A Cancún Autobus

I was having a very good day when the bus adventure happened. I had both the car and a little bit of "extra"money. I had reached the point where I didn't have nervous fits whenever I drove a while before, but on this day I really seemed to come into my own. I was actually enjoying driving,was changing lanes, and starting up at stoplights without any horns blowing. We had figured out exactly where on the steering shaft a good hit will allow the started to engage and I was able to get first gear to work over fifty percent of the time.

But really, the most amazing part is that I finally had a clear picture of a bird's eye view of Cancún in my head and could find my way around. I'm not sure how to explain why this is such a feat, but when you come here I'm sure you'll understand. City blocks like most American cities have simply don't exist here and to get from point A to point B you often have to literally drive in circles, sometimes while staying on the same road, but finally it had all sunk in and I think now I would have a hard time getting truly lost here.

Anyway, I had a million errands to run and I brought my friend Mary along for company. The first few went great then the car stopped being sweet. First gear didn't want to work at all, and second started acting up as well. Starting from a dead stop in third is quite the challenge but eventually I started getting the hang of it. Tulum Ave is main road through downtown Cancún. It starts very close to the hotel zone, goes a long stretch as a touristy zone, then turns into local commercial, and then a bit slummy. A few blocks into the slummish part is where I needed to go, but first you have to go through an interesting major intersection where three lanes of traffic on one side, four at rush hour, turn into one or two on the other side.

On this day I found myself in the middle lane with a bicyclist on my right and a city bus on my left. I could tell the normal compression of lanes wasn't going to work and neither the bus or the bike gave any sign of being sympathetic to my cause, I slowed down in hopes they would pass me by and then I could fit in, but either the bus didn't see me or didn't care about me, it edged over more and more until we got to hear that beautiful metal on metal sound. I was in shock especially as the bus didn't even break and just kept right on trucking. I feel in behind it and drove on about a block until I could pull over. When I got out to look at the car it was amazing, not really any physical sign of the conflict. Definite proof of a car being in really bad shape is when it can get sideswiped by a speeding bus without any noticeable damage.

After the original wave of fear subsided Mary and I laughed hysterically for awhile and then continued with our errands. This event only cost me a few days of being too scared to drive, but it has had lasting effects: No longer do I have the trust that despite how crazy everyone around me is driving that they actually know what they are doing.

The part of the car that was hit.

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