everything you’ve heard about transportation in central america? well, i’m here to tell you that it’s most likely true. this past week i think i can say i’ve earned my central american travel badges-- i rode in a chicken bus, stood in the back of a pick-up truck, and yesterday i was not so sure if the launcha boat was going to make it across the lake.
transportation story numero uno: this past wednesday was the festival of san pablo (think of a neighboring town’s july 4th celebration—only this one had more fireworks than i’ve ever seen in my whole life combined). a few of us from school decided that we wanted to go check it out said festival. san pablo, however, is a small town that you can’t access by launcha (the fun of this boat ride is described later). our choices were pretty much a tuk-tuk (the equivalent of a small taxi) or to stand in the back of a pick-up truck. we (and by we, i mean everyone else but me) chose the pick-up truck. now, as someone who spent three years of her life in college doing undergraduate research on safety belt use, the idea of standing with 10 of my closest friends in the back of a pick-up holding onto a crossbar over my head through curvy mountain roads wasn’t exactly my idea of safe. but a girls gotta do what a girls gotta do. and honestly, it was kinda fun.
transportation story numero dos: did you ever wonder where your bus from elementary school went? well, it’s right here, in guatemala. seriously. chicken buses, as they’re affectionately known here, are old buses from the united states painted all sorts of fun crazy colors. so, the deal with chicken buses is the driver pretty much makes as much money for as many people as he can fit in the bus. obviously, this leads to about three times the maximum capacity of persons in a bus. this past saturday paige (friend from school), nicholas (teacher from school) and i took a chicken bus to a neighboring town to go hiking. we arrived a few minutes before for the 7 am bus with just enough time to find seats in the back of the bus. that is, until we started picking up more people. before we knew it, it was 3 people to a seat plus one person a person in the middle of the rows. lucky for us, our ride only lasted about 45 minutes. but this bus was headed for guatemala city, a good 5 hours away. at one point, up the switchback mountain roads (have i mentioned before how scary they are? perhaps i’m just not enough of a seasoned veteran yet), the bus wasn’t going to make it around the curve, so, of course, the driver begins to put the bus in reverse. no big deal-- i’m only in the back of the bus and about to be off the side of a mountain. but these guys are really skilled drivers and for the number of chicken buses (a very cheap form of transportation), there are actually very few accidents.
transportation story numero tres: if not traveling by pick-up or chicken bus, the fastest way between towns around the lake is a launcha boat. but when i woke up yesterday morning and saw how windy it was, i knew our trip across the lake to panahachel was not going to be fun. at the time, however, i just didn’t know how much fun it was not going to be. paige and i arrived at the boat dock around 11 am and waited a good 30 minutes for the boat to fill up for the subsequent 30 minute boat ride across the lake. launcha boats sit pretty low in the water, so even though this is a lake and not an ocean, a few white caps and some wind make for a very bumpy ride. and that is exactly what it was. after we left the dock, water immediately started splashing in the boat, soaking pretty much everyone in the first few rows, including us. at one point the driver put a life jacket on the only child on board (never a good sign) and the rest of us found ourselves counting the number of life jackets in the boat (there weren’t enough). we were all calculating if it was too far to swim to shore, at which point i concluded, should it came to that, i was going out in the middle of the lake. but, i always say if i go out doing something i love, i’m okay with that—in theory, at least (right, hurricane irene cabana survivors)? the upside to said horrific boat ride was during this time paige and i made friends with a lady from guatemala city sitting in front of us. she said every time she crosses the lake when it’s this windy she vows she’ll never to it again. inevitably, of course, she does. our new friend (whose name i honestly can’t remember) works for an NGO in antigua educating young mayan women on health and reproductive health issues. The NGO (which i also forget the name of—population council, maybe?) uses a community-based model of social change (horray!) employing older mayan women to mentor younger girls-making sure girls finish school if they want to (often girls are married before that happens), on nutrition for families and children (often people working on farms, especially, produce food for other people but need to make all the money they can so they don’t have any fruits or vegetables left for themselves), and overall assuring girls they have choices in life. oh, and this NGO recently begun partnering with another organization in antigua comprised of women producing fair-trade bracelets (apparently one of the lines has already been picked up by ralph lauren). dang, i may need to go back to antigua after all. good news is about 30 minutes later we all safely arrived at the panahachel dock and later that afternoon took a much smoother boat ride back to san pedro.
so yes, it is true, all those stories you've heard of transportation in central america. it's always an adventure. but i kind of like it.
