Belize is where old school buses from North American come to retire; so this morning we caught a repainted Blue Bird Bus from Belize City to the Guatemalan border. The locals call them chicken buses. Why is it called a chicken bus? Well, you are definitely packed in tight like chickens and apparently sometimes they bring chickens on the bus. We didn’t see any chickens on the bus but one lady had a blue fronted parrot. We knew it was going to be quite an adventure, but it turned out to be even crazier that we thought.
About ten minutes from the border most people got out and got into taxis. The helper on the bus invited our group to stay on the bus and said the driver would take us right to the border. So, off we went for about two minutes and then we were in for a huge surprise. Four taxis had rushed ahead and were blocking the road so the bus couldn’t get through. They weren’t happy that the bus was taking away their business. There was a LOT of screaming (not from our group—we sat really, really quiet)! Finally it was clear the taxis weren’t going to let us by so we had no choice but to get our stuff and get into the taxis. Our taxi was really beat up. The driver had to pull two wires out of the dash and put them together to get the car to start. Once we got in the driver was actually very nice to us. He said “sorry for the turmoil”. I guess it is all part of a big fight the buses and taxi drivers are having. Anyways, we are safely in Guatemala on the island of Flores. We are right on the water next to a delicious ice cream place and all is good. You are Always in my Prayers. Love Mom.
10 Comments
W7S ZP AB TL
1/20/2020 07:42:39 am
Did you find out the name of the parrot ?
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Ray
1/20/2020 05:49:02 pm
It belonged to a mother and her daughter. I did not learn it’s name, but the girl seemed very happy having the cage beside her on the seat.
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WO7 SKKC
1/20/2020 07:42:47 am
We are wondering what the name of the island your on means
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Ray
1/20/2020 05:57:42 pm
It means flowers.
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W07
1/20/2020 07:43:05 am
Was the parrot loud on that bus?
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Ray
1/20/2020 05:59:50 pm
The parrots we have seen in the wild have been extremely loud, you can hear them long before you can see them. The one on the bus however did not make much noise at all.
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W7S bs
1/20/2020 07:44:17 am
Did you guys do any activities on/ in the water? Like fishing or canoeing?
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Ray
1/20/2020 06:02:54 pm
We had thought about going on a boat ride that included swimming, but in the end we did not do any water activities here.
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W7S CS
1/20/2020 07:46:29 am
Why are people allowed to bring chickens on the bus
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Ray
1/20/2020 06:05:03 pm
In most of the rural areas there are chickens be raised around the houses. They occasionally need to take some to the city markets.
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Ray & Diane HomewoodSharing the Blessing of Travel Archives
April 2020
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