Crossing the highway
The quickest way to get from the Hotel Herradura, where the Symposium was being held, to the mall/supermarket/bank/fast food places was to cross the busy highway that lay in between. We had to run across one half of the highway, sit on the low wall separating the traffic going in opposite directions while vehicles whizzed by on either side at incredible speed, and then dash across the second half. Most sea turtle people managed it without skipping a heartbeat, but getting across that highway (not once but several times) was the scariest thing I did at the Symposium. I managed to get across most times by holding Angela’s hand. It was scarier during the day than at night, but Angela very patiently put up with my whimperings about how we would never survive it and how I wasn't going any further after we got to the median wall. It reminded me of when I was a little girl and had to cross big, busy streets in Calcutta -- I would hold my mother’s hand and saree and be dragged across while keeping my eyes shut…
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You make me sound so brave… but I think I was more petrified than you. Which explains why the other people crossing with us were safely tucked in bed for hours, while we were still panicking away, clinging to the middle barrier. But not too long ago I used to be braver… I recently leapt onto a zebra crossing in Rome (where drivers usually enjoy speeding up when they see pedestrians). The oncoming car was confused by the daring concept of a pedestrian on a pedestrian crossing and slammed to a halt, causing the car behind it to screech right into it. Luckily no harm done, just some metal crunching and lots of swearing, while I sauntered away, thinking it was all rather amusing…
Posted by: Angela | March 11, 2004 02:21 PM
Several people made the analogy that crossing the road in front of the hotel to get to the store on the other side was much like playing the video game of "frogger" where the player tries with vaying degrees of success to get a frog across a busy highway. You are both braver than I was! When challenged to a game of "frogger" to cross the street I must admit to taking the shuttle instead. I took one look at that highway, the high median divider, speeding (and somewhat reckless) cars and decided that I am not that brave. Maybe next time....
Posted by: Kim Reich | March 12, 2004 12:25 PM