Avoiding Miss Daisy
One of the few disconcerting things about living several months on a Caribbean island is driving a car here. One faces the first driving-related issue long before arriving in Paradise. My wife is a very talented shopper; yet, it didn’t take long to determine even her skills were tasked by tropical car rental agencies. Are you planning to rent a car long term on a tropical island? Be prepared to spend $800 – $2000 a month for your lease (alone). Then, when you arrive at the agency’s desk, you’ll be faced with two choices: gamble that your stay will be free of scratches (or worse), or be prepared to put down another $1 to 2K for insurance coverage. Now, let’s say you have made your decision, and are about to drive to that awaiting Shangri-La. Within minutes, you’ll know that this isn’t like driving in New England, Illinois, California, or Mars. Islands, for some reason, contain more cars per capita than any other part of the world. Puerto Rico, for example, has more cars and dealerships than any US state or city. Many people here are driving cars that would never pass inspection in the US. The fact that the only thing between the driver and your bumper is a 1/16th of an inch of rusted steel has no impact (sorry!) on locals. Drivers will speed to within an inch of your bumper, then leave you in their exhaust (er, dust). As noted in an earlier post, they’ll stop at the most inopportune times, and go when they should be stopping. Had the movie, “Driving Miss Daisy,” been set on a tropical island, it would have been a very short film, because Daisy wouldn’t have left the mansion.
Same in Aruba. Rentals were not exorbitant in price about 8 or 9 years ago, but when we picked up the car, we were asked if we wanted the hubcaps left on. Huh???
When we asked why, we were told that people on the island recognize that the car is a rental by the V (standing for visitor) on the plate. Hubcaps had a tendency to go missing when left alone in any spot. Obviously, take off the hubcaps!
Driving was about the same as you describe it; fast, furious, and get out of my way especially around the rotaries! We learned after a visit or two; we didn’t need a rental car, we simply took the bus for two bucks or walked for free. Ya can’t put anything over on us tourists! 🙂
I remember those days, Dot. Those identifiers were tantamount to placing a “steal me” sign on the side.
With regard to the style of driving, my wife tells me I’ve adjusted TOO well.
Many years ago on Guam, the thing to do for long term stays was to buy a “boonie car” or “Guam bomb.”. We could pay from $50 to $500 depending on the amount of existing floorboard (rust). At the end of the stay we’d sell it to another servicemember. Can you do something like that in PR? Seems like a cheap way to go…might be registration issues though.
I love this idea, Jon. We have considered it. However, whereas we don’t own a place here, and are never sure where we will be next year, this makes things difficult. Also, that $50-500 “bomb” is considerably more expensive these days.
What an interesting blog. You took back home. The description of driving in Porto Rico is not far from driving in the Sahel countries, in Africa. Is there any traffic control? Like police Officers to maintain order.
Ali, there are police in cars cruising all of the time. I’ve seen very few walking a traditional “beat.”
Large shopping complexes have a very interesting program which I’ll share with you during a future blog.