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.

The day after our border crossings we decided to continue on to Leon.  We had heard that it is one of the prettiest towns in Nicaragua and ended up being completely disappointed.  To top it off we were pulled over by police controls twice a long the way.  Out of all the crappy hostels in Leon, we found the least crappy one and spend the night there.

The next day we decided to go to Managua.  We were supposed to meet our friend Cy at the airport on Friday and figured we’d just get their early and spend a few days in the city.  On the drive to Managua to we were pulled over 3 times at police controls.  At one of the stops we think they wanted to give us a ticket since our insurance card has expired.  We can’t seem to get a straight answer if car insurance is required or not.  Even if we had proof of car insurance, they’d find something else to give us a ticket for, I’m sure.  Matthias read a story of someone who got a ticket for having a dirty front license plate.  So, like I said, they’ll find something to fine you for if they want to.  We continued to play dumb and didn’t have to pay anything, although at one of the stops they actually wrote our license plate number down and mentioned something about a fine at the border when we exit Nicaragua.

The worst was driving in Managua.  To start off there are no street signs in Managua.  We had a rough map, which probably would have been sufficient if we were able to figure out what the names on any of the roads are.  You might think I am exaggerating, but I’m not.  There was not one single street sign in the entire city.  We had been driving around for hours trying to find the tourist information.  We thought we were getting close and Matthias went to make a U-turn at an intersection.  Unfortunately we had just made an illegal u-turn straight into another police control and the police woman waved us over to the side.  First we had to wait for her to finish purchasing Christmas decorations from the car in front of us before she came over to us to tell us what we had done wrong.  Matthias had made an illegal u-turn at this intersection and she seemed very concerned.  She first she gave us a long explanation of what the left lane was for, what the right lane was for, and where it was possible to change directions.  She just kept going on and on.  Matthias had seen a sign for a “Retorno” which is a place you can make a u-turn, but we apparently missed it.  Eventually she said that she wasn’t going to give us a ticket and was going to let us go.  We were both relieved, and in the end she seemed ok after all, so Matthias asked her how to get to the tourist information.  They tried to explain it to us, and they even drew a map, but finally she just said, “Ok, I’ll show you but you have to pay my cab back to my station here afterwards.”  It sounded good to us, so I got in the back with the kids and the policewoman got in our car and sat in front next to Matthias and started giving directions.

Apparently traffic cops can just leave their stations for a while whenever they want to.  She just left her partner there and off we went.  We showed her the map in our travel guide of where we wanted to go.  First she directed us to the other end of the city.  At this point I was glad she was there because we were no one near where we thought the tourist information was.  Matthias ran a red light, but there really is not better time to run a red light than when you’ve got a traffic cop riding shotgun in your car telling you where to go.  But then slowly we looped back around to the other side of the city, close to where we were made the illegal u-turn.  The policewoman had us stop to ask for directions twice, and that is when we realized she had no idea where she was going.  Next she suggested that we hail a cab, tell him where we want to go and then just follow him.  If that is what the policewoman wanted to do we weren’t about to argue.  We flag down a cab, Matthias gives her 10 dollars to pay for the cab and she gets in it.  We follow along and eventually we make it to the tourist information.  She waves Matthias over so he can pay for the cab.  Maybe she thought the 10 bucks were for her.  Matthias paid the cab and off she went, back to work, I guess.

After that experience, we figured the next day we’ll leave the car parked at the hotel and just take cabs around the city.  The woman at the tourist information told us of a mall with lots of rides for kids.  I needed a new bathing suit, so it sounded like it would be a great outing for us all.  In the cab Matthias asked the driver if he knew a place where we could get our cell phone unlocked.  (We bought a cell phone in Mexico that we thought would work in most countries in Central America.  It has the right frequencies, but unfortunately it is locked and only works in Mexico.  It has been his mission since we arrived in Guatemala to find someone that knows how to unlock our phone.)  The cab driver happened to know a place that could do this for us so we stopped.  After a bit of bartering on the fee, they gave it a shot, but weren’t successful.  We got back in the cab and we were off to the mall.  All of the sudden the driver stops on the side of the road.  “We have a small problem.  One moment.”  The taxi had run out of gas.  Matthias and I just looked at each other and laughed.  In the US taxis drivers make sure that have plenty of gas before they take passengers.  I think the taxi driver had been through this before because he quickly whipped out the gas canister out of the trunk and put a couple liters of gas in the tank.  We were back on the road within a few minutes.  We made a quick stop at the gas station and then it was off to the mall, which was a complete disappointment.  It was brand new and there were only about 3 stores.  Since it was a Thursday all the rides were shut off and there was nothing for the kids to do.  We made a quick stop at the grocery store and got another cab back to the hotel.

At this point we were ready to leave Nicaragua as fast a possible.  The police stops are so trying.  Driving in the capitol was terrible and we felt like all we wanted to do is get out of Nicaragua as soon as possible.  Today our friend was flying in from Seattle.  We asked how long it should take to get to the airport from hotel.  They said it was a 30 minute drive, so we left an hour and a half before his flight was supposed to leave since we figured we’d probably get lost and didn’t want to be late. 

Our luck seems to be changing here.  We actually found the airport within 30 minutes and arrived with an hour to spare.  Cy’s plane was on time, too.  We navigated our way out of Managua very well, headed toward Granada and weren’t pulled over at all.  We arrived in Granada and the town is beautiful.  I know this country has a lot to see, and I’m glad we are able to start enjoying some of its highlights.