Los Conductores Locos

One thing that took some getting used to here is the crazy driving. Now let’s be clear – I’m from New York, where you can find some of the worst, craziest drivers in the US. Where jaywalking is an art form, taxis cut you off left and right, and everyone seems to be trying to get to their destination before an apocalypse hits.

However, to me La Paz seems like NYC on steroids (fine, maybe that’s a bit exaggerated, but that’s how it felt at first!). Take the same crazy driving – people cutting you off, leaving centimeters between your car and theirs, double parking in highly inconvenient locations, etc., and now: 

1. Make traffic rules practically nonexistent/ignored

2. Add in poorer infrastructure (like lack of traffic lights and non-intuitive street formations)

3. Completely get rid of that ‘pedestrians have the right of way’ nonsense

4. Make honking not only acceptable (at all hours of the day, of course), but also a vital part of navigating the city streets and letting pedestrians and drivers know that you disagree with anything/everything they do

8:15am traffic at Plaza Isabela Católica. Whose idea was it to make two sets of 4 (or 5?) lanes merge?!

No room to park on a narrow two-way street? No problem, just park on the sidewalk!

Welcome to La Paz! (and probably many other cities in Latin America) Now that I’ve been here for 2 weeks, I’ve definitely gotten a lot more comfortable with this concept, but it was certainly one of the first things that struck me about this city.

Ciao (yes, they say that here),

Emi