The Day of the Scooter (El día del moto)
When I started this day, I knew that it was slated to involve a little day-trip down south to the beach for lunch and some R&R and conversation with my friend, Pastor Armando. I had no idea, however, the adventure that was in store for us, nor the priceless memories that would come out of it. In the months I have spent in Limón, Pastor Armando had invited me to lunch on a few different occasions, to chat, discuss ministry opportunities and challenges in Limón, and just to get to know each other better. The last outing we had decided that one day we should go down south to the beach at Cahuita – a beautiful spot about an hour or so south, and I had told him that this time it would be on my tab. Since my time in Limón right now is running out, when I visited his church yesterday we decided to do it today, his “day off.” We met at 8am and hit the road in a southerly direction. About halfway toward Cahuita, Armando suggested that we trek a bit further south to another beach, Puerto Viejo, where we could rent scooters or bicycles and relax and ride around the little beach towns.
We arrived in Puerto Viejo around 9:30 am and stopped in at a rental shop to inquire about bicycles and scooters (or moped, or whatever you want to call it). I was thinking, hmmm, this could be fun – either bikes or scooters – but it was a bit cloudy and looked like it was going to rain at some point, and I thought surely the day would not hold out for 6 hours of riding. After a breakfast of toast (from homemade bread) and coffee at a cute little café owned and operated by Italians, the sky had cleared up a bit and we made our way back to the rental shop. Armando was all about the scooter, and I thought sure, that’d be great. The rental shop guy (who was from Colombia – you meet people from everywhere down here) started doing the paperwork and setting us up with a cute little red scooter (only $15 for 6 hours – not bad huh?!). I was thinking, this will be great, I’ll hop on back, just relax, maybe learn how to drive it a little, how perfect. Then Armando said, “Don’t we both want our own?” and I thought, “Well that could be quite fun too…” but the man said he just had one available, so I was back on board my original train of thought. And then the guy that was working for the rental guy said that we could use his own scooter so we could each have one. So just like that, in a matter of a few minutes and a bit of paperwork, I was looking over the red scooter and inspecting for pre-existing scratches and damages to record, as you would when you are renting a car.
Now let’s keep in mind here that I have never ridden a scooter or this sort before, nor have I ever driven a motorcycle, and I only had a little experience with ATVs when I was a kid. But I thought it couldn’t be that difficult, it is a simple-looking little thing and we weren’t going to be driving on any major roads or anything. The thing is though, the guy who was sending me off of the scooter failed to really inform me at all how to operate the thing – only “here is the starter button, push this and then twist the handle bar like this to give it gas.”
So here is where the fun begins. I am sitting on this scooter, helmet on (thank the Lord), and I am about to make my first tracks out of the rental shop and up the slightest of inclines and onto the road. Well, even this little slight incline proved to be a bit of a challenge and my first little twist of the handle didn’t do much and I started to roll backward, so I twisted it a little more. But that turned out to be a little TOO much of a flick of the wrist and I sort of darted out (not really at a fast pace though) of the driveway and into the street and then there came this little truck in the other lane and I realized that I didn’t know how to stop my little scooter and my first reaction was to twist the opposite way on the gas handle. Well, guess what? That doesn’t do anything. (I know that some of you more experienced scooter/motorcycle drivers are probably dying right now, but wait, it gets better, or worse…) So in a split second I am on this crazy little machine I can’t seem to control and I am headed in the path of a vehicle and I am not stopping. All I can do now is offer my best at describing the scene that unfolded: me trying to turn the scooter away, I don’t think I ever really found the brakes but I definitely remember myself pulling backward on the handles (as if that was going to do something), and my leaning body and turning the handlebars causing the scooter to tip on its side as my front tire hits the front left tire of the truck and I manage to let out a little scream and the scooter comes to rest on the road and I manage to keep my balance as I hop away from this “possessed” contraption. In the meantime, I have seen my life flash before my eyes (well not really) and I am thinking that before making it out of the driveway I have not only lost my $100 deposit but gotten myself into an accident with a real motor vehicle.
The guy at the rental shop came out to rescue me as the man in the truck got out of his vehicle and everyone within sight and sound of the area came out to see what all the excitement was. The man in the truck was a nice guy – he gave a quick glance at his car, said “nothing happened,” asked if I had hurt myself (I said no), and wisely told me to take it a little easier on the gas next time. Obvious, but true. The guy at the rental shop help me get the scooter up and this time decided to give me a bit more instruction as to the operation of such machinery (where the brakes are for starters) and told me that I needed to be a little gentler with the accelerator. Once again, obvious but true. Armando of course came out and made sure everything was alright, and then we both made it successfully and safely into a forward motion along the road. Needless to say my heart was racing from the little brush with disaster, and I definitely felt more than a little bit embarrassed about my lack of scooter skills. So as we scooted off down the road it became a little more comical, and even more so as we fled further from the scene and my heart and pulse assumed a more normal pace.
