Michael J. Totten: Hi all

April 02, 2005

Hi all

I just wanted to say hello to everyone and to say thank you again to Michael for the opportunity to guest blog. Wishing him and Spirit of America good luck in Lebanon. Once again, they’re where history is being made.

I just got back from vacation, and I’m just catching up on the news, so here’s a post about some recent driving adventures in Costa Rica.

Getting Lost is half the fun

I’ve always loved road trips. When we moved from New Jersey to California, I used the excuse of "visiting the family back east" to drag my kids on cross-country camping trips every summer.

For some odd reason they’ve forgiven me for this. Long, boring hours stuck in the back of a minivan are thankfully forgotten. They remember the friendly chipmunks in Estes Park, the horses that musically farted as they ran through our campground in Dinosaur National Park. They forget the night we drove through deserted, ghostly Nevada towns, searching desperately for a diner and a gas station.

A few years ago, we visited Thailand and Malaysia. I heard and saw so many bad things about traffic in Bangkok and Kuala Lumpur that I decided to let someone else do the driving. Nobody warned me about Costa Rica, though, so during our recent trip there we went ahead and rented a car. The roads in San Jose and the cliffhanging mountain roads on the way to the Arenal Volcano were about as crazy as Bangkok was rumored to be - except for the lack of elephants.

For adventure, whitewater rafting and jungle tours are loads of fun, but they can’t compare to a drive down local roads.

Some Tico roadrules:

Motorbikes can ride on any section of the road, in any direction.
When driving around a blind curve in a no passing zone, always cross over the solid yellow lines to face oncoming traffic. Be prepared to veer over to the shoulder to avoid oncoming traffic. Hope that there is a shoulder.
The larger vehicle always has the right of way
Potholes can consume a small car. Swerve to avoid them.
Slow down for cows. They’re offended if you pass them on the right.
Roads and streets are not always well marked. And they're in Spanish. What's up with that?
No Hay Paso means do not enter. Ceda means yield, and Comidas Tipicas means that there’s some very good fried fish, rice with beans and ceviche at the restaurant around the corner.
A yellow ‘pelligro’ means that you’re about to drive or fall off a cliff. (In Malaysia, a sign that reads "!" means the same thing)
Sometimes red lights mean "stop", sometimes they mean "oh, go ahead, you've been waiting long enough". (like in Boston)
When you drive above the clouds, always slow down to admire the view

Knowing what I know now, the next time I’m in Thailand, I’ll be sure to rent a car. I've always loved to follow the road less travelled, even if that's just another way of saying that I'm lost.

Posted by Mary Madigan at April 2, 2005 07:41 PM

Comments

A yellow ‘pelligro’ means that you’re about to drive or fall off a cliff. (In Malaysia, a sign that reads "!" means the same thing)

This hardly seems to be a self-evident type of indicator.Is this a variant of survival of the fittest.Your'rules'remind me of a taxi ride I once took in Jamaica.For reasons best left unexplored we decided it would be a great idea to travel into the hills over Ocho Rios in order to become even more stupified at a 'real'Jamaican bar.Discounting for the moment the potential foolishness of the decision itself,the trip there was astounding.The road such as it was must have been all of 12 feet wide,and any straight sections were purely accidental.Did that cause the driver to slow down or drive defensively?Surely you jest.My recollection(admittedly fuzzy) is that he drove like a bat out of hell,and had we encountered anything moving quickly the other direction,our harmony would have been seriously disrupted.Thankfully I was beyond worry at that point so it was a great trip,as was the little bar we ended up at.A great time was had by all.
Sometimes you just have to go with the flow,and hope for the best.
Going to a country and staying at a resort or hotel without getting out and meeting the real prople is hardly worth going.
Thanks for sharing your adventures.

Posted by: dougf at April 2, 2005 09:25 PM

I've always heard that Costa Rica is the best country in Central America. By a long shot.

Posted by: Todd Grimson at April 3, 2005 08:39 AM

dougf – Thanks for sharing your adventures too. Our taxi drivers in Thailand drove like bats out of hell, but when something unexpected happened, they reacted instantly (and usually effectively). Those drivers were always wide awake.

..which is a problem with renting a car – I couldn’t indulge in lots of rum and let the taxi or the bus take me home. On those roads, my only indulgence was on coffee (fortunately, the coffee in CR was the best). We did meet lots of people on the way, and most forgave my horrible attempts to speak Spanish. Even in the most remote areas, they know a little English

Posted by: mary at April 3, 2005 09:08 AM

Todd – I’ve never been to any other Central American country, but Costa Rica is nice when compared to most places. They’ve been a successful democracy since the late 1800’s, there’s a big middle class and they’ve managed to avoid the political problems that their neighbors have suffered. They don’t even have a standing army.

