Driving: Revisited

Driving in Costa Rica is still an adventure. It is definitely not for the faint of heart. Here are a few more observations.

• Time doesn’t really matter. You will get there sooner or later. I take Spanish classes in Escazu. I have made the trip in 20 minutes before but it usually takes me about 30 minutes to drive the 10 km. Monday, was different. It took a full 45 minutes to get to my class. There were 2 different accidents, one of which I could drive around. The second one was at Panasonic and I never did get down to the corner. I could see flashing lights. So, I turned around and followed a line of cars the back way, on a street that I’d never driven on before. So, I was rerouted but did find myself back to Lindora. Right before the end of class, the sky opened up and it began to pour. We’re talking “llover gatos y perros”. I thought the trip to class was bad. It took me an hour and 10 minutes to get home. I passed another accident and a car stopped in the middle of Lindora.

• Motorcyclists are fearless and apparently have smaller bladders than the rest of the population. Every week I see a motorcyclist pull to the side of the highway, jump off his bike and proceed to pee. They don’t even spend much time finding a partially hidden place to relieve themselves. They are usually a foot off the side of the road. Motorcyclists, also drive all over the road. I think they believe that the double yellow line down the center of the road is their own special lane. If the traffic starts to slow down, it is guaranteed that sooner or later a motorcyclist will pass you, sometimes on the left or sometimes on the right. They like to keep a person guessing.

• Huecos y muertos. Potholes and speed bumps are two more obstacles to maneuver around. There are so many potholes the Ticos have a joke that goes like this : How can you tell the drunk driver? He’s the one driving straight.The speed bumps in Costa Rica can cause serious damage to a car. Ticos don’t stop at stop signs in Costa Rica but they do seriously slow down to go over any speed bump.

• Bridges are usually smaller than the road. There are many times that a bridge is only big enough for about a car and an half. Then usually one side will have CEDA written on the ground. That is the side that has to yield to the oncoming cars. The trick with one lane bridges is to plaster the car to the bumper of the car in front of you. That way four or five cars can go over the bridge like it is a truck. This trick also works for getting around cars that are parked on the side of the road.


• Panasonic intersection has the most varied group of people out on the road. You can always see a couple of guys selling phone chargers for your car. Then there is the man that walks with a handful of small plastic bags filled with cloudy fluid and some type of white sediment on the bottom. I don’t have a clue what he is selling. Several different people sell some type of lottery tickets. Weekly you will see a man in a wheelchair in the middle of the road. He’s not selling, he just has a cup for collecting money. About a month ago a juggler started to perform at the intersection. I wonder if he ever had a mom who told him not to play in the street.

• The saving grace with driving in Costa Rica is that we are only traveling in kilometers per hour. That is 60% less than miles per hour. Our reaction times are (and need to be) much faster. And if all this isn’t enough to keep you alert, there are 5 foot yellow hearts painted on the pavement wherever there has been a fatality.