Every time I walk down the street in Honduras I feel like I am spurlunking- over, under, across all sorts of obstacles- there was definitely no forethought in their design. I guess I am hypersensitive to the condition and quantity of sidewalks in any given city because I am always thinking “Could I push my mom’s wheelchair here?” The answer in about 95% of the cities and towns in Honduras would be NO.
Each morning I am faced with the question, “Should I walk on the 6 inch sidewalk, over piles of burning trash, that at any moment could end or have a 8 foot holes for apparently no reason? Or should I walk in the street, where cars drive 90 mph and cannot see pedestrians, dogs, or other cars that might be in their path?” Because there is no clear choice I am stuck with a hybrid obstacle avoidance technique. I start off in whichever path has less immediate obstacles, then I continue on that path until something major deters me and I switch. In a 5minute walk I will change from street to sidewalk about 6 times, on average, I am keeping some pretty impressive stats.
Sometimes I try to watch how Hondurans walk down the streets, but they always seem to stop and talk with someone every 20 feet and so I cannot detect their path decision-making. The one thing about the sidewalks is that they keep the same walk interesting day after day because you are never quite sure what you might encounter.
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