We are both pretty tired at this point. Early starts and late to bed have taken their toll. This morning was again a very early rise in order to catch the local bus, fondly known as the chicken bus as basically anything can and does travel on this bus. Only four of the group traveled on the chicken bus and two stayed behind to try and await a technician to retrieve their cards from the ATM (later turned out to be a scam and they had been removed from the machine), and one of the group was very ill and her dad stayed with her. We would later meet them at Chichicastenango (otherwise known a Chichi). The chicken bus turned up typical of Guatemalan time (that is when it felt like it). A chicken bus is an old yellow American School bus that has been sold by the US to Guatemala for public transportation use. Quite often the bus has a name and is generally painted in very bright colours.
We finally boarded the bus, which would comfortably seat forty children. This bus had 64 people, mainly adults. Generally three people were squeezed on a seat and otherwise standing and sitting in the aisle. No chickens inside this particular bus, but lots of bags on the roof. The bus had one driver and one person responsible for collecting fares and getting the baggage on and off the roof. No easy feat when the bus stops only long enough to pick people up and drop them off. Luggage is tossed off the roof and the man quite often stays on the roof whilst the bus is moving or opens the back door and climbs in whilst the bus is driving.
Most of the chicken bus drivers take their life in their own hands. Cars are overtaken on blind corners and we realized maybe it is best not to look out the front window of the bus. As they say, ignorance is bliss. The old bus combined with the bumpy roads made for a brain rattling ride so we moved to the centre of the bus to try and reduce the bumpiness. It worked – slightly. We arrived in Chichi around 90 minutes later, glad we had survived the chicken bus experience.
The reason for the stop at Chichi was to visit the massive markets which are held there twice a week. The markets sell everything imaginable. We first stopped at our meeting point, a local hotel. It had a number of colourful birds and a man playing possibly the worlds most annoying instrument in the courtyard. The markets were packed with 4.5 feet high Guatemalan's all carrying huge loads on their backs!
We walked through the markets which were packed down to a mask museum. It was quite interesting as five generations of family had been making these traditional masks so we saw some from the 17th century to today and three maximons!!
We shopped in Chichi picking up a few things for a few hours and headed back to our meeting point at the hotel for a quick lunch before heading off in our van to complete the rest of the trip to Antigua. Around an hour into the trip the accelerator cable on the van broke and we ended up having to pull over on the side of the hill. We were immediately pounced on by people wanting to sell us things. A ninety year old woman with a collection of sheep took exception to Dan and started slapping him and hitting him. We all thought it was quite amusing. Our driver did a fine job with a bit of roadside wire, an elastic band and a elastic hair tie and accelerator cable fixed, we were on the road again to Antigua, arriving in the dark. 
We walked down the road for about 20 minutes for one of the best meals we have had so far and then called it a night. Dan had a "cervesa" called a michelada. Heinz Tomato soup with salt, pepper and lime with beer. This is the only "beer" (if you could call it that) I couldn't finish ever perhaps. Nope the second, the first was a chilli beer at the Sail and Anchor in Freo.
We finally boarded the bus, which would comfortably seat forty children. This bus had 64 people, mainly adults. Generally three people were squeezed on a seat and otherwise standing and sitting in the aisle. No chickens inside this particular bus, but lots of bags on the roof. The bus had one driver and one person responsible for collecting fares and getting the baggage on and off the roof. No easy feat when the bus stops only long enough to pick people up and drop them off. Luggage is tossed off the roof and the man quite often stays on the roof whilst the bus is moving or opens the back door and climbs in whilst the bus is driving.Most of the chicken bus drivers take their life in their own hands. Cars are overtaken on blind corners and we realized maybe it is best not to look out the front window of the bus. As they say, ignorance is bliss. The old bus combined with the bumpy roads made for a brain rattling ride so we moved to the centre of the bus to try and reduce the bumpiness. It worked – slightly. We arrived in Chichi around 90 minutes later, glad we had survived the chicken bus experience.The reason for the stop at Chichi was to visit the massive markets which are held there twice a week. The markets sell everything imaginable. We first stopped at our meeting point, a local hotel. It had a number of colourful birds and a man playing possibly the worlds most annoying instrument in the courtyard. The markets were packed with 4.5 feet high Guatemalan's all carrying huge loads on their backs!
We walked through the markets which were packed down to a mask museum. It was quite interesting as five generations of family had been making these traditional masks so we saw some from the 17th century to today and three maximons!!We shopped in Chichi picking up a few things for a few hours and headed back to our meeting point at the hotel for a quick lunch before heading off in our van to complete the rest of the trip to Antigua. Around an hour into the trip the accelerator cable on the van broke and we ended up having to pull over on the side of the hill. We were immediately pounced on by people wanting to sell us things. A ninety year old woman with a collection of sheep took exception to Dan and started slapping him and hitting him. We all thought it was quite amusing. Our driver did a fine job with a bit of roadside wire, an elastic band and a elastic hair tie and accelerator cable fixed, we were on the road again to Antigua, arriving in the dark. We walked down the road for about 20 minutes for one of the best meals we have had so far and then called it a night. Dan had a "cervesa" called a michelada. Heinz Tomato soup with salt, pepper and lime with beer. This is the only "beer" (if you could call it that) I couldn't finish ever perhaps. Nope the second, the first was a chilli beer at the Sail and Anchor in Freo.
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