My first question was “why is it called a Chicken Bus?”.
These buses run all through Guatemala, and are a cheap way to travel from town to town, and therefore, they’re used heavily by locals. And poor backpackers. From Guatemala City, there are only a couple of options to get to San Pedro on Lago Atitlan, an expensive taxi, or a cheap chicken bus – I took the bus.
I think a straight line between the two places is about 70km, but the road travels several hundred kilometers through winding foothills and steep limestone cliffs. From the speed you’re travelling, you’d think you’re in a BMW, but the cornering on this ride isn’t quite the same. It’s a schoolbus, with all of the owners attention going into a hopped-up paint job and shiny chrome, and no attention given to the mechanical safety of the bus, or learning how to drive it safely.
The locals pile crates of chickens on top of the bus, tied shut with mesh bags. Hence the name, Chicken Bus. Everything else goes on the roof too – bags, boxes, building materials, bikes, etc. The bus doesn’t really stop for too long for people to get on or off, so you have to be fast. If you’re getting off the bus, and you have something on the roof, a guy up there tosses it off in your general direction as the bus is driving away.
The bus was quite packed when I got off at Panajachel, so I literally had to swim through the Guatemalans towards the door. No one moves for you, they can’t, you just have to walk/swim over them.
I’m sure there are many more chicken busses in my near future, so maybe I’ll have a good story or two – hopefully not about hurling over a cliff or two wheel hair-pin corners at 80 km/h.
Talk to you soon. 🙂
