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Miraflores district of Lima, Peru. It is a community (on the Pacific coast) of about 150,000 in a city of almost 10 million. Everything from the beaches to movie theaters,grocery stores,churches,Bars,restaurants,hospitals,farmers markets,Universities is within a contained area of about 17 square blocks. basically if you can't walk to it, you don't need it. As we do not experience "weather" here, I am coming and going all day long. It is 11 pm and I just walked down the street for some M&M's and a bottle of water.
Miraflores district of Lima, Peru. It is a community (on the Pacific coast) of about 150,000 in a city of almost 10 million. Everything from the beaches to movie theaters,grocery stores,churches,Bars,restaurants,hospitals,farmers markets,Universities is within a contained area of about 17 square blocks. basically if you can't walk to it, you don't need it. As we do not experience "weather" here, I am coming and going all day long. It is 11 pm and I just walked down the street for some M&M's and a bottle of water.
I read an article recently, "Sitting is the New Smoking." Sedentary adults = disease. The adults that I know would not walk a few blocks to a store, they would drive. I think it's wonderful you found such a place. One of the reasons I loved my experience in Italy is that the elderly walk, even on cobblestone streets and uphill. I imagine it's that way in many countries. I think it's rather chic to walk, depending on one's attire.
Here we are on a plateau a few hundred feet above the Pacific Ocean. The only time you encounter a hill is if you are walking to or from the beach (you can take a paved walkway or walk up a few hundred very steep steps). As Miraflores is "Surf City" (surfing is the most popular sport) you are more likely to see people dressed in "DunkelVolk" in the summer and wetsuits in the winter when the temps drop down to the low 60's and occasionally the high 50's. We get thousands of tourists everyday and they are either young backpacker's or the very old 65-80 and they are all dressed like Indiana Jones wannabe's. While there are hundreds of sidewalk cafe's including 7 Starbucks within a 15 min walk of my apartment, For the most part it is only the "very old" who are dressed "smartly"!
I read an article recently, "Sitting is the New Smoking." Sedentary adults = disease. The adults that I know would not walk a few blocks to a store, they would drive. I think it's wonderful you found such a place. One of the reasons I loved my experience in Italy is that the elderly walk, even on cobblestone streets and uphill. I imagine it's that way in many countries. I think it's rather chic to walk, depending on one's attire.
This is one of the reasons why I am taking the bus to work these days. It is not a lot of walking but the more I get used to it now the easier it will be to get out and about as I get older I hope. I am also trying to stand at my desk more at work and walk to more of my errands.
This is one of the reasons why I am taking the bus to work these days. It is not a lot of walking but the more I get used to it now the easier it will be to get out and about as I get older I hope. I am also trying to stand at my desk more at work and walk to more of my errands.
I also believe that as with many things - you use it or lose it. If you drive very infrequently your driving skills may suffer.
Something to think about! During this transition period I'm going thru, using my car less and less, leaving the car in the garage for 5 days, I see this as a potential problem down the road, when I plan to ditch the car and call Enterprise Rent-A-Car when I get the itch to use one, like my co-worker does.
When I underwent that experiment, last summer, seeing if I could survive 2 weeks without a car, when I did finally drive I was a nervous wreck! It just seemed like, driving down the street, that everyone was speeding, everything going too fast for me. So I don't know how this is going to pan out, imagine going a whole month without driving and then drive again! I may get a couple blocks away from the rental office, turn around, and surrender the car!
I can also get confused now, taking the bus to work 2-3 nites out of 4. Some mornings I get off work and start heading for the bus stop, then realizing my car is in the parking lot! Yup! It may happen, I get home riding the bus, look in the garage, and no car! I call the police, my car has been stolen?
Something to think about! During this transition period I'm going thru, using my car less and less, leaving the car in the garage for 5 days, I see this as a potential problem down the road, when I plan to ditch the car and call Enterprise Rent-A-Car when I get the itch to use one, like my co-worker does.
When I underwent that experiment, last summer, seeing if I could survive 2 weeks without a car, when I did finally drive I was a nervous wreck! It just seemed like, driving down the street, that everyone was speeding, everything going too fast for me. So I don't know how this is going to pan out, imagine going a whole month without driving and then drive again! I may get a couple blocks away from the rental office, turn around, and surrender the car!
I can also get confused now, taking the bus to work 2-3 nites out of 4. Some mornings I get off work and start heading for the bus stop, then realizing my car is in the parking lot! Yup! It may happen, I get home riding the bus, look in the garage, and no car! I call the police, my car has been stolen?
I would suggest that if your driving skills (or maybe just your confidence) suffered after just two weeks without driving, then they were not all that solid to begin with. That's not a personal criticism, just an objective fact as I see it. Some people never do become very confident drivers, so they don't drive much and never develop that confidence. We see those people on the road - hesitant and unsure of themselves.
I've driven since age 16. I know I've driven more than one million miles, probably closer to two million if you include motorcycles. I've owned seven cars (I keep them a long time), all stick shift. I've driven in Europe, in Canada, and in Mexico. I've even taken one class on a race track, but that was on a motorcycle. I've owned dirt motorcycles (not street legal) and even had fun skidding them around in the snow. I've driven cars in snow, both with and without tire chains. I've driven rental cars, rental trucks, my sister's cars, my mother's cars, my father's cars. I've crossed the U.S. by car a number of times.
I know for sure that two weeks off would make zero differences in my skills/confidence, because they are too firmly engrained after a long lifetime. Nor do I notice any degradation of my reflexes or of any other skills, and I am a damn objective observer.
I know for sure that two weeks off would make zero differences in my skills/confidence, because they are too firmly engrained after a long lifetime. Nor do I notice any degradation of my reflexes or of any other skills, and I am a damn objective observer.
Said my mother-in-law, a few months before we took away the keys.
She was one heck of a driver. She didn't notice any degradation and protested vehemently when we suggested such.
You're different from her - how?
I was asked to give up my wheels as I was causing too many seniors in our community to have accidents. It seems that they get confused when they see me going down the road and they take their attention off the road and run into objects like cars, houses, telephone poles etal.
Oh did I mention I ride a Segway.
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Skills getting rusty from lack of pratice
Kind of like being young again - I remember trying to pass for 21 at 19.....
