How Many People Can You Fit in a Moving Vehicle?

Once again here we are at one of my comical posts, the fun times of alternative, cheaper forms of travel: the Guatemalan edition. I had stayed in Xela (Quetzaltenango) for two weeks, and had organised a homestay with a Mayan family for the weekend through the NGO I was volunteering for. You can read more about my actual homestay experience too, but this comical drama is solely for the trip itself.

I’d say buckle up but there’s not really much seatbelt use here in Guatemala.

As I had solely been traveling in Canada and the States before this, the bus system in Guatemala seemed really daunting. I arrived at the bus terminal in Xela and managed to mumble some atrocious Spanglish about getting to the Lake (mind you this was after only two weeks of Spanish classes). A guy put me on a bus and told me that the driver knew to tell me when to change. I sat there as the only Gringa for a good 15 minutes until two others got on and sat next to me.  Thankfully they were heading to the Lake too, however we were all just winging it and hoping we’d figure out the direction.

More and more people jumped on the bus every stop. After the first 20 minutes I was compltetly squashed against the window as the bus hurtled along the highway, weaving along the edge of the mountains. There was a lot of energy put into trying to keep my stomach slightly sane at this point so I closed my eyes and tried daydreaming about something completely different. Soon I heard a voice yelling at me and realized that we had to get off at the next stop. When a bus and its aisle is full, and it is weaving along the road it is hard to make your way to the exit. Finally, after climbing on top of peoples laps and ducking under others arms we finally made it to the back and were pulled out so that the bus could get moving again.

So here we were, at a T intersection on the highway, absolutely busting, starving and a little lost. A few more poorly mumbled words to a lady and she allowed us to use her drop toilet for 2 Quetzales (AUD$0.40) each. That was a lovely experience, trying to balance my money pouch, undies and pants on my knees to avoid letting them touch the ground, where pilled of used toilet paper was lying in piles. Yum yum. After that little adventure, the three of us crammed into the three remaining seats in a mini van and hurtled along to the next stop.

I’m sure you’ve picked it up from here, but Central American’s don’t see the point of the phrase ‘at capacity’. They like to play a game called: How many people can you fit in or on a moving vehicle? And boy do they play well. If there was a spare centimetre, another person could fit in. And once the inside is full, then you can wait or just climb on top. Why waste time if there’s a nice little space up the top and no luggage? And so 20 people on the inside of the mini bus and five people on top travelled along to the next town.

Finally with space to breathe we clambered out and asked around Santa Clara la Laguna for the next mode of transport. Two young boys, excited at practicing their English led us through the markets to a ute with railing around the edges. This was the only was to get to San Juan without paying over 100Q for a tuk-tuk. In we climbed and down we went on one of the windiest roads I’ve ever seen. Good thing I had the wind in my face otherwise the contents of my stomach probably would’ve trailed behind the ute.

After 20 minutes we arrived in San Pablo la Laguna and dismounted straight into a tuk-tuk. The guy saw a friend along the way so picked him up too, so the five of us continued the drive around the lake. The people I’d met were driving to San Pedro la Laguna and San Juan was one town prior so I jumped out and wandered down to the jetty to meet my host mother for the weekend.

Google Maps says the trip should’ve taken 2 hours tops, but I endured 3.5 hours of little air space and bumpy transport. Honestly though, using the transport here is so thrilling and I was so excited for the return trip to Xela. (Update: the return trip took a boat, and four chicken buses and I loved it).