Today I walked all by myself from the center of town back to mi casa without having to use my map. I felt very proud of myself for this. It was probably about a 30 or 40 minute walk with quite a few turns.
My walk home involves a lot of sprinting across streets and counting the blocks I've gone since there are no street signs. I've already mentioned how dangerous the traffic is here; I think I'm more worried about getting hit by a car than finding the correct way home. The other day I saw an old man crossing the street when no cars were nearby. One car came zooming around the corner and absolutely would not slow down for him. It honked for a full solid minute as it kept speeding towards the old man, eventually just going around him. It's dangerous because the cars come out of nowhere. Once in a while, one will stop to let a person cross, which makes it even worse because the other cars around that car wont stop and the pedestrian gets stuck halfway across the road.
I'm starting to recognize familiar landmarks on my way home, so I know when to turn even if there isn't a street sign. Some of the major streets have pretty distinctive features, like a train track or canal, so I can look for these and know where I am. I hope pretty soon I'll just have the entire city and micro system memorized.
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