So now we just got to enjoy the pretty tropical scenery and beach views on our fun little motor scooters. The weather kept clearing up for us and it was turning into a beautiful sunny day as we puttered off down the road to a couple beach towns further south. The great part about the road here was that it was practically deserted as far as motor vehicle hazards. We definitely passed more people on foot, bicycle, or scooter, than in a car. A common Costa Rican hazard that we did face, however, were the potholes in the road or sometimes the little road among the potholes. It’s kind of a unexplained phenomenon to me. On this one little road that dead-ends at the last beach there are portions of great road, portions scattered with potholes, portions where there are more potholes than road, and other portions where there is no road at all – rather sections of dirt, gravel, and rock. You are going along smooth, cemented road and then it transitions to dirt and gravel and you might think, “okay, this is where the road ends and now its gravel for the last few kilometers” but no, suddenly its nice and smooth and paved again, then potholes, then gravel, and then one of those famous one-lane Costa Rican bridges. Always an adventure.
Okay, so Armando and I made it about 10 kilometers or so down south to the beach at Manzanillo, sat on the beach a little, rode around some more, and then decided to have lunch at a great restaurant called Maxi’s. It may be popular because it is really the only restaurant in Manzanillo, but it also has good food. I had eaten there both of the first 2 times I had been to Manzanillo – back in April during my first weekend in Costa Rica, and also in July when the group from Colorado came on their beach day. We had a great lunch, including some fabulous grilled corn on the cob, some sort of squash purée-mix thing that I don’t know what exactly it was but it tasted good, grilled veggies for me, baked plantains, salad, and the popular Caribbean dish of “rice and beans” that is made with coconut milk. After our lunch, which took quite a bit of time because although the food was good the service was anything but prompt, we headed back to the scooters to make our trek back to Puerto Viejo. Mine started up just fine but Armando had a bit of trouble getting his going. After several failed attempts to use the automatic starter, he remember the rental guy had told him that sometimes it had troubles starting and had explained a way to start it using a foot pedal thing. Well that didn’t work for him either, so there we were, 10 kilometers away from our rental shop and with only one functioning scooter. It was now almost 4:00pm and I had to be back in Limón for my English class at 6:30pm so we definitely didn’t have a lot of time to dealing with a dead scooter. Armando called the rental shop and the guy told him to give it about five minutes, then do a couple little things and try the foot-start method again and if that didn’t work, then he would come down and pick us up. As we were waiting this guy with a table full of handmade jewelry and the like was trying to sell us his goods. He was a nice enough guy but we weren’t really in the mode for shopping, just for getting our scooters back on the road.
After five minutes we were definitely praying for some life from our little friend Blue Scooter as Armando gave it another shot. This time it sputtered to life and Armando gave it some gas to keep the motor running. Only thing was, out of enthusiasm and excitement that it was back in action, he forgot to squeeze the breaks as he did so. So the scooter leaped in a forward motion, and once again my heart when into a panic in a split second as I saw the scooter heading straight toward our neighbor the entrepreneur and his table of carefully laid-out jewelry. I had visions of impending doom as the scooter would crash with the table, knock off the jewelry, and maybe even continue in its destructive path into the bar and patio behind. Praise the Lord though that it all came to a halt with the bike stopping at the feet of the salesman and at the edge of the table, and the only damage being a glass bottle that broke as it fell off the railing that Armando had a slight collision with. As I realized that no major damage to person or property had occurred, my only thought was “let’s get out of here.”
Once we were safely scooting ourselves far, far, away, I couldn’t help but burst into laughter as I relived the scene in my head and pictured the startled face of the jewelry man as the scooter came darting toward him, only to halt a hair’s length away from his table of goods. Plus there was Armando’s equally startled face followed by a look of relief and embarrassment. I suddenly had an idea of what I must have looked like during and after my whole scene with the truck in the street, and how Armando must have felt as he watched me, unable to do anything. We both laughed our way home, as our racing hearts were brought down to normal speed once again. Now we knew exactly what it was like to be on both sides of the story – the one to be having the “out of control” moment and the one to be useless and helpless as they watch with visions of destruction flashing before their eyes. We both were ready to get back to the rental shop, turn in our scooters, get our full deposit back (please, please), and be back in the car where it was safe! Ha! But we did indeed make it back without further incident (and enjoyed ourselves along the way, too) and upon complete inspection of both scooters, the rental guy did return our full deposit. So by 5:00pm we were back on the road headed toward Limón, a little later than planned, but safe and secure and quite pleased with our great day and the adventures and stories we had added to our repertoire. Lesson of the day: Scooters are very fun to ride and appear simple to operate, which is true if you know where the brakes are and remember to apply them when starting. And as a helpful hint: don’t try and make your first tracks on the scooter in an uphill fashion while trying to turn and merge into traffic, nor attempt starting within 10 feet of a jewelry salesman and his stand. Happy scootering!
