Driving All Across the American Paradise / Survival Guide

Beautiful views have a price tag sometimes.
Specially for the careless

Driving Experience, Hints, and Survival Guide...
Experienced: May 12 - May 19, 2K4; TRUE FOR MOST OF THE TIME!
There is no free lunch as they say; which is so true for driving around the scenic views of the US Virgin Islands. If you do not encounter a goat, donkey or a fallen tree all of a sudden after a sharp, neck breaking steep turn, the turn itself will tell you a story. Once you have driven here, especially in the narrow, curvy, extremely steep and scenic St. John, you can consider yourself a graduate of mountain road driver.
This is tropical and hilly terrain so roads are all of a sudden drenched in heavy burst of rain. After the rain, almost all the steep curves give in themselves for the lawas of physics, i.e., they are *NOT* very doable. So many times I saw on 30 degree sharp turns uphill tourist car drivers waiting in vain, somewhat surprised and frustated as their cars refuse to climb and rear wheel drives do movements like a snake with its head cut off. In these steep curves, front wheels after rain sometimes just burn rubber and creates fumes when gas pedal is down firmly! Still no motion in the direction of the travel!
The other part is the overconfidence - no matter how much you drive here, you have to be very careful; I escaped atleast four occassions of pure collision - most failed to turn with the road.
Nice weather, added breathtaking views, left hand drive, some local taxis driving from the middle of the road and passing without warning - even without any intoxication these all should be taken into account.
Here in case of accidents are collision and other charges are more than the continental US.
I hope reading this will save you and lots of others while you are behind the steering wheel in the slow, steep, slippery when wet roads!
One more thing, a generic one - it never matters which car you drive, remember the old laws of physics they matter all the time.
Posted Sings - Speed Limit and Warnings
Let us start cruising down Caratera Interamericana from San Jose to the the Panama border ... the speed limits are 25-40-60-80 Kmph. usually people drive at around 90-100 Kmph.
first it starts with total lush green valleys which the road cuts thru. small shops on sides selling fresh fruit as nature´s offerings.
there are small bus stops signs, and signs of warning saying school children present. But expect some very dangerous all-of-a-sudden potholes, road narrowing quickly without warning to a one way traffic without suggesting who has the right of way. Very green and nice and spectacular sceneries roads. Rivers, mountains, dense tropical forests, road crossing animals, villagers selling their piece of rainforests ( parrots, fruits, and handmade stuff ). It is cute and as well as deadly!
Potholes - Getting Into and Survival Techniques
Over 80 Kmph (60 mph), if the front tire goes into one of the potholes, then depending on the rotating direction of impact of that tire, the whole car looses balance and veers into that direction.
to survive, the best is to "try" to look for these all these potholes for "all" the times, and I stress all the time and avoid them at any cost.
One visual slip can turn you into a very deep trouble.
slowing down is the best option, once you see a lot of potholes. Speed up as you cross the entire area.
also, sometimes traffic from the other side come right into you, as either a direct impact from one of those or to preemptively avoid one of those.
as there are deep ditches both sides, at the end of lanes it is very hard to survive once your front tires, touches the slope.
more dangerous is when you hit one of the potholes when the car is on the turn, worst blind turn! always try the first thing ... not to panic!
you panic --- you die and I cannot be any more serious.
you have to be very much focused on the road and watching all the time you are driving in Costa Rica.
to my opinion, most of the drivers are either very sober or very aggressive.
always try not to get off the road when your car goes out of control because of any reason. Start breaking only when the front wheels are parallel to the direction on the road.
try use lower gear when raining and slippery roads. ( Costa Rica has huge rainy season, and if you're at the end of tourist season; it will get you! )
to make the matter worse there are wet leaves sometimes which acts as banana does it on a person walking.
Road Narrowing to One Way ONLY! for a while, on a turn!
there are many steep bends and bridges which have only space for one car to pass. thank GOD that they are well marked and there are yellow on black (like three traffic lights ) marks posted before these
Apart from these Black on Yellow Background traffic warning signals, there are additional two signs which are very important ... Peligro ¨DANGER¨ and DESPACIO ¨MOVE SLOWLY¨. most of the time the DESPACIO is for Escuela but the PELIGRO sign should be taken carefully. when they say it is PELIGRO ... there is really either very bad bumpy road ahead OR a strange road blind bend with one lane OR it is dangerously slippery.
Cloudy Road - Visibility Negative in Forward Direction
also I found in some routes like Route 15 from Garcia to Ciudad Quesada, there is so much clouds on the road that it is impossible to drive ... to top it off these mountainous roads are bending and these bends are sometimes having one vehicle space.
in all those curves with space to pass for one vehicle, there is a sign of GIVE WAY ... and that means the other side has the right of way ... but be careful as sometimes it is just ahead of a bend ... you have to exercise extreme caution.
Instant Selection Of the Main Road - Out of Forking Road
