Well, the beginning of Semana Santa (Holy Week) wasn't quite what we expected. Bill and I ride the KLR 650 that belongs to the mission into Antigua (about 8 miles of twisty road) every weekday for Spanish lessons. With gas at almost $5 per gallon, it makes so much more sense to ride than drive.
Yesterday morning, we were in Antigua, and heading down the main street into town. We were in traffic, as always (work starts at 8:30 in most places, and it was 8:10) and this car pulled to the right side of the road, going slowly. Bill moved to the left and just as we approached his rear bumper, the car made a left hand turn in front of us without using his blinker. We were not going fast, (it doesn't pay to go fast on cobblestones) and we started sliding as Bill tried to avoid the car. We went down low side, and slid probably 15 ft. Bill had his left shoulder rolled back as we slid, with his knee dragging the ground. Bill's head just missed the concrete base of the light pole. I was able to avoid everything but the light pole. The bike slid into the side of the car with it's front tire. No, the car didn't try to avoid us. He didn't even slow down, and Bill made eye contact with him as we connected.
Someone helped me get the bike off Bill. I have no idea who it was. Then I grabbed my phone and started making calls. Our director, Randy, was 40 minutes away. I called our pastor's wife, and Mike was there within 10 minutes. He called the insurance company for us, and then called the assistant pastor to come and translate.
Antigua has a group of people called PMT, and they are like reserve officers. They do a lot of traffic detail. Several of them showed up, and soon the "real" traffic cops showed up. The man who caused the accident spent an awful lot of time trying to blame everything on us. The bomberos(EMT) showed up and checked Bill and I over. Bruises on our left hands, Bill's shoulder is strained, and his knee...it looked like a 15 lb shot put by the time we got home. We were able to witness to the bomberos while we waited for the insurance guy to arrive.
We waited, and waited, and waited. Our insurance person arrived, and started to sort the whole thing out. Eventually, we told him to pay the man for the damage to his car (we never did see his insurance person) since it wouldn't raise our rates. The insurance man cut him a check on the spot. The pastor rode the bike to the church and called his mechanic (they both ride KLR 650's as well) to come get it. The damage (gear shift and handlebars replaced, fairing reattached) will cost us approximately $65 to repair.
We'll be back on the bike as soon as it's repaired. God blessed us in innumerable ways yesterday. He is good all the time. Most accidents don't turn out nearly this well. It's obvious to us that God had His hands all over us yesterday.
God Bless y'all!
Lisa
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