The Chicken Bus

Everyday, to get from Antigua to Guatemala city, I take what´s called a chicken bus, a uniquely Central American creation. This is basically an old school bus that has been repainted from its original yellow to a variety of bright colours, and is used as public transportation between cities throughout Guatemala. Often, they have a new front end put on, to help get through the mountainous terrain, not to mention achieve some pretty terrifying speed and unlikely acceleration. Each driver has an assistant to help collect fares, to direct the passengers to the bus and the vehicular traffic around the bus. They´re really good at the directing passengers to the bus part... so good that most rides feature 3 people in a seat designed for two, as well as numerous people standing (luckily, they´ve added some extra bars for holding on to). Pretty much all chicken buses (at least the reputable ones) have a name. Mine is called Primorosa and she´s been pretty good to me. (Actually, there are a few Primorosas... I think the name helps people figure out exactly the route it´s going on, or else maybe who owns it).

This week, I´ve developed an incredible knack for having the fattest lady on the bus decide to take the seat next to me. This is especially remarkable considering how skinny and generally small most guatemalans are - obese guatemalans must make up a very small percentage of the population. I´m not quite sure what I´m doing to make myself so irresistable to these particular females, but I would like to learn how to stop.

Tomorrow is my last day commuting to Guatemala City via chicken bus, as well as volunteering at the project. I´ll miss both the bus and the school. The fat ladies... not so much.