Pinball Machine Driving

This last week I started driving for the first time here in Peru.  Our fellow missionary, Otto Funk, left for furlough and offered his car to me for this next month until I purchase one of our own.  In doing some quick calculations, I think I have been driving for about 25 years now, but I do wonder whether I am prepared to drive here yet!

Driving in Piura is a lot like a pinball game.  There are formal rules, lines, stoplights, and such, just like in the States.  But what is written is not usually how things work here in Peru, and driving is no exception.  One perspective would be that of a defensive driver, but here in Piura you wouldn't get very far very fast with that approach.  Unlike in the States, there are a whole lot more motorcycles and a new reality for me, the mototaxi (3-wheeled chunks of sharp metal ready and very willing to squeeze into spaces smaller than they should), along with combis (12-passenger vans with up to 20 people in them acting as buses) and a variety of Ticos (small 3-cylinder taxis that dodge in and out of traffic).  Here are a few photos:

So this last week I found my inner offensive driver coming to the surface.  Pushing my way into an intersection, darting into that small space in what would normally be considered another lane (may actually just be the wide shoulder of the road....), or crossing an intersection along with the big bus that blocks on-coming traffic.  Sounds dangerous as I write this, but I am learning it is very much like the pinball game, where an action receives a reaction.  If you pull in front of someone, they pull back to avoid a collision.  If someone pulls in front of you, you do the same.

Still not comfortable enough to drive at night, since that seems like a whole new reality.  And the transit police and their random checkpoints still scare me a bit.  But in just a week, much of that experience driving in LA and San Francisco is coming in so handy.  If I can just figure out some more of these informal rules, I might actually grow to enjoy this!

Take care, and for those of you in the States, be grateful for the systems we have in place there!

Lowell