The Sidewalks of San Jose

The interesting thing about sidewalks here is that they are not maintained by the city. They are maintained by the homeowner whose property touches it. As you can imagine, this makes for not only a wide variety of styles, but of conditions as well.
Some are bright green or red stamped concrete, some your ordinary variety, some non existent. Most are riddled with cracks, potholes, and dips, rugged enough for a four wheel drive adventure! Not to mention the super slippery moss on shaded areas that is slick as ice in the frequent down pours. It does make the walk to school a bit of a job hazard, especially when you throw in the lack of crosswalks and whizzing taxis.
Actually, we have been throughly impressed with our $20 umbrella strollers that have managed to navigate surprisingly well! We have also enjoyed the exercise it brings as we each maneuver a stroller about 20 minutes up hill to school and back, sometimes twice a day.

Oh, and did I mention the "gringo catchers"? Basically uncovered manholes at the corner of most intersections, named such by the locals who have seen more than one unsuspecting foreigner fall prey to it's depths. In all seriousness, one student of our school a few years back fell in one and broke both legs!
Please pray for our safety as we get back and forth to school each day. We know the Lord is with us, every step!