We arrived in Puerto Viejo around 9:30 am and stopped in at a rental shop to inquire about bicycles and scooters (or moped, or whatever you want to call it). I was thinking, hmmm, this could be fun – either bikes or scooters – but it was a bit cloudy and looked like it was going to rain at some point, and I thought surely the day would not hold out for 6 hours of riding. After a breakfast of toast (from homemade bread) and coffee at a cute little café owned and operated by Italians, the sky had cleared up a bit and we made our way back to the rental shop. Armando was all about the scooter, and I thought sure, that’d be great. The rental shop guy (who was from Colombia – you meet people from everywhere down here) started doing the paperwork and setting us up with a cute little red scooter (only $15 for 6 hours – not bad huh?!). I was thinking, this will be great, I’ll hop on back, just relax, maybe learn how to drive it a little, how perfect. Then Armando said, “Don’t we both want our own?” and I thought, “Well that could be quite fun too…” but the man said he just had one available, so I was back on board my original train of thought. And then the guy that was working for the rental guy said that we could use his own scooter so we could each have one. So just like that, in a matter of a few minutes and a bit of paperwork, I was looking over the red scooter and inspecting for pre-existing scratches and damages to record, as you would when you are renting a car.
Now let’s keep in mind here that I have never ridden a scooter or this sort before, nor have I ever driven a motorcycle, and I only had a little experience with ATVs when I was a kid. But I thought it couldn’t be that difficult, it is a simple-looking little thing and we weren’t going to be driving on any major roads or anything. The thing is though, the guy who was sending me off of the scooter failed to really inform me at all how to operate the thing – only “here is the starter button, push this and then twist the handle bar like this to give it gas.”
So here is where the fun begins. I am sitting on this scooter, helmet on (thank the Lord), and I am about to make my first tracks out of the rental shop and up the slightest of inclines and onto the road. Well, even this little slight incline proved to be a bit of a challenge and my first little twist of the handle didn’t do much and I started to roll backward, so I twisted it a little more. But that turned out to be a little TOO much of a flick of the wrist and I sort of darted out (not really at a fast pace though) of the driveway and into the street and then there came this little truck in the other lane and I realized that I didn’t know how to stop my little scooter and my first reaction was to twist the opposite way on the gas handle. Well, guess what? That doesn’t do anything. (I know that some of you more experienced scooter/motorcycle drivers are probably dying right now, but wait, it gets better, or worse…) So in a split second I am on this crazy little machine I can’t seem to control and I am headed in the path of a vehicle and I am not stopping. All I can do now is offer my best at describing the scene that unfolded: me trying to turn the scooter away, I don’t think I ever really found the brakes but I definitely remember myself pulling backward on the handles (as if that was going to do something), and my leaning body and turning the handlebars causing the scooter to tip on its side as my front tire hits the front left tire of the truck and I manage to let out a little scream and the scooter comes to rest on the road and I manage to keep my balance as I hop away from this “possessed” contraption. In the meantime, I have seen my life flash before my eyes (well not really) and I am thinking that before making it out of the driveway I have not only lost my $100 deposit but gotten myself into an accident with a real motor vehicle.
The guy at the rental shop came out to rescue me as the man in the truck got out of his vehicle and everyone within sight and sound of the area came out to see what all the excitement was. The man in the truck was a nice guy – he gave a quick glance at his car, said “nothing happened,” asked if I had hurt myself (I said no), and wisely told me to take it a little easier on the gas next time. Obvious, but true. The guy at the rental shop help me get the scooter up and this time decided to give me a bit more instruction as to the operation of such machinery (where the brakes are for starters) and told me that I needed to be a little gentler with the accelerator. Once again, obvious but true. Armando of course came out and made sure everything was alright, and then we both made it successfully and safely into a forward motion along the road. Needless to say my heart was racing from the little brush with disaster, and I definitely felt more than a little bit embarrassed about my lack of scooter skills. So as we scooted off down the road it became a little more comical, and even more so as we fled further from the scene and my heart and pulse assumed a more normal pace.
