My experiences with
transportation in the DR…so far… I am by
no means and expert, and from what I can tell the people in DR know what
they’re doing most of the time when they’re driving, on the other hand it is very different from
the standard of driving the US. Also I
think sometimes they’re messing with us because they know where
foreigners… Things to know if you decide
to visit… They cars are not going to stop for you, when they honk that means
get out of the way now… caminamos como
perros… Cobradors de Guagua (mini old
bus) are always going to tell you that you’re going their way, even when you're
not…
First on Sunday we
went to the City for a tour, which didn’t work out too well because it rained
on us… and our tour guide was a low talker so you could only hear him if you
were right next to him. Anyhow on the
way back some other volunteers and I got into a Carro Publico (Like a taxi, but
with 7 people instead of one… same size thou… and no seatbelts) after
negotiating the destination with the driver and his kid (10years old) got into
the driver’s seat and proceeded to pull away from the curb… I’m guessing you’ve
never seen people jump out of a car faster…
Then today we got on a
guagua to go towards the city, and it was pretty empty which we thought was
good, but might have actually been a sign… This guagua was probably 4 years
past its due date, the transmission sounded horrible and I’m pretty sure the
brakes were shot… Anyhow we hit a truck while entering the highway and the
Cobrador proceed to get off and put part of the bumper back on and drive away…
I think we almost hit like five other cars a well.
Reminder… These are
just the bad experiences… there were other good ones too… Today I get a helmet
and get to practice riding on a motoconcho… motorbike… because Thursday I’m
going to visit another volunteer by myself and have to take a motoconcho…
I hope no one was seriously hurt in these accidents! I'm glad you're okay and very happy you have a helmet!
ReplyDelete