WET CHICKENS

"BUC, BUC, BUC, BUC, BUUCUUUUUUUCK!”

Is that how chicken clucking is spelled?

OK now we are finally a little chicken.

I wanted to title this entry “Skeert and Afeared in Cuenca”. I have aways loved the words ‘skeert ‘ and ‘afeared’. (scared and afraid) But, I was afeared that it might sound stupid. Besides ... the 'buc, buc, buc' thing is both classy and crystal clear. (btw, another favorite word of mine is ‘stoopid’)

RAIN? HOLY MOTHER OF GOD!!

It is raining part of the day every day now. And, and, and.........some of it has been torrential. Usually it has been raining in the afternoons. Most of the days are dry and/or sunny in the AM’s and also following the afternoon rains.

Today it rained in the AM instead. So, I took a leap and told Breenie that baby jesus told me that it would be clear the rest of the day. Brennie told me that mother nature makes that call and that she told Brennie more rain.

mother nature - 1, baby jesus - 0.

OOPSIE:

I forgot about the whole chicken and skeert thing........

A car. Yes siree, We bought a car ..... over a month ago. We bought it the day before we left for Kansas for a couple weeks. We have it parked at a friend’s place. It is a 2010 Suzuki Grand Vitara. It has 12,000 miles on it, 4wd and auto trans. (For those that don’t know, auto trans is fairly rare down here.)

So? What what has got us all chicken? Uh, that would be actually driving it. I have driven it all over town. And THAT is a new experience! It is difficult in less than 1000 words to describe the courtesies of the road here and the (unwritten?) rules. But I have been observing for about a year now and participating via bicycle and moto.

Basically, local drivers are very aggressive, yet not rude. (OK there is constant horn honking, but that is more of a cultural thing, and not actually ‘rude’. Kind of like cutting in line at the store if you leave more than a couple inches between you and the person in front of you. Cultural. Not rude. If you leave room, someone may take it. Period.) The same crowding and cutting applies with driving too. Leave any kind of safe distance (as thought of in the US) and it is an invitation for someone to take that space ......... I mean, after all ...... you’re not using it, right? It seems that once a person has taken the space that you ‘invited them into’, well, no hard feelings. That whole space thing applies to space on the sides of the car as well. If you are at a stop and leave barely enough room on the side for a small car to squeeze in ........ then a small car will squeeze in and edge it’s way in front of you. After all you left the space and it’s implied invitation to anyone that can utilize it. Right??

That whole crowding and squeezing in thing doesn’t apply only to traffic at a stop. It works with moving traffic as well. It is really interesting and you must be aware of all cars at all times ....... ALL cars at all times .....ALL CARS AT ALL TIMES ......... Someone behind you on the left could very well be passing you on the right 5 seconds later. True.

AMAZINGLY:

There are very few accidents and very few banged up cars. It is my opinion that these are some of the most alert drivers in the world. You really must be. Any driver here could teach courses in the US on defensive driving.

SO, IF I AM DRIVING IN TOWN, WHAT ARE WE AFRAID OF?

Leaving town. Sounds weird. Is weird. But for some reason we cannot bring ourselves to venture out of town. We have planned to 3 or 4 times. Don’t know what the problem is. Fear of getting lost? Mountain driving? ( I lived in the mountains before and drove them all the time in the snow.) Every time we have planned to leave town, we have thought of something else to do. (Wash the dogs. Trim our toe nails. Any excuse can and will do.) THE ONLY REASON WE BOUGHT THE CAR IS SO THAT WE CAN LEAVE TOWN. Maybe tomorrow.

A WORD ON THE CONSTANT HORN HONKING:

The horns here are not nearly as loud as the horns on the cars n the US. Thank god.

Life is sweet,

Clarke