Just another average sunset in paradise!

Tuesday, April 24, 2012

Seven Topes Road

"There are stars in the southern sky, southward as you roam.  There is moonlight and birds in the trees down the seven topes road".  (Paraphrased from the Eagles' Seven Bridges Road.)  A tope is a speed bump.  The road below the house that runs along the beach was formerly without topes.  During Semana Santa (Easter week) there were no topes and the bumper-to-bumper traffic sped along creating mini dust storms.

You can see 3 topes in this picture; there are 2 past where the guy is watering and 2 more in the very bottom of the picture.

As you can see, it is a very short portion of road for 7 topes.


Now, two weeks after Semana Santa, when there is maybe 10% of the previous traffic, someone has installed 7 topes.  These topes are larger and steeper than the normal ones you encounter on the highways sued to slow traffic down as it passes through villages.  Even motorcycles and scooters are forced to come almost to a stop to cross these topes.  We will have to wait and see how long they last!

3 comments:

  1. Oh, man, what a PAIN! Even small speed bumps make me almost stop for the front tires and again for the back tires. I wonder why they put in SEVEN? That seems like a major overkill. It will be interesting to see if they have complaints and remove some.

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  2. One thing you can say for topes. They work, where speed limit signs do not.

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  3. They removed 2 large topes on the main highway between Aticama and San Blas just before Semana Santa. The ones installed on the beach road are probably just to keep the dust down and discourage traffic. By leaving the highway and driving along the beach for a couple of kilometers, the beach road cuts off 4 kilometers of winding road; sort of a back door to Aticama.

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