What an interesting place to drive! The laid back Puerto Rican nature finds its way onto the roads. Many "creative" drivers make creative driving for others a must, so it is both tolerated and practiced by all, resulting in most automobiles being banged-up, yet left un-repaired. Drivers show patience for the unorthodox maneuvers and silly mistakes of others; horns are used much less than in most places, where a similar situation would surely induce angry honks.

Imagine you're the driver, and picture: sunlight breaking through intermittent rain showers to give a bright shine to the roads, the occasional wandering chicken, cow, or man on horseback, and cars constantly inching their noses into passing traffic as they wait to turn or cross. Colors of paint cover everything, from telephone poles and fences to the facades of all buildings, where neighboring houses never repeat the same hue. It makes you wonder why all that time spent painting was never applied to creating lines for separating lanes on the roads.

Great confusion is caused by a simple flaw: Odometers measure miles driven, and speedometers and speed limit signs show MPH, but distances on maps and road markers are measured in kilometers. The resulting conversions kept me thinking, while unfamiliar signs in Spanish kept me guessing.

All there is to see and react-to creates a sense of chaos, and gives some form of exhilaration to a first-time driver of Puerto Rican roads.