The people I talked to seemed to be the most concerned about the mess in Venezuela. They’re also upset about new visa laws in the US that make it hard for them to travel to or through the US.

Most Costa Ricans will agree that they have the worst roads, though. That might be because there are so many mountains

Posted by: mary at April 3, 2005 09:17 AM

I just got back from Thailand, and I can tell you that whatever you heard about the drivers there, it is probably worse. Plus there is that adjustment to driving on the left side of the road. I think if you can avoid the cities you might be ok though, its city traffic in Chiang Mai and Bangkok where the drivers seem to be particularly psycho.

Posted by: pjw at April 3, 2005 06:18 PM

All of those rules (except for the spanish parts) actually apply to diving in Thailand! Yes, indeed you must add, driving on the left side of the road.

I have lived in Thailand for a while and found renting motorbikes to be a great way to get around a city like Chiang Mai and it's surrounding jungles, but a car would work better if you intend on doing lots of driving. Oooh, sounds fun!

Posted by: Janel at April 3, 2005 07:35 PM

Oh, beware of motorcyles carrying: Whole families of 6, Dogs, Moblie vending stalls, etc.... It could be such an entertaining sight that could infact cause one to lose control of the driving!!!

Posted by: Janel at April 3, 2005 07:39 PM

Off topic, but important: Michael isn't really going to Lebanon - that's just a cover story.

He's on his way to Rome in a sealed train to be elected Pope.

Posted by: VinoVeritas at April 3, 2005 09:34 PM

Jesus, some spammer figured out how to fake his way through the security code! Do you think he hooked a character recognizer up just to defeat this blog? That bastard!

Posted by: Joshua Scholar at April 4, 2005 02:45 AM

As Janel said, ... you've got the Thai driving rules down (except that you drive on the other side of the road). Add one: if you see someone on of a side street, assume they will pull out in front of you, no matter how close you are. (And it's no better in the countryside, except that there is less traffic.)

Posted by: Kathy K at April 4, 2005 03:02 AM

The spammer is gone. I doubt that they could find their way through the security code, but I don't know enough about spam tech. I do know that MT is about as buggy as Microsoft. I’ve been using MT for years, but I’m seriously reconsidering.

beware of motorcyles carrying: Whole families of 6, Dogs, Moblie vending stalls

Are you talking about tuk-tuks? (a motorcycle with a truck-shaped cart built around it). Motorcycles and tuk-tuks always seemed like the scariest forms of transportation in Thailand, but they can weave through traffic. When you have a car, you’re usually stuck.

if you see someone on of a side street, assume they will pull out in front of you

That's true in Costa Rica too (and NYC)

Posted by: mary at April 4, 2005 06:49 AM

The most interesting Tico driving trait is that they will stop anywhere, anytime, and for any reason.

The general rule is the right of way belongs first to: Buses, then trucks-large cars-small cars-motos-pedestrians.

Lines, signals and signs are suggestions to be discarded if deemed appropriate. Consider it laissez faire transportation.

Posted by: Pete at April 4, 2005 08:49 AM

Hi Mary

Thanks for the great pix of Costa Rica (and driving tips) - a nice change from the weighty Great-Issues-Of-The-World stuff on this & most blogs:
One thing though,
Are those Costa Rican potholes the worst you ran into? Cuz for this Manhattanite (NY, not Kansas!) - these would be considered mere ruts - my block (a toney Upper-East-Side one, too) sees deeper pits than this after even a moderate rain- or- snowstorm!
But the scenery is prettier in CR, no mistake....

Posted by: Jay C at April 4, 2005 10:51 AM

Jay - the potholes in the picture weren't bad by New York (or my local Hoboken) standards, but the difference was, the entire road was like that. There were more potholes than road. That's why everyone was swerving from lane to lane.

Every road in Costa Rica wasn't that bad. This was a very awful stretch that ran along the coast from the Harbor town of Puntarenas. We took that road hoping to see some nice scenery.

Posted by: mary at April 4, 2005 01:24 PM

"A yellow ‘pelligro’ means that you’re about to drive or fall off a cliff."

Any stats on the number of tourists who didn't know what that yellow sign means?

"When you drive above the clouds, always slow down to admire the view"

Ummm... I guess you mean those folks...

Posted by: Caroline at April 4, 2005 04:24 PM

No, Janel is talking about motorcycles... not tuk-tuks; no sidecars. You'll see them going down the street with 6 people on them. Kids sitting on the parents shoulders, small kids on handlebars, etc.... not very safe, to say the least. You don't see that many very often but 3 or 4 is quite common. (7 is the most I've ever seen.)

The mobile vendors do have sidecars or little trailers that get pulled along behind.

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