Cue the Sun

Mobility, Peruvian style

Unlike my arrival in Madrid, which impressed me greatly, I'm finding Lima is taking some getting used to. Coming in from the airport on Sunday night, I passed lots of grim shantytowns, and noticed pretty quickly that driving here is something that needs to be experienced to be believed. Virtually every car I've seen has numerous dings and scratches, many are missing taillights, headlights, windows, and so many of them seem to be held together by gaffer tape. There is the incessant honking of horns, wail of sirens, and macho bravado that were typical of Madrid, yet here, drivers do have a curious regard for each other, even if they have a strange way of showing it.

The notion of using indicators seems a novel one, but I can kind of see their lack of effectiveness, given few vehicles older than a few years still have them intact, and those that are partial to projecting their intended movement will instead stick their hand out the window as in the days of old. Most however, simply change lanes without giving any warning to other drivers.

Limeños have a different philosophy when it comes to driving: drive fast and aggressive and assume everyone else will give way to you. If it looks like someone is about to change lanes in front of you (remember they don't indicate), or pull out onto the street to cross in front of you, or do anything that may get in the way of you speeding along the thoroughfare, hit the horn to let them know you're there, and you're coming through. If that doesn't work, and they do it anyway, then you can either slow down, or take evasive action (without indicating) to another lane, or run into them.

All drivers have an expectation that the only way to get where they're going is to stare down their opponents, daring them to t-bone or side swipe them. At the handful of traffic lights around the city, a dozen vehicles jockey for the positions that will be the first two off the line, and that only gets worse when the lights turn green. Rear view mirrors are only a reference point when reversing. If there's something in it when you start to reverse, no need to keep watching, it'll be gone by the time you drop the clutch and stomp on the accelerator...most of the time.

Still, despite this chaotic way of driving, it's not the same as in Madrid, which was more about aggression and gesticulating wildly at drivers who dared to be sensible. Here, it is more a case of people trying to get where they're going, and being daring enough to take shortcuts. Clapped out bombs all lurch drunkenly along the major avenues of the city alongside brand new imports from the continent to the north.

I've now driven in both environments, and although I've yet to experience night driving or peak hour, I think I'd prefer Lima to Barcelona or Madrid...at this stage anyway. Despite my rectum being stuck to the roof of my mouth at times, once I got into the flow of the traffic, it was much easier to negotiate. Tomorrow I will get to experience night and peak hour driving, and they will no doubt change my perspective to some degree. But at this stage at least, I've found Lima an easier, less stressful driving experience. Still, there's always public transport.

In the past when friends have talked about catching a bus in Lima, I'd always envisaged something similar to the bus routes at home (not sure why), with large rumblers that move along their routes in a slow and orderly manner, and to a designated timetable.

Here, the buses range from mini-vans to the tankish American style school buses. On the smaller machines in particular, the conductors hang out the door holding up a sign with the destination on them, calling out to people on the side of the road (some of them at designated bus stops) to see if they want the bus to stop. If someone flags the bus, it swerves suddenly to a stop, the conductor jumps out before the bus has stopped moving, and the passengers jump on. The bus is pulling away before the conductor is back inside and the door pulled closed. Mufflers roar and smoke belches from exhausts, and the buses play their musical horns as they jostle with the rest of the traffic, and with each other for position at the stops.

It seems there is more emphasis on getting to their destination first, than in keeping a timetable, so if you're not getting on the bus when it stops, you won't be on it when it pulls away. Never mind your age, agility or mobility. I've long been a user of public transport in Melbourne and Canberra, and often thought I'd be able to handle anything that came at me in that regard, but I expect I'd be in trouble if I were left to fend for myself on the transport system here, and would probably end up walking to most places.