More lessons from travel

    We are spending almost three weeks in Oaxaca Mexico learning among other things about international travel. As I said in the previous post, the ADA does not apply down here.Almost every building has several steps to get in. The picture below illustrates a local restaurant.

One interesting observation has to do with transfer boards. When I was first injured I was taught to transfer, that is get from a chair or bed to a wheelchair or back, using a board connecting the two locations. Since then I learned how to transfer without a board with one exception - getting in and out of cars. The distances are long and there is frequently a difference in height. On other trips we have rented a car and took a board. The board could remain in the rental car until we left. This time we took a long board anticipating its use. However we did not rent a car - depending on taxis and hiring a driver. The problem is that if you use a board on a taxi trip to downtown, then you need to carry the board all day. I rapidly decided that I was really good enough to get in a car without any aid.
     The taxis in the city are subcompacts with the seats at about the same height as the wheelchair. One day we hired an SUV where the seats are about  a foot and a half above the height of the chair and where was no way that I could get in without some assistance. Even getting out was a real challenge.
      Yesterday we went to Monte Alban, a pre Columbian Zapotec site about 20 km out of town. Normally I woiuld not even try to go to a site at the top of a mountain with many hills. Monte Alban has made an effort to make the site wheelchair accessible. An elevator takes you up about 10 meters to  a plane covering most of the lower levels of the site. I was able to roll around the lower levels of the site - clearly the steep Zapotec  steps were out of the question.Also like all of the museums we have encountered so far, admission for the disabled is free.
     Of course sometimes you get what you pay for. One museum on Oaxaca is in an old convent with all the exhibits on the second floor and no elevator. The steps look like this.

Needless to say I sat on the lower floor while others went up.