Mitzi and I made a quick trip to Liberia, Santa Cruz, and Nicoya to visit some pastors who had helped with the work in those areas. Left Friday, returned on Saturday. As you may know, the roads in Costa Rica are notoriously bad, but the roads toward Liberia are especially bad. It's not that they aren't paved. In fact, it might be better if they weren't. The problem is the huecos. Huecos are ugly cousins of chug holes, which are kin to pot holes. The trouble with huecos is that they are generally found in bunches, where chug holes tend to be more isolated. And huecos aren't like pot holes in a dirt road. Pot holes can be worn down and have smooth edges. Not huecos. These babies are sharp-edged and often deep. These demons can rip a tire right off the rim.
As we drove along, at times swerving crazily to try and miss the huecos, an analogy came to me. Driving along these roads is a lot like living life.
For one thing, much of the road is shaded by overhanging tree limbs. The mottled shadows on the road obscure your vison and make it hard to spot the huecos because they tend to lurk in the darkness and wait for you to fall into them. Most of our problems in life are unexpected. Although...at a couple of places there are warning signs. The signs say, "Caratera en mal estado," (Road in bad condition.) Interestingly, the signs are not temporary, but permanent, worn and rusty...(Does this tell you anything?) Maybe because these signs have been there so long, because they are old, because they aren't new and shiny, glitzy or sparkly, they just get ignored. (The Bible?) Some things are just going to be there. Be warned.
I discovered there are various ways to handle the huecos. One way is to follow closely the cars in front of you. Just do what they do. Problem here is that you will hit the same huecos they hit. Another method is to lay back a little and watch the car ahead. If he hits a hueco, take a different track. (Some say if you just go fast enough, you will fly over the huecos and the ride will actually be smoother....hmmm, I don't think so.) Based on my own research, I think the experience of others is helpful, but keeping a close eye on the road and your hands on the wheel is a good tactic. You can't just stop. You have to keep going, but to ignore the menacing huecos in the road would be foolhardy, not to mention dangerous and expensive.
Another challenging element of journeying through hueco country is that they aren't consistent. The road is smooth for a while, then, wham, here they are again...no warning, no leading up to them...You are just suddenly in huecolandia again. Often as you are leaving a huecoous area, you meet cars approaching,usually at a rapid pace. The thought comes,"Wow! They better slow down. They're going to hit those huecos too fast and tear up their car." Once we saw a shiny, surely new, Porsche RUV coming. I hoped he wouldn't tear up his nice expensive car. We briefly debated whether the huecos would do damage to a car that expensive or if a car that expensive should be able to withstand the shock of the huecos. Don't know the answer to that, but I suspect that huecos will tear up any car if hit without care. Would have been nice to have been able to warn all the oncoming cars of the danger ahead.
That's kind of a part of what we want to do. Life is full of dangerous huecos. You're going to hit some of them, but many can be avoided with care and proper warning. We want to help people and give them a warning sign and some instructions...albeit a sign that many see as old, rusted, out of date, and irrelevant. But properly heeded, that sign can help us avoid many of the huecos of life.
