KAT Mini Rant: Road Rules

I just want to live a life in peace. It's not that difficult. I think that's what the majority of people want. I want to be left alone to my own devices.  Nicaragua affords me that opportunity, so sometimes I bristle at the law because laws just seem rather stupid here. I'm not talking about laws that involve theft, physical or slanderous harm to another, all of which are applied inconsistently.  It's the other stuff. Like driving. No one and I mean no one obeys all the rules, all of the time. It is impossible. Multas?  We should be rewarded with ribbons and ticker tape parades for surviving the roads of Nicaragua. 

  Though I live in the so-called Nicaraguan Riviera, we have some of the worst roads, roads that make you wish you were wearing an industrial sports bra and a  kidney belt, I kid you not. New tires every year, new shocks every year.  Alignment?  Are you kidding?   There is no such thing as a perfectly aligned car in San Juan del Sur.  I am not sure if there is even a car without front end damage here.  The trip between San Juan del Sur and the Pan American highway is the road to hell: twenty kilometers of axle-bending potholes, red dust, dirt, gravel, more potholes, detours, more potholes…well, you get the picture. Fortunately, the road is in the process of being replaced as I type this, but potholes breed faster than mosquitoes, so there will always be some road damage that will cause expensive damage to a vehicle. What I am trying to say is that my car is beaten daily and my hand-eye-rear-view-mirror coordination must be exceptional because I have yet to hit a cow, goat, pelibuey, horse, iguana, snake, chicken, pig, child, drunk, donkey, bird, turtle, ox, cyclist, school bus, tractor, or another vehicle on these roads, knock on wood. Except for the tree in the parking lot, but it was inevitably unavoidable. And the concrete planter box, but that was only because I was distracted by three children (none of whom share my DNA) screaming for my attention while I was trying to back into a blind spot. And...oh, never mind.