glorious chicken bus misadventures

the next stop was a 400 acre farm called the finca de ixobel, a place that we loved. we stayed in a tree house for 10$ a night and spent our time reading, doing art, swimming in their hammock lined lake, and hiking in their forests, fields, and waterways. at night they had family style dinners with some of the most delicious veggie food ever!

now there are sometimes two ways that you can go about getting to your next destination. 1 is much more expensive and much more comfortable. 2. is the chicken bus or the coopertivo, the local transportation!

there are such pluses and minuses to the both of them it can be hard. we do a little of both, but for the 14 hr ride (split over 2 days)to our next destination we chose to do the chicken buses.

there are chicken buses all over the world, and it simply means anything goes in chickens and all and as many people as you can POSSIBLY fit inside. in guatemala the chicken buses are either former u.s. school buses all painted funky like the Further bus from the Grateful Dead or 15 passenger vans.

15? HA! we were on one that had 34 people in it!!!

we had gotten dropped off at the side of the road in the middle of nowhere when a van pulled up and said they were going to our destination, we had been traveling since 3 am so we were stoked...until we came around and the door opened to reveal every possible seat taken including some impromptu seats plus some people sitting on each other's laps...but amazingly enough the driver gave a shove here and a push there and there was just enough (not really at all) for us to squeeze in forcing one or two guys to squat around the doorway with their necks all creaked crazy like. we were definitely uncomfortable and looking forward to getting there when we stopped to let one guy off, PHEW, right? oh no. oh no. OH NO! do these 4 70 yr. old men with chainsaws think they are actually getting on? oh yes. 1 guy off, 4 guys on. what? it was like the game twister random limbs squashed here and there and red's guitar over some laps! if i could have had room to breathe i would have laughed! of course none of the locals even batted an eye---they do this everyday!

on the schoolbuses, i think the most amazing part is the guy who works with the driver. the thing is, you don't buy tickets, you just get on and its always a mad crazy rush because there are no strict schedules, so if you dont get on who knows when you will go! on top of that, EVERYONE is getting on and off at different cities, villages, specific stores, homes, cross streets, or often in the middle of freaking nowhere with maybe a little dirt path meandering off into the fields!

and not only that but they dont just go through the front door, but also through the emergency exit in the back---we joke that everytime one guy gets off, three crawl through the windows! anyhow the job of the guy who works with the driver is to weave through that mess of jam packed people who have entered the bus in various locations and times and find out who's paid and who hasnt and who is getting off where---truly an act of genious!

ahhh.. but the rewards are that you really see how and where people are living. as we weaved down roads no better than river beds through steep and curvy mountains, you get a glimpse of these tiny villages and the amazing everyday lives of the indigenous people and despite that guy's elbow in your back and that woman's heel on your foot, you are thankful.