I took another taxi ride today to pay for my dives from last week. There are bad drivers everywhere in the world, and the two drivers used were no worse than other rides, but as a whole the level of driving ability on the island is pretty poor.
I understand that you don't need to be in top driving shape and awareness as a large urban centre, but there are still a few things that really shouldn't happen. Blind sweeping rights are ok, the drivers tuck the cars nicely into the corners and stay inside, but this is a result of the abysmal ability of everyone to stay on their side of the road on the same corner, but coming the other direction. Many of them wear seatbelts, but still. I cannot believe that there are not more accidents, the only damage I've seen on a car is a windshield where it looks like a coconut dropped on it (hazards differ by country I suppose, glare ice in Edmonton, coconuts in the tropics). On left hand corners, the drivers cut well into the other lane, and this seems to be the case for taxi's, private cars, trucks and many motorbikes/scooters. There is one corner headed out to West End that is a sweeping left hander that crests right at the apex of the corner (meaning it is blind based on both the vertical and horizontal) yet without fear everyone drastically cuts the corner while I hold my breath and pray that I won't die.
The drivers are not the most practiced but they are by no means the worst obstacle on the road. That honour falls squarely to the tourist who has rented a moped/scotter. My goodness. I've seen some pretty terrible scooter drivers in Edmonton, but nothing like this. I understand why, none of them have any training, nor have ridden before, but if I was a shop owner, I would want to check their skill level beforehand.
The litany of errors could be a tome unto itself, including (but certainly not limited to), not getting feet up while moving, instability, looking at where they do not want to go, and a shocking lack of understanding of the double D-Ring system on helmets.
The only thing keeping everything reasonable seems to be that few people go over 50 km/h.
Hopefully will return to diving tomorrow, took the weekend and today off as my one ear has been a little sore. I was asked recently if I wanted a "to go" cup for my G&T, I asked the bartender skeptically about walking around with a drink and she responded in kind as if not being allowed to do so was a crime against humanity. As I was out to take a few pictures for this post, I saw a sign with respect to the laws of walking with booze. A "go" cup is required, they will fine you 500 Lempires (25 USD) for walking around with a beer bottle or can.
There is a beach bar called "Sundowners" owned by a Canadian ex-pat that shows hockey games in the evenings. A couple evenings ago Ihad the slightly surreal pleasure of watching the Oilers v. Flames, while drinking a beer, and sitting on a beach. Until the bar closed at 10. Most places close much earlier, why I haven't yet figured out.
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