First time driving a tiny car
First time gauging speed in miles
First time driving on the left hand side of the road, in a right-hand side car.
First time I have ever felt overwhelmed behind a wheel--EVER.
My life became WAY less stressful when I remembered all my teenage training (ok- fine, yes I am still guilty of the occasional Mario binge). -What has this got to do with life in Grenada you ask? It has EVERYTHING to do with getting around here. You see, not only do they drive on the opposite of the road as we do in Canada, but they have almost no concrete rules. The roads are very narrow for the most part, and as Lucille would say, "The potholes can be so big that there are roads inside them!" Life in Grenada flows at a much slower pace than in Canada, EXCEPT when Grenadians are driving. The true spitfire inside them is unleashed when they have a steering wheel in hand.
Here are the 'rules' it seems that we play by-- as I have deciphered, so far-- and this is by no means concrete and probably not even very accurate!
1. You can park anywhere, in any direction, at any time if it suits you.
2. If there is someone parked on the road which prevents two way flow of traffic- that's fine, you put your turning signal on and go around if/when you can...and then maybe backup if you guessed wrong and there is on-coming traffic. You might have to duck back in very quickly because on-coming traffic gives you NO grace period.
3. Round-a-bouts are at almost every intersection: When traffic is heavy in the mornings and at the end of the day, just treat these as a life-sized game of Russian roulette and you will probably make it through ok.
4. 'YOU' always have the right of way-- it's the other guy that has a problem.
5. Give an inch, they will drive over you.
6. Horns are not meant to tell anyone off. They mean 'Hello' 'goodbye' 'move over' 'I am passing you', 'have a nice day', and anything else you can think of.
7. Turning signals are for everything EXCEPT turning. They indicate you are passing, that you want to pass, that you think you should pass, that you are planning to stop, that you are stopped, that you meant to stop but you are still rolling etc.
8. Arms are used, alot by Grenadians. They use them as we do for bicycling in Canada. They are the best predictor of what's happening in front of the vehicle containing the flailing appendage. They indicate that you should stop (like actually come to a dead halt), they indicate that they are going to turn, or want to turn (and you just go, when you've had enough of waiting). Arms also flail to indicate that you should pass the vehicle containing the flailing. They also flail when they think you've made an error in interpreting any of the above.
9. If you stop at a crosswalk to let a pedestrian across the street, they will look at you like a little kid on Christmas morning who got the one thing he wanted more than life itself. -- Big beaming smiles and thanks yous, waves and sometimes love taps on your car. haha. I try to do this at least once a day because its a good 'cheer-you-upper' and reminder to be humble.
10. Roads are not just for cars. They are for walking. Even little tiny kids of 3-4yrs will be seen every day walking on a road beside cars travelling between 20-40 mph. (There may be a speed limit? But there are no signs...the roads are so bad that 40 mph feels like 140 km/hr at home) When I say you beside, I mean within 3 inches sometimes. >.< It is hard to watch. 11. You. Know. Nothing. Just when you think you have a hang of something, or have figured out an unwritten driving rule, it will be challenged, just to keep life interesting. And last but not least #12: REGGAE BUSES ARE CRAZY!!!!! Reggae buses are over sided mini vans that constitute the local bus system. They have numbers on them which elude to a loose route that they follow. They are cheap to ride and I think they are meant to hold 8 ppl but usually hold 10-12 at a time. There seems to be a bit of a bus stop system, but it also seems like you can wave them down anywhere in between, and it seems like you can also get off anywhere you'd like-- you just bang on the window. The Reggae buses swerve like mad-men, they go fast and stop all the time, they will pass you if they can catch you--and then stop right in front of you. Best to just let them do as they will and laugh about it. So now you can understand the Mario Kart analogy. For the first few days of driving I was wincing, holding my breath and actually shaking by the time I arrived at my destination. My brain had vehicular overload!! As soon as I took 'reality' out of the equation (Don't get me wrong, peoples-- I am still VERY aware that this is basically life or death daily) and started thinking about the roads more as a game and less as a death trap, my tension and stress became significantly less! Now I just have isolated cases of "HOLY GOOD #)(%&)^$" in a day. HAHA!! So -- this post comes quite a few days after my last one. School is now in full swing and so far its going great. My class seems to have a very broad mix of people and backgrounds. We even have a pair of girls from Grenada which I think is fantastic! I believe the last number I was told was 85 students, and I think I read somewhere that there are 8 of us from the Great White North down here basking in the tropics. Next up will be some of the critters we share the house with, some have names and some are yet to be identified but ALL are super neat -- even the cockroaches-- I could do without those but even their antics are comical. Here's a few pics to entice you to buy plane tickets: They are 'Morning, Noon and Night'
Missing you all, but loving the sun. -Red.
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