Dos Gringos, no tan lejos de gringolandia...: chicken buses y fotos

hiya!

antigua was its usual tranquil/monotonous/picturesque/unfriendly self. but it was so great to see KEN TU and visit with his friends. it was nice to catch up on DC gossip while eating and drinking well. we also paid a few visits to our friends, gerson & nery, at Fat Cat Espresso. so yum. they´re both getting ready to compete in the guatemalan national barista competition, which is in a few weeks in guatemala city. i would love to go and watch because there are only 16 baristas competing, but yoga will likely keep me here for the weekend.

kevin and i returned from antigua last night after a grueling five hours. don´t get me wrong- chicken buses are certainly cheaper, and the duration of the trip is usually the same as a shuttle. for whatever reason, yesterday i began in a mood... which probably did not help our luck.

chicken buses are used in guatemala like the only public transportation from town to town. they are run by individuals (it seems), and like other business ventures here, they don´t always do things on time. when the buses fill up, they keep letting people on. capacity? nah. that doesn´t matter. it´s not like we´re driving on pot-hole-infested roads, on the edge of dirt cliffs or winding around tight switch-backs of a mountain with baskets and crates full of who-knows-what on the top of the bus.... no problem. let all those women with babies on when there are no seats. and don´t forget the men with machetes and such... let them on too. always three or four to a seat on usually an unpaved road with a driver who is oblivious to a speed limit (if there is one) or the road lines (which say don´t pass on the turn). anyway, it´s like this. you get the idea. loads of fun.

when the man came to take our money for the ride, kevin gave him 2 Q20 and 2 Q5, totally Q50 for the both of us. as kevin was reaching for his other Q5, the man mixed the bills. he took the Q5 and said "veinte más." we said, "no, hay cincuenta ahí para ambos. le doy en total. no más." this arguement went on for what seemed like an eternity, and i became quite scared that kevin might want to fight this guy.... for those of you who don´t know him well, he´s fairly stubborn. all the other passengers were eagerly looking on, not vouching for either party (which is also very typical here... every man for himself and the rest are bystanders). eventually, the man relented and passed us, continuing to collect quetzales from everyone else. each time he passed to collect from new passengers, i held my breath. when we finally exited the bus, he let us go w

ithout a nod, almost like he forgot that he attempted to rip us off and failed. basically, i was so glad to get home last night... even if we (excuse me- kevin, not me) had to kill lots of spiders that had occupied our house in our absence.

oh, by the way, before we left for antigua, we found and killed a scorpion in our bedroom. sigh. so there´s that. success.