NEWSLETTER: MAY, 2007

In my letters I try and bring our world to you, or bring you to our world. Let me introduce you to the Tijuana driving we do every day. This falls into the “Why you pray for us” department.

Your missionaries drive in a daily world of traffic that would scare the best US driver. Even a seasoned New York cabbie would be in for a surprise. If you've been a passenger in a vehicle, or worse yet, the driver on a busy traffic day in Paris, Rome, Tokyo or Caracas you might understand the world of difference facing us as we drive across that magic line into Tijuana! I kid you not! The moment you enter the country it's every man for himself. You had better be alert, fast, aggressive and ready for adventure because that's what's ahead!

Driving in Tijuana often consists of swerving around chuck holes and open man-holes that could swallow a wheel as you try to spot the small "Alto" signs (stop signs) that are nailed to a tree while you're calculating the kilometer speed limit signs into miles per hour, wondering if the police car driving behind you is running the same math. A one-way street sign tacked to a telephone pole may be as small as ten inches and as far away as twenty feet from the street corner. Mexican drivers are macho with a capital "M"; translate that to courageous, aggressive drivers in older, beat-up cars and trucks that have seen previous action. Most could be classed as missiles. All of this can be quite intimidating to the novice driving a nice car.

Buses and taxis stop literally anywhere to pick up and discharge passengers. Double-parking and often triple-parking is quite normal here. A driver on your right can suddenly decide he needs to make a left turn and will cross three lanes of traffic to make that turn. Signals are optional. There is always someone who's got to make it through the red light. Pedestrians don't generally cross the lanes unless they are physically fit and able to run well. If they are not quick, they are dead. Many dogs lying along the side of the roads prove that point.

Then there are the gloryettas. A Mexican gloryetta is the same as an English “round-about” which is a whirling traffic merry-go-round. Entering the speeding counter-clock-wise traffic takes a good sense of timing and guts. Spinning out on the right street is pure chance.

Another thing I find unusual in driving Tijuana is how close the cars are to each other. In the evening when the traffic builds three lane roads suddenly turn into four lanes. The lanes become very narrow requiring us to drive in close formation, it's remarkable how fast you can go in formation. (A little like the “Blue Angles” on asphalt.) Let's put it this way, no one would be dumb enough to drive with his elbow out the window, not in Tijuana. And look! There are no barriers between lanes going in opposite directions, only a four inch yellow line which means we are often passing within five feet of each other going fifty miles an hour in the opposite directions. Talk about a real Baja race!

Bottom line: One major accident, our fault or not, and we all go to jail! Often to jail first and then the hospital.

I could fill several more pages with the exciting, exotic and dangerous differences we face in driving Tijuana. Unfortunately driving is part of our job! Thanks again for your prayers for safety on our behalf. We appreciate your part with us in ministry across the border.

For all of us at Spectrum, von

P.S. For you who live near us here in San Diego, we are in need of children's clothing. We use about two thousand articles of clothing a month and it adds up. We are pretty well out. Thanks.