Saturday, September 03, 2005

scooter crazy

I'm going to have to do it. I'm going to have to buy a scooter. That is how everyone gets around. I am going to bow to the peer pressure. I'm waiting on my work visa, then I will be able to buy one legally. I thought I could hold out longer, maybe a couple of months. I can't. I want to hang with the cool kids. I've made a couple of friends who are willing to go exploring on weekends. With a powerful enough scooter, you are able to drive on the secondary highways, and basically get anywhere on the island. It's going to cost about $500 American dollars. It's really cheap, actually, and I have the cash for it.

You'd be amazed at the number of scooters here. I will get some pictures, but they won't do it justice. Scooter drivers obey very few traffic rules. They tend to obey the rules of physics, but that's about it. Don't hit large, moving objects like cars and trucks. Pedestrians are advised to get out of the way of scooters, even in crosswalks. It's not done in a mean-spirited way, that's just the way it is (some things'll never change). Sorry about that.

One thing that I want to prepare you for is the multiple riders on scooters. In America, it's not uncommon to see two people on a scooter, when you see scooters. Here, and I am not making this up, families of four ride on one scooter. You will have to see it to believe it. Right now, my holy grail of pictures is a five person shot. Someone told me that he's seen it. I have not, but I have seen four. It sounds dangerous and crazy. It probably is. But I'm just one guy in a country that is scooter crazy. You see how this post wrapped back to the beginning? Pretty cool, huh?