I am getting the hang of driving here, realizing that as a person who has driven in a relatively sane environment most of my life I have to make allowances for the fact that this is the country of anything goes driving wise (well other wise too but that is an entirely different post for another day).
Today as usual I took the short two mile trip to drop off Little S at school I was once again agressively overtaken in the rond point and then rudely cut off before I could exit the rond point. This isn´t the first time this has happened. I´m really finding rond points hard to figure out in Mexico. I´m not so sure that the Mexicans have them figured out either. It´s pretty much a free for all in the rondpoint. Once you´re in it´s like "yeeha! Adios suckers!!" and it seems to me you try to cut off as many people as possible. Or is it? In our neighborhood whenever I encounter someone already in a rond point they always stop and wave me on to go. It´s like they feel like once you´re in the roundpoint you have to be super curteous and let everyone go ahead of you. I laugh imagining them in this rond point in Paris. They´d never get out!
Somehow chaos works though. In leaving the drop off point for S´s school I have to make a left on to a busy highway. The highway traffic should have the right of way, followed by the people turning right, but as is often the case I am encouraged to GO by the angry driver laying on the horn of his large, clackety Ford truck behind me and so I GO. I always get out into the flow of traffic and so do about six other cars and we all flow into the path of a very large bus or truck barreling down the highway, and somehow it all works (meanwhile the right turn guy is still waiting for some odd reason...I never get that part). I always think to myself "how did that work!?" but there is no logic to driving in Mexico and I sort of believe if you analyze the chaos of it too much you will only find yourself in the middle of a huge accident. For some reason it works and you just accept it.
I´m still cautious though. Chaos works for Mexicans but maybe not for me.
In Mexico you often see people with missing limbs, even young people and Seb and I always surmise car accident. If you combine all of this chaos with the no seatbelt policy of so much of the country, it is inevitable that a good chunk of the population will show the signs of wear and tear. I think we all want to leave here with our limbs intact so our policy is to let them be loco and we will continue to cruise at gringo speed keeping our eyes peeled at all times.
4 comments:
I am lucky that, to this day, I have never driven in Mexico--after three years living there, and three more years going back to the house regularly. Our city was small enough to cross by bus or taxi, and that worked fine for me. Totally impossible with two kids of course. Not that people don't try!
But the drivers scared the (&^#^$% out of me, and I vowed never to get in there!
Good luck!
It's true you can get around so easy in a taxi. Little S loves those little green taxis. He always wants to take them!
Yikes, sounds like India where the horn is used continuously to let people know you're there and indicators are to tell people what side to pass you on!
hahaha!! It's funny how you write about round points in Mexico.... I'm a half mexican half american living in France (sound familiar? ;)) and for me it's the french that are NUTS on the wheel!! How logical can it seem to go into a roundpoint and drive all the way to the INNER part when you'll be driving OUT and having to change lines a few seconds afterwards!!! In Mexico I stay in the outter lane and that way never cut anyone off nor get cut off by anyone either.... but maybe I'm doing it wrong.
In any case, hubby (French) is still to this day not able to explain the logic of French round points to me!!! LOL
Fned.
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