Zip Lines and Chicken Buses–Wednesday 25 April 2018

Wow, a second day in a row where we took over 450 photos. I could spend a long time picking out the ones to post, but with little time I just pick some here and there. They begin to tell the story of our day, but leave most of it out. Another of those you had to have been here to know type of days.


Bird on nest behind a wire photo. Anyone can take a photo of a bird on a nest or a bird on a wire. It takes real skill to take one like this. Bad Bob.


This is not a photo Richard with his Mayan pants, but it does give  a hint as to just how colorful Mayan clothing can be.


Just goes to prove you are never too old to have your first ever zip line experience. And not just one zip line, but eight of them descending the mountain. Here she is getting harnessed up. The smile continued the entire experience, as she absolutely loved it. All that apprehension she had over the past weeks was for naught.


You just sit in the harness and enjoy the ride. Maybe not “quite” that simple, once you start down the wire there ain’t no turning back. This was the short test ride we took before hiking up the mountain to where the descent began.


Upside down monkey seen on the climb up.



One of the six hanging bridges we crossed on the climb.She never did look down, but she take one hand off the cable to wave. Not show is the fact I am on another hanging bridge perpendicular to the one she is on taking this photo. Everyday brings something new.


And there she goes, off into the great unknown. Years of age has nothing to do with it. It is how young you feel. And we feel decades younger than the calendar would have you believe. Remember, Life is not a dress rehearsal, live every moment you have. We both had an awesome time, videos to be posted after we return to the States. Would we do it again? In a heartbeat.





Butterfly photos for Retama Chris, John and Audrey. We don’t have a clue as to what they are. But I have many more butterfly photos  if these is not enough. Lepidopteraless Linda and Butterfly Baffled Bob.


What makes Richard so special. Yes, I know it is a photo of Linda with some Mayan workers, but a word of explanation first. As we were driving down a country road Richard spied a group of people in an onion field. The result was we got to visit with three different families who grew green onions as there cash crop. Two harvest a year. rented land. US $5 per 1000 green onions. Everything down by word, nothing written down and everyone from landowner, to farmer, to buyer to Chicken Bus Driver ( he delivers the onions to the city and brings the money back to the farmer) gets exactly their fair share completely with anything in writing. Guatemala’s economy is based on trust and it is never broken.



Chicken Bus with the name of the school district still on it. If you’re stupid enough not to paint out the name of your school district when you auction off your bus, you deserve to have it seen all over Central America.


Changing the subject, crypts in a cemetery. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Often in Guatemalan towns the most color place is the cemetery.


I took more than 50 photos like this today of the front of Chicken Buses as the came by us on the highway. What came I say, I love Chicken Buses and what they represent. And if you don’t realize what they represent, think some more. Not all the world, and in fact almost all the world is not like us. Thank goodness.


That’s Linda looking back at me in a Chicken Bus.


Back seat ride in a Chicken Bus. Long story short, I was flung around the seat and everyone forward was hanging on for dear life, meanwhile the Guatemalan passengers on the bus were complaining the driver was going slow because of the Anglos on board. Have videos, will post them on return to States. One personan in our tour group was yelling at the driver to slow down. Let’s just say that all the locals were laughing at her and leave it at that. You really truly can not understand what a ride in a Chicken Bus is really like if you have never ridden in one. But now I have. Ecstatic Bob.




Did I mention everyone is hanging on for dear life during the ride. Here is Linda's death grip .


Did I mention death grips? You really, really had to be there.


Brake shoes behind the rear seat. The noise of the engine is nearly deafening (it ain’t not puny school bus engine with a governor, it’s a souped up salvaged semi truck engine) and the smell of overheated brakes as they throw you forward as they stop so quickly, fills the bus. Then they slam you back in the seat as they take off like a rocket.. Plus the cost is a fraction of what it would be in the States. People in the US don’t have clue what the rest of the world is like. Not trying to run down the US, just telling it like it is.



The Chicken Bus we rode in. What a beast it was.GM should hang their head in shame over the total wuss buses they build in the states.



Seen in a Chicken Bus “factory”. Bus too long. No problem. Cut the frame down, move the axel forward, chop out some of the body and it will be able to negotiate those steep curvy mountain roads.



About two months from bus arriving from the States to finished Chicken Bus on the road. A special thank you to Richard for stopping here and fulfilling one of dreams about this trip, to see a Chicken Bus “factory”.


The end of the day. Why are people looking and walking in the street/ Because Linda has them “trained “ to look for aluminum can pull tabs. Life just doesn’t get better than what we experienced today. At least until tomorrow arrives it doesn’t.