Search Results for “chicken buses”

Chicken Buses are The Second Life of School Buses

Unless you have taken the path of La Marche de l’empereur, you haven’t heard about how everyone is living a virtual second life through a community web site. Well, old and retired school buses from the U.S. get to live a real second life as camionetas (the street name for public transit buses in Guatemala). Revue Magazine had an in-depth article about The Birth of a Camioneta (available as a PDF download) which detailed step-by-step how an old retired school bus became a powerful camioneta ready for the curvy roads of the mountain ranges of Guatemala.

Chicken Bus Terminal in Antigua Guatemala

This photograph and many of the images I have shared during the last ten days were made while leading a very intense and comprehensive one-on-ne street photography workshop. We shot inside the market, the bus terminal, the municipal cemetery, on the streets of Antigua Guatemala and the Mayan village of Santa María de Jesús. We shot in the morning, afternoon and at night. As part of this comprehensive workshop we also covered Lightroom workflow and editing and camera settings for different photo styles and best lenses for street photography and street portraits. If you would like to bring up the level your photography book a comprehensive and intensive photography workshop with me. I will be glad to share everything I know.

Vintage Chicken Bus Inside a Coffee Plantation in Antigua Guatemala

Often times I wonder why Guatemalans have this absurd fascination with the chicken buses, or camionetas as we call them here. I …

Guatemalan Chicken Bus Kitsch

I am truly convinced that Guatemalans can not do anything in a mild, neutral, gray manner. Guatemala is a country of extremes …

Chicken Bus Chronicles: DVD Players

The world infamous chicken bus reinvents itself again. The chicken bus that was born out of a retired school bus from our …

Chicken Bus Terminal in La Antigua Guatemala

Certainly there are other kind of buses in Guatemala, so, please can someone explain it to me, what is the fascination that …

Marimba Chicken Bus and Church of San Pedro

Well, well, what we have here… what’s up with that, why are Guatemalans so enchanted with the infamous chicken bus. I mean what makes Guatemalans take on the crappy junk and retired school buses from up north and give them a second life as public transit chicken bus, mobile libraries chicken bus and now as a marimba orquesta mobile unit chicken bus.

Chicken Bus and the Driver’s Assistant

Guate, Guate, Guate… vamos vaciooossss!

That is what you hear the chicken bus driver’s helper yell out as the omnibus makes its way back into Guatemala City. But there are all kinds of yellings: Antigua, Antigua, Chimal, Chimal, Chichi, Chichi, Xela, Xela and so on.

Guate, Guate, Guate… vamos vaciooossss! Guatemala, Guatemala, Guatemala, we are empty is what the driver’s ayudante (helper) would yell out if they are full, like this.

Chicken Bus Stop in La Antigua Guatemala

Chicken bus is the derogatory term used for Guatemala’s rural public transportation system. The chicken bus is the second life for the old school bus in the third world. The chicken bus ride can make for a great post card or provide enough material for your exotic travel chronicle. But, chicken buses do not make for a safe and quality transit system and as a such they do not have designated and built-for bus stops. The omnibus stops can be anywhere, including in the middle of the main entrance or exit to La Antigua Guatemala.

Inside the Mobile Library Chicken Bus

Some of you have asked to update yesterday’s entry about the Mobile Library Chicken Bus with information on how to help and how to send donations. Come on people, you did not think I was going to left the entry about bibliobuses there, right? I have three more photos to go, one per day, as that is our agreement. I will be posting all this information for you to help and donate to such worthy project.

Mobile Library Chicken Bus

Here is an interesting twist for the infamous chicken bus. Turn it into a bibliobús or mobile library bus so you can take the books to the communities that lack a library. For now, they have two bibliobuses, but I believe they will need a whole fleet to cover all the communities that do not have a library in Guatemala.

Now I know where I will be donating my next batch of books. The two mobile library buses belong to the Non-Government Organization (NGO) Probigua, which stands for Proyecto Bibliotecas Guatemala (Libraries Project of Guatemala). Come back in the next few days to learn more about the project and to see the inside of a “chicken bus”.

If you read, you succeed

The bibliobuses’ route takes them around Sacatepequez, that is the name of the State where La Antigua Guatemala is located—called Departamentos in Guatemala, visiting the villages around La Antigua for two hour per stop and returning every week. So kids with no access to public libraries, get the chance to read and check out the material in the mobile library chicken buses once a week. Here is the side view with the contact information of Probigua and their motto: Please Help Us to Help!