This evening we ran into the worst traffic jam I’ve experienced since I’ve been in the DR. Tonight our Branch, Los Arroyos, had an adult Christmas social and dinner. Hna. Johnson and I left in plenty of time to be on time but we didn’t get very far. A trip that we usually make in 20 minutes turned into an hour and a half and we had only made it a quarter of the way to the chapel. Several times on the main boulevard called the “Luperon” we didn’t move for over twenty minutes at a time.
One of the big problems Dominicans have with heavy traffic is the lack of law enforcement and common sense. Cars go any place they want and drive anyplace on the road or sidewalk that isn’t already occupied. A very bad habit they have is driving on the wrong side of the road. Cars will be backed up for several blocks and that’s when the cars in the back of the line will move to the left and pull forward using the lanes of the oncoming traffic, effectively blocking any cars from moving forward and clearing the intersection. That is what happened tonight, no one could move forward or backward, left or right. It was a mess, gridlock in the truest sense of the word.
After an hour and a half we had only made it down the road one mile so I called the EQ Pres. in the Los Arroyos Branch to let him know our predicament and apologize for not making to the party. We turned around and started back to our apartment but the “gridlock” was just as bad going the other direction. It took us over an hour to return to our apartment.
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