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Published: January 13th 2007
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Chicken Bus
Here is an example of the crazy Guatemalan Chicken Bus! Thought we should check in with you all and update you on our travels! After our fun packed time in San Cristobal De Las Casas we headed to the Guatemala border with a great French Canadian couple we met along the way. We were very fortunate that Luis was fluent in Spanish which made it much easier to get around. The border crossing was like something you´ve seen in the movies. We caught a bus to the nearest town and then we had to catch a taxi along all these dirt roads to the border. Surrounding the border crossing were km´s or local markets and people trying to sell you everything. We were all loaded up with our backpacks and we had to hike our way through to the border crossing which had chickens wandering around it and people wandering through. We paid our fees and walked on through to Guatemala!!! After some more hiking we were able to find our first chicken bus!! What an insane experience. These buses are the second hand American school buses which the Guatemalan´s do up and paint all these crazy colours. They then pack them full of people and all of your stuff sits
up on the roof along with chickens and ducks and basically everything you can imagine. Our bus took off like a rocket!!! The driver crunched his way through the gears and sat on the horn as he wizzed past every one else. I think we spent a 1/4 of the trip on the opposite side of the road. To top it off a guy got on and started preaching very dramatically at us in Spanish about this magic box of Ginseng that he had that could cure our whole family. I felt like I was in Charlie and the Chocolate factory when Willy Wonker takes them on that crazy boat trip in the tunnel. We then pulled into a town after about 2 hours and all these people poured onto the bus through the front and back doors trying to sell us food and everything you can imagine. We had decided on the town we were going to which is called Quetzaltenango - Xela for short. We met some girls on the bus that were studying in Xela and they said they new a great backpackers we could stay at and a great school we could study Spanish at. We
A quiet moment on the bus
Here we are with great Luis and Karen (French Canadians)in the front row and the girls that showed us where to go in Xela on the right. ended up in a fantastic, really clean, quiet hostel (maybe a little to quiet) for $35US a week each. The school was across the road which just happens to be the one I had emailed months ago and talked to the principle. So we signed up and have just finished 2 weeks of intense Spanish lessons. We each got an individual teacher for 5 hours of one on one a day. They don´t speak English so you have to bumble your way through in Spanish. We had lots of excursions, movies and economic and political conferences through the school which was very enlightening and very triste (sad). We learnt about the history of Guatemala and specifically the war in the 80s and 90s in which basically the indigenous people were being exterminated by their own government. Guatemala still has over 50% indigenous (majority Mayan) people, many who are still living their traditional lifestyles. Unfortunately they were mostly pushed up into the hills where they were left hardest and most difficult land to farm, up and down cliffs etc. It makes for incredible views. We managed to hike up a volcano and into the middle where there is a Lagoon which
An infamous Catholic church
This church was in a small hillside township and is very famous for the amazing colours on the front. There were nuns preying inside at the time. is considered one of the most sacred Mayan sites where they still hold ceremonies. We visited a saint called San Simone who moves between houses in Guatemala and stays for a year at a time in a village elders house. He was a super cool guy who smoked cigars and drank rum and he would except either of these offerings. Will gave him a cigarette which he appeared to enjoy. We road back from this class excursion in the back of a ute (pick up) that our teacher managed to hitch a ride in. We also visited some incredible hot springs with a group of friends we made through school. We caught a chicken bus to the bottom of the mountain and then you pay the driver of a ute to drive standing up in the back all the way up these amazing mountains. This is how alot of people get around here. It was the best way to experience it, as far as i´m concerned. We have met so many good people here and made some great contacts. We are heading off to some markets in the mountains tomorrow and then to some volcanos by a huge lake the
Saint San Simone
Here is the Saint San Simone enjoying a couple of cigarettes and his offerings. (No he is not a living person) next day so we are excited. We will then spend the next week making our way through Honduras and Nicuagra to Costa Rica where we will do a week of work exchange on an Organic Farm. As always we would love to hear updates of whats going on with you all!!!
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gina spigarelli
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you two rock my world...
like a couple of skullywags! besos de guate, *gina*