Driving in the Azores, you never know what's going to be sharing the streets with you. Cars, buses (the drivers are fearless- they drive down narrow streets that I'm nervous about in my minivan!), tractors, "putt-putt cars" (tiny little things with motorcycle engines), cows, and wooden carts pulled by a horse or donkey. Yesterday, I even saw a tiny, ancient man, staggering along, trying to carry an armload of long bamboo sticks down the middle of the road. That was a first. I think alcohol was probably involved. Add in the width of the roads, the fact that there is very little off-road parking, and the tendency of Portuguese drivers to stop in the middle of the road when they need to talk on their cell phone, and driving can often feel like an insane obstacle course.
Tuesday, I had a horse cart run into me! These carts are used all over the island, mostly to transport milk from the fields where the cows are milked to the central dairies.
The "crash" was quite dramatic- I was driving down a narrow street near our house, and the cart was coming towards me. Normally, the horses/donkeys that pull these things are bomb proof- nothing disturbs their quiet plodding. This horse, however, was a little nervous, and really didn't like it when a car passed him just before he got to me. For a minute, I thought he was going to run straight up my hood- I was completely stopped by this time, but he kept coming. At the very last second, the horse veered around my hood, but the cart ran into my bumper. I think it's probably a good thing I don't understand Portuguese very well, because the two people on the cart (a man and his teenage daughter) were really letting the horse know what they thought of him. They were pretty nervous that I would be angry, but seriously... what was I going to do? Ask for their insurance information? I just smiled and told them it was okay.
Luckily, when I checked the bumper, I found nothing more than a tiny black smudge from the cart tire. Even if there had been something more, it would just have added to the myriad scrapes that I have inflicted on the car since we've been here- there are just way too many tight corners, narrow openings through volcanic rock walls, and roads just barely wide enough for two cars to scrape (literally) by each other to avoid a few scratches. Fortunately, there hasn't been anything too serious. We're going to need a little body work when we get the car back to the States!
By the way, the picture here isn't one I took- just something I found online. This is a much nicer looking horse than most here. Normally, there are sad-looking little ponies pulling the carts.
Tuesday, I had a horse cart run into me! These carts are used all over the island, mostly to transport milk from the fields where the cows are milked to the central dairies.
The "crash" was quite dramatic- I was driving down a narrow street near our house, and the cart was coming towards me. Normally, the horses/donkeys that pull these things are bomb proof- nothing disturbs their quiet plodding. This horse, however, was a little nervous, and really didn't like it when a car passed him just before he got to me. For a minute, I thought he was going to run straight up my hood- I was completely stopped by this time, but he kept coming. At the very last second, the horse veered around my hood, but the cart ran into my bumper. I think it's probably a good thing I don't understand Portuguese very well, because the two people on the cart (a man and his teenage daughter) were really letting the horse know what they thought of him. They were pretty nervous that I would be angry, but seriously... what was I going to do? Ask for their insurance information? I just smiled and told them it was okay.
Luckily, when I checked the bumper, I found nothing more than a tiny black smudge from the cart tire. Even if there had been something more, it would just have added to the myriad scrapes that I have inflicted on the car since we've been here- there are just way too many tight corners, narrow openings through volcanic rock walls, and roads just barely wide enough for two cars to scrape (literally) by each other to avoid a few scratches. Fortunately, there hasn't been anything too serious. We're going to need a little body work when we get the car back to the States!
By the way, the picture here isn't one I took- just something I found online. This is a much nicer looking horse than most here. Normally, there are sad-looking little ponies pulling the carts.
2 comments:
It's puts things into perspective when you think of horses carrying the milk to the dairies, it sounds so quaint and unbelievable in this world we live in today. I think it's awesome you are experiencing a different culture and sharing their everyday life with us.
Jen forgot my favorite azorean vehicle. The farmers that are too rich for horses and too poor for tractors buy large roto-tillers that they hitch to a cart and drive down the road!-Tim
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