in these State Routes ... not the Interstate ones, there are times when the road that shoots off from the main road is wider which is also poorly marked ... following it usually leads nowhere and then the driver has to backtrack ... down to the same point to start off ... these off roads are not marked to show that it is not the main road.
Entering In a City - Incoming Traffic Comes Right At You!
instead of the rest of the world sign convention of ´NO ENTRY´ and ´DO NOT ENTER´ these people have lots of signs of ´NO HAY PASO´ that's primarily to denote that it is one way traffic.
in the main city, while entering from the Interstate or any other highway it comes right into your face that ´NO HAY PASO´ ...means DO NOT ENTER - THIS IS ONE WAY! so one has to quickly scramble what options one got. this is specially annoying as on top of that there are not many signs of Calle and Avenieda ... seems all ticos know where they are heading ... poor foreigners !
in cities, there is no concept of address, no concept of intersections, and absolutely no concept of asking someone any directions ...
Driving Directions while driving in a CITY!
Ticos have it all mapped totally opposite to the ´AMERICAN WAY´ ... i.e., all places, when you ask for directions are mapped in a way as if you are walking into it.
so there are landmarks and there are distance in meters 50,100,200,... North, South, East, West, from that landmark.
for example your place maybe 200 meters south from the Church. the funny thing is while driving it may have that infamous ´NO HAY PASO´ sign and to come back to it you might have to detour the whole city.
the life saver is, apart from the capital San Jose ... most of the cities are only in one highway so you are either going in the right direction or totally opposite direction.
Road ONLY for a HUMMER - No One Else!
some roads are totally not paved and are only suitable for Hummer 2. some roads are very smooth but intelligently some invisibly very deep potholes embedded in it. once your car gets into either of these, and you survive ... it is better to pullover and devise a smart strategy - absolutely important.
People's Assitance for Driving Directions
people are very nice and sometimes they tell you directions ... they are most of the times right but as there are many numbers of unmarked forks ... it is better to ask and reconfirm your way.
A True Banana Republic - No Border @ Borders!
there is no border between panama, and Costa Rica ... that means you can eat a banana while driving and you might not realize that you are in some other country ... between Panama and Costa Rica you can do it once in a while; but never, and i repeat never cross to Nicaragua without proper travel documents, you'll be in for long and big trouble.
but at 50-100 Kms they have some loose type of Police control ... if they NOT let you go ... they will send you right back in the direction where you have started eating your banana!
Scenic Route
there are some stunning sceneries, waterfalls, and small rivers on the way ... unless there is a DANGER sign posted and you are a nature lover you can go indulge yourself ... especially if you see other locals are taking bath, playing the river, beach etc ...
all the dangerous animals (jaguars, other cats, snakes, monkeys, sharks, crocodiles ) are so much afraid of humans ... that they wont bother you.
also, most of these rivers ...use them if the water is picture perfect and clear ... do not use a dark or red color river ... in that case, you wont know what hit you!
Corrupt Traffic Cops! Many Places !!!
there are plenty of radar cops shooting that to you with a hope of getting "bribe" money. all drivers are very "good" as they flash you in advance which means slow down immediately as down the road, somewhere there are cops waiting for you, with a radar reading and an eye to your wallet! Footnote: keep out of all Costa Rican officials, especially customs in Los Chiles they all want bribes, a lot of bribes!
Rental Car Tips
Unlinke US and other Carribean countries, the advertised rates do not tell about the "mandatory" insurance and hidden taxes that are specific to that contract.
Once your car is reserved thru online/internet, ( to get the best rate ), call them in advance to get the estimated rate which will vary. also inspect the car very very closely as they will charge for even a small, tiniest thinggie which is NOT mentioned in the scratch record that goes with the rental contract.
on the other hand, rental companies are very helpful if you are stuck with costa rican officials, like millions of kinds of police, customs, and other red-tape departments which bug drivers for expired licenese, insurances and other permits!
Dealing With The Authorities
costa rican authorities are very fond of paper generating and believing in proper paperwork. sometimes they produce it and sometimes they are on demading some kinda paperwork.
most of the times, there are no computers or standard pocedure involved and it is done by the commanding officer in an authoritative way.
ofcourse there is a prescribed way, then they have to get the proper manual and read it and then acting it. all officers need a little bit of boost to "take care" of you in a timely fashion. it takes hours but sometimes a drink can get your travel permit instantly!
the tidious and meticulous paperwork is a good way although it's time consuming except here we are talking about bribes.
there are lots of check posts, for checking criminals, traffic, driving documents, customs, animal control, forest product control, border police and you name it. do not travel with suitcases as they are the famous and primary target to search. sometimes they are strip serached and packing them back is youre business. ( on the record, i have to bribe once to a customs officer and two traffic cops. at various checkpoints, my suitcases were thorougly checked more than ten times. i was requested to open trunk more than twenty times and the spare tire space was checked. )

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