Driving...Outside the Gate

Today is Sunday, errand day. At home, that means hopping in the car, going to Wawa to pick up the Sunday Washington Post, then heading out to Wal-Mart, Giant, Home Depot, Target, PetSmart, or wherever else.

In Manila, it meant driving outside the gate for the first time.

We live in a very large gated community, large enough that we drove 10 minutes to church this morning (within the community) and still weren't at the back of the community. Driving inside is no big deal, as there isn't a huge amount of traffic. But to get to Ace Hardware, ShopWise and the Makati Supermarket to run my Sunday errands, I had to head outside and actually drive in the Philippines.

I've watched Bobby drive every time I've been in the car with him, trying to learn Filipino driving etiquette. Outwardly, it looks much like it does at home: traffic lights, octagonal STOP signs, lines painted down the center of the road. In reality, driving in the Philippines is more of an art form, knowing when you need to obey the red light, and when you're better off running it, when you should stay in your lane, and when you can squeeze three cars into two lanes. (We usually stop at the red lights, but not always, and we tend to ignore the lane markings, especially when they're not convenient. And when you're ready to cross oncoming traffic to make a left turn, we pretty much claim even the smallest break in traffic as our own.)

"There are only two kinds of drivers in the Philippines," Bobby told me, "offensive and defensive. And you have to be both. Sometimes at the same time."

Which is pretty much true, I discovered. I found myself following a car that had drifted to the left at a stop light, expecting him to turn left. Instead, when the light turned green, he gunned his engine and slipped in front of the jeepney in the lane to his right, leaving me totally exposed to the oncoming traffic.

So I did what any good Filipino driver would have done: I gunned my engine and made the left hand turn. It might have been against the light, and it might have been illegal, but it was also appropriate, given the circumstances.

I think I would have made Bobby proud.