.

The first thing that is different is the roads. There are no lines anywhere. Basically, it's a make-up-the-rules-as-you-go-along kind of thing.  And then there is the asphalt.  Or lack of it.  The street is made of of potholes, or pot-canyons, with a little tiny bit of asphalt in between.  That is one of the complications of driving.  You have to go around or somehow artfully drive to the pothole remains under your car and between your tires.  That is hard to do, however, as my mom points out.  So most people go around them. 

 This leads to people driving into the opposite lane.  This happens quite a lot, whether it is to avoid the enormous potholes, or to go around some kind of utility truck fixing the wires (which, of course, is parked in the middle of your lane), or to go around some person backing up who is too stupid to stop and wait so that you can pass. (Seriously, there are people who just pull out with absolutely no consideration for other cars who may happen to be driving behind them.  It is, according to these dull-witted drivers, the responsibility of the other cars to stop or swerve dangerously to get out of their rightful way).  

The thing that helps the most, of course,is the lack of traffic lights.  For example, the intersection in from of my house is probably the most dangerous intersection in all of Costa Rica.  You have five streets coming and going, with utterly no traffic light at all.  Every morning, my dad and I are stuck in the middle of the Hunger Games turned into an intersection, with the "survival of the fittest" idea floating around our heads. What happens is that you poke the nose of your car out and risk getting your bumper knocked off.  This forces some people to stop.  

So when your safety is assured there, you go out a bit more to make people stop, and so on, before you can actually get down the street you want to go.  Some people, of course, barrel out there.  That seems to be the most effective way to do things, which, therefore, is what everyone else does. However, my mother deems it too stressful to try to get through there, so she tries to do it as safely as she can (which probably isn't that safe by American standards, but hey, you gotta do what you gotta do).  

Sometimes, I think it would be better to learn how to drive down here.  I mean, yeah, you learn how to drive in the States, and you get a license, yadda yadda yadda. But down here, and American drivers license doesn't cut it.  You either need a giant monster truck, or a couple "Costa Rican" driving lessons before you can successfully navigate the roads of Costa Rica. 

All in all, if you are a safe driver and cannot bear stress on the road, I would not recommend moving to Costa Rica.  Or all of Latin America, for that matter.  Just stick to your nice traffic lights and street signs and double-yellow lines on the road which people pay attention to and follow respectfully.  You will be protected from the mad and insane and psycho drivers we have down here. 

Note: I will explain the street names later on.