T-Nut´s first accident in Guatemala

I just learned the hard way that pedestrians are at fault in an accident.

I just got hit by a motorcycle.

I had randomly run into a buddy of mine and was hanging out with him and his townspeople for a bit. We were going to part ways as we were crossing the street. I was walking across the street and was almost at the median, and turned around to say bye to a volunteer and 2 of his townspeople. I looked to my left and no cars were coming. So I turned around and took my last step towards the median. All of a sudden, a motorcycle hit me and we both hit the ground. And then it started to rain. HARD.

All these people started surrounding us, and someone must have called the cops, b-c people were talking about it. Colin told me to call my trainer Carlos, but I didn´t have the number. Out of the 7 in our group, 3 have a phone and noone answered. Finally Derick called me back, and gave me the number. I called Carlos 3 times and he didn´t answer either. When he called me back my phone was wet and I couldn´t hear anything. Some random guys that were just watching, asked the kid how much the window costs to fix it. He didn´t know, but he said maybe 100Q. Some guy was like, well, that may cost less, maybe 50Q? He agreed, I paid him 50Q. Colin and his 2 townspeople and I jumped in a cab and got the heck out of there. The kid got on his bike and took off too. I don´t think he had a license and insurance, but we didn´t want to wait around for the cops to find out.

So what do I have to show for this? A bruised elbow and I´m soaking wet. Colin and his 2 townspeople he was with don´t live here in Xela (it was a fluke that I actually ran into someone I know, that too just maybe 20 minutes before), so we ended up at the bus terminal. I had to hop on two microbuses to get back to the center of town. I won´t be going near that area again where I had the accident.

Moral of the story... the bigger vehicle has the right of way. And even pedestrians have to check their blind spots. And a little bit of luck helps!

-T