Chicken Buses!

Much of my travel in Guatemala was done on what are commonly referred to as 'Chicken Buses'. Besides being vastly cheaper than first class tourist buses, chicken buses are an awful lot of fun, that is, if you don't mind a little discomfort. You can end up standing for an hour or two on the most windy roads or you can be squished between people and realize that personal space has no meaning. You become well acquainted with G-forces as the buses make sharp turns at high speeds and your body tries to keep moving straight. Newton would have had a field day on these buses. I have to admit that I left Guatemala feeling disappointed that despite all the time I spent on chicken buses, I was not accosted by chickens even once. In fact no one even brought a chicken onto the bus. But it's a great name for a type of bus.


I am not sure if you can read the name of the bus, but it says "Huehue Mesilla". I thought that I had to become quite familiar with the names of the towns on my way to La Mesilla so that I did not take the wrong bus and end up in the middle of nowhere. I was wrong as it seemed that (literally) everyone was looking out for me. Other passengers would ask where I was going to be sure I had gotten on the right bus. Once I had missed a turnoff where I had to change buses. Having seen a sign indicating that my destination, Panajachel was down a different road, I realized first, but everyone around me immediately helped to get my backpack down and people whistled to get the drivers attention. I felt a real warmth for Guatemaltecans after this.