Travels of the Bay family and the Yoda Van

We have driven 11,000 miles (17,000 km) on our trip so far and very few things still surprise us on the road.  Our guidebook says the traffic rules are pretty standard like everywhere else in the world and are universally ignored.  They couldn’t be more accurate.

I remember when we first started driving in Mexico we were pretty excited and surprised when we saw a pig or even a goat next to the road. In the meantime we don’t even notice livestock on the road anymore unless it’s a herd of 20 bulls or more blocking all lanes. This also happens on major freeways like the Pan-American highway which is, by the way, much better than its reputation. It has also become normal that cars are passing each other in curves (blind to any on-coming traffic) and almost never let you change lanes. On a two-lane road if there is space for three cars side by side, someone might pass (straddling the center lane) which means you just have to move over on to the shoulder.  If you are a pedestrian in Central America you know better than to cross a road when cars are nearing, no matter if there is a crosswalk or a traffic light. When you are in your car, you are in control.

In the meantime I know not to let other cars squeeze into my lane and I must admit I start to enjoy protecting my territory. It took me a while not to let pedestrians cross the road anymore, but I mastered that, too. And the fact that the Yodavan isn’t the newest and nicest car on the road means I can be as aggressive as I wish, because one more dent will make hardly any difference in its appearance.  No matter how aggressive people are in their cars, I noticed that if you hand signal to another driver that you would like to change lanes or pull out into a busy road, people almost always let you in. All you need to do is have eye contact, look friendly, push your way out into the road and people let you in. I do the same thing.

One thing I still have to work on is the honking. Unfortunately the horn on the Yodavan only works when the steering wheel is slightly off-center.  When I am driving straight it doesn’t work. Therefore I have a real handicap on the roads. I think I need to get this fixed soon, because other ways you are at a real disadvantage, especially if you are a taxi driver. We drove in taxis with built in special buttons to make it easier to honk.  (I have yet to ride in a taxi that had a working speedometer, but almost all of them have pimped their horn.) Just like a parent who can distinguish between a baby’s hungry-cry, tired-cry or dirty diaper-cry, I also figured out the different meanings of honking. Some mean “thank you”, others warn you of something, like “I’m passing you on the left” or “I’m passing you on your right”, others are just the random “I’m driving in Central America so I’m going to honk a few times” and finally there are the “get lost gringo” honks.

Once you have learned all that you are almost good to go, but the most important thing is to realize that you should never expect anything to be as it would be in the States. Don’t ever assume the brake lights of the car in front of you work.  For that reason most cars leave a nice distance between them and the next car.  You expect that animals, palm fronds, broken down vehicles and man holes without covers might materialize at any moment – regardless of whether you are driving on a residential road or the nicest paved 4-line highway (of which there are few in Central America).  Expect that a car might be in your lane as you enter a curve, because not being able to see on-coming traffic is no reason not to overtake another car.  Besides, the oncoming car can always pull out onto the shoulder.  It is this new mindset that enables me to enjoy driving in total chaos through San Salvador with loud 80’s music in-between 2 busses that were both an inch or 2 from my rear view mirrors.  Knowing all this you just need to be “tranquillo”, be prepared for anything and you’ll have the best time on the road, at least if the outside temperature isn’t above 95 degrees.

Can anyone please explain to me how much I am supposed to tip where? Restaurants are pretty straight forward. 15 – 20 % I hope. How about the taxi driver or the hair dresser? The same? And the maid in the hotel? Do you tip the garbage man or the paper boy? I read that you are supposed to leave him 10 to 20 dollars preferably around Christmas time?

Wouldn’t it make more sense to pay people appropriate wages that make tips unnecessary? That way you can still tip to show appreciation for good service and don’t need a calculator the figure out what 5, 10, 15 or 20% are when the total bill is $45.86.

I started thinking about this issue when I spoke to the German hotel owner in San Juan del Sur, Nicaragua. We talked about how expensive traveling is getting in Central America and his response was: “It’s all the Americans’ fault with their stupid tipping”. He told us about an all inclusive 1 week sailboat trip he was invited to. When the trip was over he was ready to head home, but then was asked to first tip the captain $300 and the staff on the boat another few hundred bucks. There where a few more hidden tips, so you couldn’t really call it “All Inclusive.” I guess if you are American this doesn’t shock you as much, because it’s normal and accepted to tip large amounts no matter how good the service is.  It is not normal in most other countries. What excessive tipping does in poorer countries is it makes things more expensive for everyone else, locals and tourists alike.

On our trip we constantly run into situations when we don’t know how much to tip. The guidebook says 10% and the locals say you shouldn’t tip at all! It feels so strange to leave tips that are only 25 cents or less, but if you consider, that a workers wage is only 8 dollars a day that amount is not inappropriate at all.  Couldn’t it also look somewhat arrogant if you keep tipping much more than what’s expected everywhere you go? But it also feels cheap at times to only leave a few cents.

At the border between Nicaragua and Costa Rica we felt that we had to tip on 2 occasions and it’s confusing. When we got there, there was a huge line. It could have taken between 2 and 3 hours to cross the border, but some guy approached me and told me that for 5 bucks a person he could get me to the front of the line. I declined, because it seemed like one of the many rip-offs.  A few minutes later he told me that if a woman travels with kids, she doesn’t have to wait. I still didn’t really believe him, but Allison went up with William and Julian and it worked. The policeman let us right through. The guy just saved us 3 hours of standing in line in hot weather. How much is that worth to you? I decided that I would change our leftover Costa Rica money with him and I had 4 dollars left in small bills. It seemed appropriate to give it to him, because border crossing are a pain and he saved us 3 hours.  

Later on, on the Nicaragua side there was a young child, who offered all kinds of services to me while Allison was doing all of the paperwork. He offered to wash the car, bring us food, sell us water etc. For me he was just another annoying person who doesn’t leave you alone at the borders. He later on pointed Allison in the direction of the next office she had to go to and Allison felt she had to give him something, too. But how much? It only was 1 finger point. She wanted to give him 50 cents I responded: “Are you crazy? 50 cents!! His dad has to probably work half an hour to make that. That’s excessive. And besides he was annoying me for the last 45 minutes!” So for the 1 guy 4 dollars seemed fine and for the other kid 50 cents seemed way too much.

In El Salvador we met up with a Peace Corp volunteer who showed us around the town where she is stationed.  She said that tipping is not expected at all, and if you do tip, it will be quite a surprise and very much appreciated.  When we went to eat breakfast the next morning it was quite a relief.  There was no pressure and no expectations. 

So I think the right way to do it is to listen to the locals who say: “Don’t tip at all!” and if that just doesn’t feel right to you, leave an appropriate tip, because it’s really not expected of you and people are really grateful of even a small appreciation of their service. Unfortunately I am still not able to tell you exactly what is “appropriate”, but I do know that it’s not the same amounts than back in the states and an 8 cent tip can be really appreciated in many areas of the world.

Friday was our last day of classes at our school and we decided to go to a market in San Francisco El Alto with our teachers and William and Julian. The market at San Francisco El Alto is supposed ... [Continue reading this entry]