So now we just got to enjoy the pretty tropical scenery and beach views on our fun little motor scooters. The weather kept clearing up for us and it was turning into a beautiful sunny day as we puttered off down the road to a couple beach towns further south. The great part about the road here was that it was practically deserted as far as motor vehicle hazards. We definitely passed more people on foot, bicycle, or scooter, than in a car. A common Costa Rican hazard that we did face, however, were the potholes in the road or sometimes the little road among the potholes. It’s kind of a unexplained phenomenon to me. On this one little road that dead-ends at the last beach there are portions of great road, portions scattered with potholes, portions where there are more potholes than road, and other portions where there is no road at all – rather sections of dirt, gravel, and rock. You are going along smooth, cemented road and then it transitions to dirt and gravel and you might think, “okay, this is where the road ends and now its gravel for the last few kilometers” but no, suddenly its nice and smooth and paved again, then potholes, then gravel, and then one of those famous one-lane Costa Rican bridges. Always an adventure.
Okay, so Armando and I made it about 10 kilometers or so down south to the beach at Manzanillo, sat on the beach a little, rode around some more, and then decided to have lunch at a great restaurant called Maxi’s. It may be popular because it is really the only restaurant in Manzanillo, but it also has good food. I had eaten there both of the first 2 times I had been to Manzanillo – back in April during my first weekend in Costa Rica, and also in July when the group from Colorado came on their beach day. We had a great lunch, including some fabulous grilled corn on the cob, some sort of squash purée-mix thing that I don’t know what exactly it was but it tasted good, grilled veggies for me, baked plantains, salad, and the popular Caribbean dish of “rice and beans” that is made with coconut milk. After our lunch, which took quite a bit of time because although the food was good the service was anything but prompt, we headed back to the scooters to make our trek back to Puerto Viejo. Mine started up just fine but Armando had a bit of trouble getting his going. After several failed attempts to use the automatic starter, he remember the rental guy had told him that sometimes it had troubles starting and had explained a way to start it using a foot pedal thing. Well that didn’t work for him either, so there we were, 10 kilometers away from our rental shop and with only one functioning scooter. It was now almost 4:00pm and I had to be back in Limón for my English class at 6:30pm so we definitely didn’t have a lot of time to dealing with a dead scooter. Armando called the rental shop and the guy told him to give it about five minutes, then do a couple little things and try the foot-start method again and if that didn’t work, then he would come down and pick us up. As we were waiting this guy with a table full of handmade jewelry and the like was trying to sell us his goods. He was a nice enough guy but we weren’t really in the mode for shopping, just for getting our scooters back on the road.
After five minutes we were definitely praying for some life from our little friend Blue Scooter as Armando gave it another shot. This time it sputtered to life and Armando gave it some gas to keep the motor running. Only thing was, out of enthusiasm and excitement that it was back in action, he forgot to squeeze the breaks as he did so. So the scooter leaped in a forward motion, and once again my heart when into a panic in a split second as I saw the scooter heading straight toward our neighbor the entrepreneur and his table of carefully laid-out jewelry. I had visions of impending doom as the scooter would crash with the table, knock off the jewelry, and maybe even continue in its destructive path into the bar and patio behind. Praise the Lord though that it all came to a halt with the bike stopping at the feet of the salesman and at the edge of the table, and the only damage being a glass bottle that broke as it fell off the railing that Armando had a slight collision with. As I realized that no major damage to person or property had occurred, my only thought was “let’s get out of here.”
Once we were safely scooting ourselves far, far, away, I couldn’t help but burst into laughter as I relived the scene in my head and pictured the startled face of the jewelry man as the scooter came darting toward him, only to halt a hair’s length away from his table of goods. Plus there was Armando’s equally startled face followed by a look of relief and embarrassment. I suddenly had an idea of what I must have looked like during and after my whole scene with the truck in the street, and how Armando must have felt as he watched me, unable to do anything. We both laughed our way home, as our racing hearts were brought down to normal speed once again. Now we knew exactly what it was like to be on both sides of the story – the one to be having the “out of control” moment and the one to be useless and helpless as they watch with visions of destruction flashing before their eyes. We both were ready to get back to the rental shop, turn in our scooters, get our full deposit back (please, please), and be back in the car where it was safe! Ha! But we did indeed make it back without further incident (and enjoyed ourselves along the way, too) and upon complete inspection of both scooters, the rental guy did return our full deposit. So by 5:00pm we were back on the road headed toward Limón, a little later than planned, but safe and secure and quite pleased with our great day and the adventures and stories we had added to our repertoire. Lesson of the day: Scooters are very fun to ride and appear simple to operate, which is true if you know where the brakes are and remember to apply them when starting. And as a helpful hint: don’t try and make your first tracks on the scooter in an uphill fashion while trying to turn and merge into traffic, nor attempt starting within 10 feet of a jewelry salesman and his stand. Happy scootering!
posted by Dynasty goes to CR at
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