I LOVE CHICKEN BUSES

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  Quetzaltenango, Guatemala, Guatemala
Thursday, December 27, 2007

I love Chicken Buses!  Perhaps I havenīt ridden on enough or when it is super hot and muggy, but after about 8 in two days I figure I have a good assessment.  I love their speed, the spirited, if not forced disappearance of personal space, the bus driverīs assistant crawling all over the top and the people hanging out of the doors. 

Chicken Buses rule the road.  Forget the 18 wheelers, move aside all because here comes the colorful speed demon of Guatemala.  I love sitting on the outer edge of a seat and holding onto it so that I donīt fly into anyone but I do anyway because it is impossible to avoid.  I love the women who adopt you for a few hours after youīve asked some crazy question about where you are going.  I love the women nursing their babies while two other children sit on their laps napping.  I love that my bag is whisked away and strapped onto the top of the bus only to be thrown at me in a rush as I get off

Chicken Bus aka Camioneta

.  I love that the Chicken Bus stops at seemingly random places to let people off and on.  I love the snack sellers who jump on the bus, yell at you to buy a variety of snacks and jump out the back door (thereīs a back door?!) as the bus hits the road again.

I love that when you change buses people yell and point at the bus you hope is the right one (and may not be).  I love that I can travel most of the Western Highlands in two days on 8 buses for less than $10 and that people laugh and smile sheepishly when they fall into you and you into them.  I love that despite the awful exhaust fumes that the layered view of the mountains is still better than anywhere I have ever seen.  I love all the dust that flies around when you are riding along a narrow twisted dirt road and that the leaves of all the plants are completely covered in dirt for a good 30 feet. Then the speed demon comes across another Chicken Bus on this snug dusty route with about 10 cars and trucks behind.  This requires someone, anyone, to jump out and conduct street control by telling the buses when to back up and in what direction.  I love that passengers will lean over you and stand up to see the daily traffic jam.  I love that people are just as curious and oddly drawn to traffic difficulties in Guatemala as anywhere else Iīve been.

I Love Chicken Buses!!!

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