14th March 2011
We opted to take the several chicken buses to Xela. The second one was literally the scariest ride I have ever taken. I really don’t remember a country where the buses overtake ALL of the traffic and race the other buses around treacherous roads with huge drops on one side. The one from Chimaltenango to Los Encuentros was ridiculous, it overtook every single other car and bus in its path regardless of whether anything was coming the other way. Every person in the bus was having to hang on to the seat in front so not to fall off the seats although they seemed completely non plussed about it. One rather large mum couldn’t help squashing her 3 children into the side which sent her kids into screams of delight at every corner. My nerves were in tatters, my knuckles white and I couldn’t look at the road to see the latest more than near miss. I had to start naming the children and giving them hobbies and future careers so I could believe there would be a tomorrow! The bus actually drove one car off the road onto a dirt track so he could get past and all this to the beats of muy romatico love songs!
The buses here actually have a really interesting story which I would love to find out more about. Apparently they are school buses from the U.S which have gone into retirement and then they are sold at auction for the Central American market. When they are brought down here and given a complete overhaul; suped up engines, back tyres brought forward, sometimes cut down in size, an incredible paint job in an amazing array of colours and finally they are given names like Juanita and a couple of glittery Jesus stickers and then driven to their extremes.
The Buses seem to appear in the media alot here, particularly the buses in Guate (the capital). The main stories centre around the extortion that the drivers face and the robberies that seem to be a scarily regular occurrence. These days the ladrones are opting to rob the buses on the way into the city as it gives them more time in between stops to rob everyone on the bus. My teacher was telling me that passengers hide their money and belongings where they can leave a little available to try and satisfy a robber. People jump on and off the buses all the time here to sell a whole variety of goodies, beg for money or preach the word of god so it’s not unusual to see some appear from the back door as the bus is moving. My teacher was actually robbed once by person who dressed as a preacher, who gave a sermon to the passengers and then pilfered what he could!
The other interesting thing is how some of the Mayan communities here deal with law breakers. For example recently there was a case of extortion on a bus driver in the neighbouring town of Sololá. The bus owner ignored the demands for money so two people climbed on a bus one day and shot the driver and a stray bullet hit a passenger too. They managed to catch the 2 teenagers obviously hired to do the job or involved in a gang and the police held them in a cell. The local Mayans gathered together and marched to the police station and demanded the culprits be released. The police caved in once the group began aiming fireworks into the police station. Once they had dragged out the culprits they undressed them, took turns to beat them and finally tried to set fire to them. I don’t know whether the teenagers survived but this is justice in Mayan law, taking on an eye for an eye approach. The police were powerless to do anything as they are regularly overwhelmed by the people.
Still it’s a fun and uber cheap way to travel about Guatemala and the tunes are muy romatico.
