Settling in, and Driving?!?

Sept. 16 – Our landlord came by today, and more of the picture is taking shape…. They got word only 1 week ago that we were coming, and had to move their family out of this house for us; he contracted with the real estate company (who arranged our rental agreement) to provide a house with furniture only, the lady arranging our re-location was providing the rest of the furnishings (she had purchased sheets and towels for us)…. It’s ok. We’re learning to roll with the punches (and it’s good I’m writing this a few days after the fact!)

Driving in Puerto Rico isn’t exactly like Lafayette, Indy, or even Chicago. The traffic is very dense (think Chicago) with motorcycles driving between the lanes of cars. A major issue with driving is that no one adheres to the “right of way”. Simply ignoring a few common rules creates chaos on the roads. People will simply pull out in front of you, and you are expected to stop. People turning left will enter the road and completely block two lanes of traffic going the opposite direction in order to get to their turn. This is in addition to the face that shoulders are almost always viable lanes, and getting into position for the lanes at the toll booth is more intense than Aldi shopping mid-day on Saturday. It is very uncommon to see a car more than 3 years old without a major dent or ding. Add to this the pole position driving on the expressway and it really is amazing that there aren’t more accidents. Just one final note: it is actually legal to run stop lights here in Puerto Rico – but only at night after stopping completely and checking for no on-coming traffic.