The new normal

Probably the single greatest "cultural" difference that we have experienced since coming to Honduras (apart from the whole language thing) is the driving culture. If you put a group of ex-pats together the conversation will turn to driving before too long.

There's just so much to talk about. Because just when you think you've seen it all, you're wrong. Like when several people decide that this long line can't possibly be for the left turn lane so they go on the outside of it only to get to the light and realize that, yes, it was the left turn lane and now they are in the left lane of oncoming traffic at one of the busiest intersections in the city. Or when the power goes out at the same intersection and 8 lanes of through traffic and 4 left turn lanes are attempting to negotiate the intersection without any plan. (Yes, this did happen, and yes, it did look a great deal like the game RushHour.)

There are three possible responses to the realities of driving here:

• Irritation. By far the most popular, this is a poor choice because the sheer number of opportunities for exasperation almost guarantee that your blood pressure will permanently assume an unhealthy level.
  
• Resignation. Its principal symptom being deep and regular sighs, resignation is slightly better for your health than irritation but not really a long-term solution. Even the Dalai Lama would be brought to wits' end. There are just too many possibilities for unexpected flare-ups for one to maintain a permanent attitude of transportational disinterest.
  
• Expectation. The hardest to cultivate yet the most rewarding, this response remains open to the limitless possibilities that lie around every corner. Only if you maintain an attitude of expectation can you derive the full joy from driving here. Then you can wring the full delight out of such phrases as: 
• "Look! It's a cow walking down the road in the middle of town." 
• "Hey! A taxi passing a busito passing a bus! (The Teguz traffic equivalent of turducken.) 
• "Nifty! A taxi up on a jack with its tire off in the middle of the intersection."
• "Wow. A car with one tire up in the air because another went into a manhole with no cover."
• "I would have never thought of four cars going through after the light turned red."

For the record, on any given day I exhibit all three of these.