Tuesday, June 28, 2011

chicken buses and bartering

A chicken bus is really something you must see for yourself. Imagine an American school bus painted an assortment of other colors with a name like “Super Nina” written across the side. Now imagine it packed full of Guatemalans and a few young white travelers. That’s a chicken bus. Despite the rustic nature of this method of travel, I must say that the bus system here – both micro-buses within the cities and chicken buses that travel between cities – is super convenient, and of course, super cheap! My first experience on a chicken bus was the ride to Cantel with Katy last Thursday. To catch one of these buses in Xela you have to go to el terminal, where there is a row of buses heading off to almost any city you need to get to (and if not it’s super easy to change buses in a city on the way). At first I was concerned about trying to find the right bus to get on, but as soon as you exit the market and approach the line of buses, someone comes up and asks where you’re headed and then shows you to the right bus. When I got on the bus to Espumpuja with Katy on Friday I was taken aback by the number of people crammed on there. We made our way to the back and sat three to a seat with a man and his sack of potatoes?? By the time the bus actually pulled out the aisles were also completely packed with people standing and then at the next stop two or three more men got on in the back. One of the men had his arm right by Katy’s face and his backpack was resting on my head until I made an uncomfortable movement that sort of nudged him off of me. The bus also becomes a major selling place for venders prior to its departure from the terminal. Young boys wander onto the bus selling gum and others try to sell fruit in a bag, bread, coconut, candy and all sorts of other stuff. Also, if you recall riding on the bus as a kid, then you probably recall how much more you feel all the bumps and curves in a road on a school bus. Nevertheless, although I complain about the downsides to the chicken buses, I absolutely love them because they take me from point A to point B (which can sometimes be 2 or 3 hours away) for roughly 2 or 3 bucks.

If you ever go to Chichicastenango (which you should!) be prepared to barter. Anyone who has done much traveling has had experience with this. The Chichi market is filled with rows of venders selling blankets, weavings, pillowcases, hammocks, jewelry, sculptures, paintings, bags, shirts, masks, belts, candles and a whole lot more. It’s awesome just to walk around and look at everything because the market is filled with such beautiful colors, as is most of Guatemala. Beware, however, because as you walking it is very likely that a small Guatemalan women will starting following you trying to get you to by one of the many weavings she is carrying on her head, continually telling you “good price, good price.” Also, if you point at something the vendor will immediately start to take it down and ask you what price you’ll pay for it. I always have the vendor name the price first and then basically cut that price in half. One time I did this with a blanket that I was looking at but wasn’t even sure I wanted, and when I turned to leave lady finally accepted my really low price, which I didn’t expect. So then I was like crap, I don’t even know if I want this and ended up turning it down. It’s kind of easy to end up bartering for something you don’t even really want to buy…but hey I guess that’s part of the fun.

Newsflash: Hot showers. Yesterday I had my first legitimate hot shower, like steamy almost too hot hot. Here’s the crazy thing though…apparently Lucy and I had been using the shower wrong this whole time and the cold handle is actually hot! Before you laugh about how stupid I am, however, I’d like to say in my defense that I had tried that before and that when I got here I was told nothing of the sort.

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