Chicken Bus

Ann and Bill shared my opinion about San Marcos and Ann took me to San Catarina for breakfast to see a real village. All the way there was very spectacular. In the city, after breakfast, we walked through the very narrow streets/sidewalks among people's houses, "Buenas Dias, Senor". Everyone was greetings us. The village looks like a very poor counterpart of Santa Barbara. It's located on the hill overlooking the water. Ann was showing me the houses traditionally made of clay and grass and now covered by sheets of metal to serve as roof (instead of the roof tiles used in the days of yore). She said that what killed people in the earthquake of 1973 was the walls collapsing and the metal sheet falling down. But in general the villages around Lake Atitlan didn't suffer as much as other towns in that earthquake. I came back by a chicken bus. I talked to MariaElena and she said the possibility of an armed robbery is the same on a chicken bus as on all other buses including the shuttle buses used by travel agencies. The travel agencies charge $24 round trip to Panajachel and the chicken bus is $2. There are also buses called "Pullman buses" which are retired Grayhound buses. They are about $10 round trip. There are also retired North American school buses which are even cheaper than the chicken buses but I think they operate on shorter distances. The chicken buses are called chicken because chicken travel on them as well as passangers but I saw goats and pigs coming out of the buses, too. The first part of the trip was a joyful ride with a group of guys from Israel. I didn't ask them but I think they just completed their time at the army and were enjoying themselves. I was sitting first next to Pele and we talked for a while and then a father with a four-year old daughter sat next to me and she slept streched out on our lap. The views were beautiful (it looked like a different route than the one we took with Ann and Bill), the driver seemed rackless to my standards and I had butterflies in my stomach a few times taking turns down the mountains. I had to change buses about 20km before Antigua and that was the yellow school bus. I couldn't believe how many people got into that bus. I was standing, squeezed from all four sides. And the person charging the fair was constantly squeezing back and forth between me and the squeezed people. But everyone was laughing, the ac was on - windows open all the way down knoting women's hair and bringing clouds of dust, khe, khe - so it was a fun ride. The owners of Luna Maya greeted me as if I was part of the family. I will stay there during my studies ($75 per week room and board). I am getting so sleepy that I will go back to Luna Maya and take a warm shower (if I am lucky, and if not, it will be a cold shower) and get to bed earlier tonight... Sweet dreams everyone...