Rotub* 

Traveling around Guatemala is a great experience. One particular mode of transport over there is chicken buses.

In America, a school bus is auctioned off once it has done a certain number of miles and quite often it will be purchased by Guatemala. It is then driven across the border, through Mexico and finally into Guatemala. Each bus is then reinvented from the inside and out. By the time it is ready for re-use its seats have been stripped out and replaced, it is super colourful with paint and posters, decked out with a dodgy sound system, and can fit about 700 people.

Chicken buses are dirt cheap compared to taxis or other bus services available. Most of these buses have been running for many years and therefore are falling apart. Basically, they are one of Guatemalas attractions, without even trying.

I was looking forward to every chicken bus but also by the end of each ride, I couldn't wait to get off. We sat in these over-cramped buses for hours and hours but while they are uncomforatable, it is definately the best way to see and experience Guatemala. I read about people choosing to have a day or brief experience in a chicken bus and thought that they were not commonly used by travelers. In reality, they are often the only option for getting from town to town. That is unless you want to pay big bucks for a tour company mini-bus shuttle. More often than not, it was usually the only, best, and/or cheapest option available.

They were always in a hurry, even though i'm sure they don't always run to or even on a schedule. As soon as you indicate it is the bus for your destination, your bags have been hurled up on top of the roof, and you are being shoved in the emergency exit door at the back - depending on how full the bus is already. Chances are that by the time you reach your destination, you will be sitting on or under people, not next to them.

Pretty much every time the bus stopped, without fail, locals would jump on and find a way to shuffle their way through - either front-to-back or back-to-front - selling strips of fruit hanging off a big collection of hooks they carried with them. A couple if times ladies with home made banana cakes would come aboard. They would jump off at the next "stop" and then another person would jump on selling exactly the same thing.

Each bus was run by two people - the driver and his assistant. It was interesting watching the assistant collect money from everyone on board. He would comb through the bus picking out all the people who hadn't paid and remembering those who had, I was impressed. He would have huge piles of money in his pockets - I wasn't surprised that these buses are known to be hijacked and/or robbed often. The chicken buses were one of many opportunities to watch locals in their every day lives, and sometimes talk to them. What we were experiencing was exciting, uncomfortable and risky but for the people packed in there with us, it was just another normal bus rude.