Home Sweet Home (19 Jan 08)

As always, the trip was much too short and it was disappointing to have to leave. On the other hand, I consider myself very fortunate to have had even 4 weeks to travel this winter.

Here's the wrap-up of my trip:

The High Point: (Literally) Watching the first sunrise of the new year from the summit of Volcan Tajumulco, the highest peak in Central America.

The Low Point: (Literally) Diving to deeper than 40 meters in Belize's Blue Hole, the very limit of recreational, no decompression diving.

Best Wildlife: (Terrestrial) Jungle at Tikal. (Marine) Hol Chan Marine Park. (Wild life?) Antigua.

Buen Provecho! Best Food: Grilled lobster tail every night in Caye Caulker.

Best Beer: Moza, the lightest tasting dark beer I've ever drank. Still, it beats the hell out of Gallo. Belikin finishes as a distant second.

Best Ruins: Copan, Honduras. Most people would probably rate Tikal over Copan, but given the weather and the fact that I had to wake up at 3 in the morning for the "sunrise" tour at Tikal, I had a much more enjoyable time at Copan.

Best Digs: The peak room at Bella's Backpacker Hostel in Caye Caulker.

Most Relaxing: El Retiro, Lanquin.

Best Reason to Return: Jungle trek to the recently discovered Mayan ruins of El Mirador. If you are planning a trip to Guatemala and have a week to spare, look into it. Sounds fascinating.

A Final Note: The Chicken Bus

Two things which I suspect most people will never forget about their travels in Guatemala are (1) the prevalence of men armed with automatic rifles and assault shotguns, and (2) the equally ubiquitous chicken bus. This post concerns the latter.

There is a wide variety of transportation options in Guatemala: taxis and tuk-tuks for intra-city transport; private shuttles, pullman buses, and chicken buses for inter-city transport. Guatemala's tourist infrastructure has developed to the point where it is quite possible to visit most of the country's main attractions without having to step one foot inside a chicken bus. This, of course, ignores the possibility that riding on a chicken bus is one of the country's main attractions.

I concede that sometimes the comfort and convenience of direct intercity shuttles is just too tempting to pass up, particularly if you need to get from point A to point B within a certain time frame. There is no guarantee that a chicken bus will get you from A to B on time. Nor is there any guarantee that you'll even get from A to B at all. But one thing is for certain: the ride itself will be an experience you will never forget, and may even rival whatever it is you're planning on seeing at point B.

But this isn't to say that it will be a comfortable experience, or even a pleasant one. As the name suggests, one is likely to share a seat with a chicken or some other live animal hitching a ride with a local passenger. One is equally likely to not share a seat at all. Chicken buses are notoriously crowded, so don't be surprised if you find yourself standing in the aisle, squeezed like a sardine in a crowded sea of people.

Chicken buses, like many tourists in Guatemala, come from America--Texas, to be exact. They are mostly old school buses which have been deemed too unreliable, or possibly too unsafe, to transport American children to school. So they work their way south, where they end up, among other things, transporting Guatemalan children to school . . .

Each bus is given a new identity, along with an ostentatious paint job and a name, which is proudly displayed in the front window. To be perfectly frank, my mediocre photos fail to adequately display the elaborate ornamentation adorning most chicken buses. For a more comprehensive gallery of chicken bus photos, click here.

Contrary to what one would suppose (and as this photo suggests), chicken buses are actually a very reliable form of transportation. The drivers crazily navigate narrow city streets and winding mountain roads at excessive speeds--even though they stop frequently, they also make good time. Chicken buses are the only buses that I have ridden that regularly pass other traffic on the road!

Almost every chicken bus is elaborately decorated on the outside . . .

. . . but not so much on the inside.

Certain city intersections were so small that they required the chicken bus driver to execute extremely technical 4 or 5 point turns to navigate through. Fortunately, it always seemed like some random guy would appear out of nowhere to help direct the maneuver.