Well..we made it! Guatemala here we are! I have to admit I had my reservations about going. I knew I was always going to go but seeing as we were taking our two oldest children and leaving the two youngest with my sister..well that made me a bit uneasy. I knew the babies were going to be in great hands. I guess these feelings just come with parenting. It is not just me I am responsible for but my children as well. I did however really want my children to experience another culture and another country. What a great experienced for them! And seeing as it was my first time in Guat I figured it would be so much fun to experience it together. I really wanted to see it through their eyes.
Let me just start by saying that Guatemala is a FEAST for the eyes! Especially a photographers eyes! I don't even know where to begin so I will begin with the Chicken Bus.
The chicken buses are one of the most colorful parts of this country. Come to find out..the chicken buses are modified and tricked out school buses from the U.S. They are privately owned. And by the looks of them they are the owners pride and joy! They are called chicken buses because the local people usually transport live animals via chicken bus! They all have names on the back of them and I was told that the men (yes it is mostly men) driving these buses sometimes put their girlfriends names on the back.
Who really knows if this is true but let's just roll with it. So as we were leaving the airport in Guatemala City and heading into the hills toward Antigua I noticed these bright colorful brilliant buses passing us along the highway. They are driven at a speed that I am afraid of..especially when I am in a bus with too many passengers and driving along mountainous terrain. No thank You. The Guatemalan bus system is definitely a bit different from ours here in the states. There usually is someone hanging out the front door..and no, it is not a bus driver or anyone affiliated with the bus. Then as the bus stops.. the back door..you know the one usually saved for emergency exits here in the states? ..well that flies open and people jump off or on. It's true blue free entertainment.
They are so much fun to look at. I could not stop snapping photos of these colorful behemoths plowing their way through Guatemala.
