The Chicken Bus

I am no longer a chicken bus virgin, as I had my first trip on one today.

What is a chicken bus, you ask? Well, the first thing you need to know is that Guatemala is where old US and CDN school buses go when they die. And trust me, they go to heaven! Just look:

Before

After

I broke some common-sense chicken bus guidelines on my first trip. The first was not having a bag small enough that you could take on the bus with you. The second was not removing all (any, actually) items from the bag before it was placed on the roof. To compensate, I watched the loading and unloading of passengers and goods like a hawk. I concluded that the chicken bus is transportation's version of poetry in motion, with the bus barely stopping when picking up passengers, and the baggage and luggage handler securing loads to the roof rack while the bus carrens down the winding Guatemalan highway. When finished, the baggage guy climbs down one of two ladders on the back of the bus, enters through the rear emergency exit, and then recalls who's paid and who's not and collects back to front.

The 2.5 hour bus ride to Panajachel cost me 20 quetzals - about $3CDN. These incredibly low rates are entirely based on cheap labour - the driver I chatted with from the border to Xela described his 12-14 hour day for which he is paid just under $10CDN. Everything here is inexpensive - I just booked into a hotel with hot showers here in Pana for 50 quetzals, which is under $8CDN.

I have no photo of my first chicken bus, because my camera was securely (and safely, it turned out) strapped to the roof of the bus.