bus basics

Spending so much time on buses yesterday while thinking about updating the blog, led me to realize there is fertile ground for writing about understanding bus travel here. As long as I can convey these thoughts in words! At th right is the bus named "Maria Linda." Of course I had to get a picture of this bus, since I am married to Linda Marie! Note the windshields almost all have some sort of reflective material at the top with a saying, in this case Maria Linda, and the bottom of the windshield has decorations laminated to the glass or just that dark laminate, leaving a narrow band through which the driver can peer. Also pictured is the inside of bus looking towards the inside of the windshield.

I have written about how narrow many streets are in the old sections of town (and even many newer parts.) Yesterday´s part of our journey to Todos Santas from Nebaj included riding through Huehuetenango, a fairly large town with many narrow streets. Public transport buses, as mentioned below, tend to be retired school buses or combis (skip to the section below for a more full description of each.) What I wanted to write mainly about here is how these buses are manned. Obviously there is a driver. Among duties such as avoiding road holes, loose boulders, dogs, people, other vehicles, is honking the air horn whenever passing is required. Also, laying on the air horn when buses are going up or down blind mountain switch backs that are so tight that the bus stretches across the other lane is required so that head ons are avoided. The vehicle coming down the mountain is required to stop as some places are so steep, and some trucks or buses so overloaded, they may not be able to start again from a dead stop.

Buses here have one or sometimes two other people. If there is just one other person, that person´s duties include collecting fares and seeing to luggage getting to the roof of the bus and one other function. If there is a third person, the fare collector is relieved of the luggage job. The luggage man takes care of matters on the roof, sometimes even riding up there, less often climbing down the rear ladder while the bus is navigating the highway, opening the rear door (remember those emergency exit doors in the rear?) and climbing aboard after the luggage was all tied down.

The other function required of the assistant is jumping out of the (sometimes) moving bus to check that at least one inch of clearance exists between the bus and some obstacle such as a parked or approaching truck, a building close to the road, especially when turning the corner of a narrow street. When turning the corner, sometimes people have to be motioned off the corner sidewalk since the bus sometimes needs that space as well. Duties even include jumping out into busy roads, stopping the traffic so the bus can emerge from a narrow side street and jump back onto the now accelerating bus. Rear view mirrors stick out the furthest, there must be a thriving replacment market here.

Another bus basic for the pedestrian, at least taller pedestrians, is to watch your head; as where the streets are narrow and the pedestrian is walking on the usually very narrow sidewalk with a building on one side, and a bus or truck next to the curb, the approaching mirror sometimes needs to be ducked!