Only the strongest survive

Now that I know we are leaving Colombia I started thinking about all the things I love and hate about this city/country.  I was gonna do a "that's good" and "that's bad" list but when I sat down to write I realized the traffic and driving in Bogota were a post in and of themselves!  I was raised in Washington DC, lived in Boston and San Diego, dealt with LA traffic but Bogota, well let's just say Bogota takes the cake when it comes to insane traffic and drivers.  Mostly insane drivers which is the root cause of the insane traffic, IMO.

Let's just start with the fact that there are no lines on the road.  I mean why bother, no one cares about lanes.  I wonder if they even have a word for "lane" in Bogota.  If you are driving down a 2 lane road do not be surprised if suddenly 4, or more like 3 1/2, lanes suddenly appear before your eyes.  Cars are turned at funny angles all playing chicken with each other for one more car length ahead of the rest.

Stop lights... purely advisory.  No need to stop.  Especially at night.  Then again if you have a green light at night you may want to slow down and roll through after carefully checking in both directions that someone else is not about to plow through!  My friend actually had a cop stop her and ask her why she stoppped at the red light.  He told her she was going to cause an accident.  Um yeah.

Speaking of lights.  The lights go from red to yellow to green to red to yellow.  So at a red light, when it turns yellow BEFORE the green people start honking and putting the pedal to the metal.  Crossing the road is a bit like frogger!

Manhole covers are made of concrete.  I've seen more than one tire go in and never come out.

One way road... well I'm only going one way right.  This one actually comes in handy when you're lost, see your destination, but it's the wrong way down a one way road.  When in Rome...

Now pretend you are in a line of cars at a stop light or a stop sign and it's just taking tooo long to get through the intersection.  Well just pull into on-coming traffic.  Okay not if the cars are actually coming at you but if the lane is clear - USE IT!  I was sitting in a line of cars at a stop sign the other day.  People became impatient and just pulled into the other lane and started trying to make right hand turns from the left lane that was designated for traffic flow in the opposite direction.  Then said traffic wanted to use the lane but it was blocked.  Actually, that worked out ok because it left room for a hoard of people to pull out while said car was waiting for a clear lane to turn into.  I think I need a dry erase board to help visualize that move!

Basically there is no law.  Supposedly laws DO exist but no one cares.  Signs say No Parking, park anyway.  Red light, shmed light.  Need to make a right hand turn but your in the left lane... go for it!  It's anarchy people.  Only the strongest survive!