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.
