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| Traffic police and raised tope on Rueda Medina in centro |
Topes, the ever-present driving hazards in Mexico, are actually speedbumps
designed to modify the Formula-1 habits of local drivers. Topes
come in many shapes and sizes, and in our opinion they are all annoying. Necessary but annoying.
There are the raised yellow-and-white striped crosswalks,
one of the few places in Mexico where the pedestrians have the
right-of-way. These are usually near
schools, or busy areas such as the original exit from the passenger ferry
terminal on Isla Mujeres. Usually these topes are controlled by traffic police using
hand gestures and several sharp notes of a whistle to snag the attention of
drivers distracted by Smartphones, selfie-sticks, or bikini-clad tourists. Afternoons on Rueda Medina can be bedlam with
visitors disgorging from tour boats and passenger ferries. The combination of well-marked crosswalks and traffic
police reduce the number of close encounters of the painful kind, between
people and vehicles.
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| Topes slow down the speeders - a little |
Then there are the normal topes, the narrow, recycled-rubber contraptions that are bolted to
the pavement. These hard bits of latex
can give drivers a nice back-shaking jolt when crossing. The good thing about this style of tope is
they are visible even on rainy nights as their distinctive yellow and black
stripes are part of the rubber compound, not just painted on the surface.
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| Hand-made tope sign on right |
A nasty unpainted bump is located on the south-western
side of the island, near the horse coral, and across the street from the
construction site for a new house.
Rubber-necking the progress of the new-build is guaranteed to give you a
sharp thump of surprise when driving on this stretch of road. I’ve done it so many times the construction
crew cheers when I actually remember to slow down and traverse the tope at a crawl. Driving past the crew this morning they
pointed at a recently installed hand-made tope
warning sign. That was good for a
chuckle, and a photo.
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| Moto pathway through tope |
In that same stretch of road near the never-completed Unik Hotel (Unique) is a series of half-sphere metal bumps. There is no easy way to cross these teeth-rattling
orbs, unless you happen to be riding a moto.
Someone has thoughtfully removed a bump, one each side of the road,
creating a pathway for a narrow wheel.
Experienced moto-drivers give a little hip waggle, dodging to the right
and then left, whizzing away.
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| Doesn't look that bad - but our Mini scrapes on this one |
There are two extra high topes on the island that cause our low-slung Mini Cooper a bit of
navigational difficulty. One is the muffler-scraping
lump in centro on Matamores just west of Olivia’s Restaurante. With two people and one small dog in the car
it’s a slow crawl for us, taken at a forty-five degree angle to get over the
steep-sided speedbump. When we have
friends with us in the car we don’t drive on that block of Matamores. The
other problem tope for our car is
near the bakery in the Salinas Grande neighbourhood. It’s a slow, and noisy scrap over that one as
well.
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| Moto slowing for unmarked and unpainted tope |
But our absolute least favourite type of tope is the raised bump in the pavement:
black and invisible. The sharp bump will
rattle your back teeth if you don’t have all the topes mapped out in your head. These are the sneaky gotchas, where the original yellow cautionary paint has been worn
away by vehicle tires and rainstorms. The
once visible metal warning signs are typically a victim of rust and corrosion,
either laying on the ground or missing entirely. The southbound lane of the double-wide Passeo
de Aves, near the YZA Farmica has one of these invisible lumps. No sign.
No paint. You have to rely on
your memory: or not!
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| Snoozing in paradise |
And finally, there are the warm and fuzzy topes: sleeping dogs. Snoozing on a warm street is a favourite
pastime for local pooches.
Keep your
eyes peeled for these guys. They are
just enjoying a nap on their little piece of island paradise.
Hasta Luego
Lynda & Lawrie
