Tuesday, March 3, 2009

American Roads, I Miss You!


O, American roads I miss you terribly!!

Your clearly painted lines that indicate whether 2 or 3 lanes of traffic should take up the space.

Your exits placed regularly on the right side of the road rather then left, then right, then right again, then left, then right again causing you to almost crash 2 times, get honked at 1 time and barely make the exit you swore was on the left side, but no, it was on the right.

Your English written roads signs that give reasonable time to merge through 3 lanes of traffic.

Your police officers who roam the roads and sometimes have pity on a confused driver. Sometimes they even offer advice or give directions rather than ask for discreetly handed mula. 3 times people - 3 times in 2 months! Usually I play dumb (which isn't really 'playing') and Ben uses really broken Spanish. They get frustrated because we aren't 'getting it' and let us go. Usually we have made a violation because their roads are crazy, but they don't give us a ticket. I don't get it. I'm convinced our US plates make us stick out and the policia are just waiting and watching for the dumb Americanas with their Americana dollars to make a mistake. Curse our US plates!

Your drivers who know how and when to use a blinker.

Your 4-way STOPs where drivers stop and politely take turns instead of 5 and 6-way STOPs where the first one to go is the driver with the most guts.

Your street parking where all the cars are lined up nicely in the same direction giving drivers a clue as to whether the street is one-way. I never knew how beneficial this parking law was. Would appreciate it here.

Your smoothness from regular pavings rather than polka-dotted with pot holes so big you swear you just blew a tire.

And lastly, your speed bump warning signs in order to keep your car from teeter tottering up and then down, scraping both the front and back end of the underside of your car on the gravel.

5 more weeks! 5 more weeks and I will most enthusiastically drive your roads and not have to silently cuss each time I drive by a cop! O, did I mention this...

Really, it was bound to happen. I've never seen more bumper to bumper accidents pulled to the side of the roads as I have in this country. Thankfully there is a GM dealer down the road and we opted to pay for all the extra out-of-country insurance available. Our poor car!

6 comments:

Chrissy said...

You are such a trooper, Niki! Why are ya'll down there anyway?! You both were blessed with American Citizenship. You're acting down-right ungrateful... pretty sure that's why the police are targeting ya'll. They're saying "why on EARTH are you HERE?! GO HOME as FAST as you can!"

Oh, and I'm studying Kinesiology at school. I actually really really love it... and I'd keep going to school if getting a PhD didn't mean research instead of classes. I want to keep learning. I don't care for the application junk.

Myra said...

You are so much braver than I am. When Ken gets a job, one possibility is Germany. I would LOVE to go there, although we both don't speak a lick of the language. But after reading your post, maybe Germany isn't the best idea. The driving alone might give me a heart-attack!

Sarah said...

Oh my goodness! What an adventure! I can't imagine driving down there, I even complain about crazy California roads... they're not looking too bad right now! ;) I love all of your adventures, you definitely have some good stories!

Brittany said...

Those roads remind me of roads in the Dominican Republic. Only it was more of an adventure b/c we were only there a week, I'm sure we too would have been sick of the poorly marked, kept and driven roads if we were there as long as you have been. Hang in there and consider it an adventure!

Jude and Rachel said...

Sounds crazy! Try to stay alive. Are you loving it, though, other than the roads? What an adventure.

dancing queen said...

I got such a kick out of this entry! Ryan and I drove around Mexico too (Acapulco, and Ixtapa) and the roads and driving are horrible! I was really laughing pretty hard...and all I could think about was your brand new car (well, as of two years ago now, or so)! Good Luck with the drivin'..so glad that it's you and NOT me!!! You're absolutely right!!! It is a NIGHTMARE!