Yesterday was my day to learn how to ride a motorbike. These are the things we do on our days off on a Sunday...
Some of you know I have wanted to learn for a while and have always meant to take the course at home but never got around to it before moving to Haiti (right Tracy?). Well I wait no longer!
Through a mission friend Laurens has got a couple bikes that he uses to toot around the mission. I had one small lesson with Laurens previous but yesterday I had time to learn and practice.
As many of you know, I like to tackle things head on so I figure let's learn how to ride a motorbike in Haiti, on the rocks (some of them boulder's actually), down/up a mountain hill with a lot of corners! Laurens assures me that if I can learn on this, then when I learn a bike in Canada it will be a piece of cake :)
My ATV driving years have helped. I only fell once. OK I was getting the hang of letting out the clutch and giving it gas in first gear and for the most part only stalled it. It was when I decided to rectify that and give it more gas (too much) that it leapt from me and I did a graceful tumble off. Graceful it may have originally felt but the landing on pointed rocks and unforgiving ground did NOT feel good. Bruised left hip, left hand, left knee and right elbow.......not bad!
After my tumble it was try, try again. I was able to drive the rough terrain quite a bit and started to get used to the bike. When I felt that my clutch hand could go no further, Laurens told me to ride it home. For those of you who have been here you know that riding it home from the hospital means riding it up a very steep, long rocky road with huge gutters.... then at the top, it means turning a corner on loose gravel, big rocks, and in the middle of a gutter. No problem I thought, just scrape me off the ground when you get there.
With the security guards and orphanage kids cheering me along the way, I made it all the way to the top and brought it to the perfect stop at home. I have a long way to go but am off to a good start ;) Another great day in Haiti.
Cheryl
2 comments:
Love it! Sounds like something I'd be up for trying too. :)
Way to go mom! Wish I was there to see it! My time in Haiti made me love Moto's as you know. My mother hates the very thought of me on them. But I think I would one day learn too!
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