Sunday 30 October 2005

Traffic

Drivers in Peru are not particularly pedestrian friendly and a lot of intersections just don't have any signal meaning it's a free for all or rather it follows the common sense law that the biggest vehicle gets priority. It's a bit like a food chain with the 18 wheel articulated lorry at the top, the pedestrian at the bottom and buses, vans, cars, motocarros, cycles, donkeys and other types of transport in the middle. This order is not always fixed: a donkey might take precedence over a car on a moutain track.

As a result, crossing the street can sometimes feel like a military expedition where timing is crucial. Peruvian drivers are not that bad though. Contrary to Indian or Egyptain drivers, they do stop at red lights and tend to swerve or slow down ever so slightly when a pedestrian is in the way, although whether this is by respect to said pedestrian or to avoid the delay associated with running over him is debatable. Anyway, the jaywalking skills acquired in India, Egypt and at Paris's Place de l'Etoile are proving useful.

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