Driving in Honduras

The first person we saw was a completely naked man walking on the side of the freeway. From the looks of it he spent a lot of time in the sun, all of him. Gio asked our taxi driver, “Es normal?” Ismael answered, “No, el es loco.”

Bienvenidos a Honduras.

It seems in Honduras there aren’t really driving laws, just guidelines or driving suggestions. I think I like this system better. Stay alert, use your head, make decisions that aren’t going to kill people, and drive without worrying about getting a ticket. I saw some things that just don’t happen in The States.

While driving across Honduras Ismael gave us a little tour of the country as we developed our initial impressions. He taught that the Hondureños love their car horns. They don’t use the horn to express anger and disapproval, but rather as a way to say, “I’m right here.” He used his horn more in the first 20 minutes of our drive than I will in my entire life.

He honked the horn every time we passed another car, if anyone was walking the side of the road and they were anywhere near our lane, and also if we saw any cute young chicas walking along the highway. It was a two-lane highway so you passed cars whenever there was enough room to do it safely. Just the amount of space needed to be “safe” was debatable. Cars headed the other way would be passing, thus headed directly at us in our lane and less than 100 feet away and Ismael didn’t slow our car at all. It was clear that they had plenty of room to get out of our way before reaction was necessary.

Once we were behind a couple cars going below our desired speed. Just as we went to pass them both the car in front of us was also making a pass. So we just went even wider. Soon we had three adjacent cars headed the same direction. It got sorted out with us in front and both cars ahead of the slow previously leader. Our driver smirked and said to us a phrase that roughly translates to, “I bet you don’t see that much in the States.”

Later in the week a taxi driver picked us up with his four-year-old daughter in the front seat. His young daughter sat in the front with no car seat and no seat belt. But don’t worry this was not a father that didn’t take precautions. Before we started driving he asked her to sit back in the seat.

I didn’t even discuss the public transit with no official stops, the passenger vans that were never too full for a paying customer, and pick-up trucks transporting the whole family.

We didn’t see any more naked people.