Guatemalan Chicken Buses

I am going back in time to July to do one more post on Guatemala. It was a fascinating country with a lot of culture and history. With such an interesting history its only right that you would find some current day interesting twists going on in every day life.

One such twist is the transportation of the common person. The slang term is the Chicken Bus. These reinvigorated school buses are more than just functional and inexpensive modes of transport. They are highly unique and colorful.

The bright color is more than just for fun or branding it is actually a way for an illiterate person to recognize the correct route. The different colors represent the route from different towns and villages. The drivers and fare takers do not rely on this alone. At every stop they are yelling out the doors and windows the name of the final destination. As we walked through Antigua more than often we heard the steady call of Guate Guate Guate. This is the oral cue that this bus is going to Guatemala City come on board.

But why Chicken buses you might ask? As you can see from the picture above the buses are outfitted with a large roof rack and they will haul anything (fruits, pigs, chickens etc.) So not only can you travel for cheap farmers can move goods to market as well.

We saw all manner of bus customization beyond just coloring. Some of the more memorable things were a baseball player trophy top as a hood ornament, Back off mud flaps and of course Spinning rims, oh yea.

I am not sure that I can recommend this mode of transport to the average person. I saw on steep mountain roads buses pass each other on blind, hairpin corners. I vividly remember honking horns, smoking brakes and the door open with the ticket taker hanging out the door smiling and yelling at our car as they flew past. I vainly tried to console myself with the thought that an American school bus is an incredibly sturdy vehicle. Of course, this only made my relative frailty all the more obvious as we were in a small min van private car we had hired.

The chicken buses are cheap; but then they can be dangerous, are certainly uncomfortable and, with any luck, slow. Yet I recommend them highly (Cindy and I took one, kinda of a been there done that experience). For local color and character they can't be beat. Besides, think of all the stories you can tell when you get home.