Sights of Antigua — Colorful Bus and Wall Texture
I have shared with you pictures or wall textures. I have also shared photographs of the colorful buses of Guatemala. However, I …
Colorful Bus at Corner Stop in Antigua Guatemala
Believe it or not, it’s been over a month since I last saw one of these colorful buses in the streets of …
Inside Peek Into The Public Transportation Buses in Antigua Guatemala
Here’s your illustrated Guatemalan Spanish word of the day: Camioneta for a public transit bus. Here’s a quick look inside a public …
Rainy Season Vistas from Antigua Guatemala
La Antigua Guatemala is a very small town, less than one squared mile, about 10 blocks in the longest dimension. You could …
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 …
Fuego Volcano’s Fumarole Backdrop for Chicken Bus Near Antigua Guatemala
Here’s the typical vista of a Guatemalan chicken bus, camioneta we call them here, en route to Antigua Guatemala. By the way, …
Fish-eye view of a colorful bus from Antigua Guatemala
Here I was able to capture the three of the four most popular means of transportation around Antigua Guatemala. Walking and cycling, …
New Year, New Ride and The #RealGuatemala
Okay everyone, let start 2014 with new goals for AntiguaDailyPhoto, more series, more people, more #RealGuatemala [let’s create a hashtag and category …
New Year’s Eve Celebrations in Antigua Guatemala
Yo no olvido al año viejo (I don’t forget the old year) Porque me ha dejado cosas muy buenas: (Because it left …
Hello, hello, you’re breaking up…
Oh the things Guatemalans must do to carry on a conversation via the cellular telephones without breaking up the call. Of course, …
Chicken Bus Acrobatics
How many times is this image repeated every day in Guatemala? I’d say a few hundred times since the ayudantes, helpers, often …
Colorful chicken bus stamp from Guatemala
Here’s an unusual and interesting bird’s eye view of the typical public transit bus which is used in most of Guatemala. In …
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 …
Colorful Public Social Transit Bus
These colorful public transit buses are just another way Guatemalans recycle the junk from the U.S. and Canada. Of course, we live …
Much Ado About Nothing
The chicken bus barely stopped while crossing over 4a calle oriente; the main artery that becomes the exit to Guatemala City. A …
Guatemalan Chicken Bus Kitsch
Among my photographic resolutions for 2011, I have written down: Documenting all the chicken bus kitsch decorations. How about a teddy bear …
Tuk Tuk Toy
Believe it or not, the tuk tuk motorcycles which are used as short-run taxis, tourist police patrols units and grocery delivery vehicles …
Jacarandas Trees Wear Violet for Lent
It seems like even Jacaranda trees want to be seen wearing the ever-present violet and purple color found over doorways, windows and …
Guatemalan Chicken Bus Junk Yard
Would you like to be the proud owner of this chicken bus junk yard? I take only serious offers… Tomorrow, December 7th, …
Colorful Chicken Bus Terminal
A quick trip to the handicrafts market provides a handful of colorful images like the one above. Stay tune for upcoming photos …
Chicken Bus Chronicles: El Ayudante
Ayudante is title for the guy in the orange shirt. El ayudante, the helper or assistant has in reality many jobs and …
Chicken Bus Chronicles: The Groceries
Sometimes things are so obvious that one doesn’t mull over them; that’s the way things are and you accept it. While taking …
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 …
The Tiny Story of Discrimination, Arrogance and Patronizing in La Antigua Guatemala
ACT 1: So there I was, consumed by own thoughts, after having had a few moments at the Benches at the Museo …
From Blue Bird to Green Quetzal
The typical Guatemalan camioneta (public transit bus or chicken bus for those who like the colourful derogatory term) is based on an …
Street photography or voyeurism?
I believe that I do tend to be a voyeur or obsessive observer when it comes to capture the most natural street life scenes. My goal is to capture the intriguing split-second scene. I do not like posed photograph, especially posed street photos because once the subject is aware of the lens the natural feel is lost; the window that I open for you into the daily life of La Antigua Guatemala is broken.
Marimba Orquesta Chicken Bus Ave Lira
Like Manolo said, with Marimba music as the background for many parties and celebrations around La Antigua Guatemala and the rest of the country, I can almost smell the pine needles under my feet and the tamales and ponche (fruit punch) in the air. Oh what memories… sometimes I even wish I could like this type of music. 🙁
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 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 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.
Antigua’s Public Transportation
These buses are known are chicken buses on most travel guides. They make a great postcard and if you ride them, they …