Colectivos and Chicken Buses

I know I've mentioned both colectivos and chicken buses as forms of travel I've used extensively since beginning my Central American travels. But I thought I'd explain a bit more to maybe give more insight into the culture of this type of transportation.

When you think about it, the concept of shared transport makes a lot of sense, especially in areas where people don't have a lot of money which makes owning their own cars out of the realm of possibility. Let me explain one more time how it works: Let's say you want to go somewhere, but the taxi ride there will cost $10 (just to use a nice, round number; that's actually quite a bit of money here). You don't have $10, but there are other people going the same general direction as you, so you all pool together to come up with the fare. (The only US example I can think of is people in Manhattan sharing a taxi. But I kind of think that mostly just happens on tv and in the movies?) You save money and you help the environment (one trip for the driver instead of multiple), but you definitely don't save time. You have to wait around until you have the necessary number of people to fill a particular vehicle - not so hard for a four person sedan, a bit harder for a shuttle bus or lancha, and quite difficult for a full size bus.

Chicken buses are only a little bit different, but there is a distinct difference. They're not exactly colectivos because they usually run to *some* type of schedule and will leave even if not full (because it most certainly will be soon enough). The countries of Central America are not particularly densely populated. (Sorry in advance, but you'll have to scroll about halfway down for that info. I was too tired to deal with learning that bit of html code.) Guatemala, the largest by population, comes in at #66 on the world population list. With people that spread out, it makes more sense that people would just hail a bus as it drives by (and just let the driver know when you're ready to get off). And how do people know the bus is coming without just waiting by the side of the road for potentially hours on end? Easy. The driver honks like hell as he drives down the road and if people come out, he stops. That's actually the most annoying thing about chicken buses for me because that horn is LOUD. In case you're wondering what these things look like:

(Converted school bus! One of mine the other day still had Kanawha County Schools - West Virginia - printed on the side.)

And a shot from the inside:

(Not my photo. From www.happinessplunge.com)

I think the payment system on chicken buses is really interesting. There's a guy (almost always a guy, I think I've only seen a girl do the job once) whose job it is to shout down and gather potential riders, as well as handle all of the money. Usually a person or five or 10 will get on the bus, find their seats, and it's some time later before the money handler makes his way down the aisle to collect payment. He never watches where they're sitting so how he keeps track of everyone is pretty amazing. He also always remembers who's due change and where they're sitting, too (and people don't just stay in the same seats, either). I suppose it's not all that different from waiting tables and I did that for eight years, but it SEEMS different. :) On the bus leaving Coyolito from Isla del Tigre, there was even a kid who was in training. He and his mentor were so cute working together.

Earlier in this post, I talked about how sharing rides helps save money. For the solo traveler such as myself, this is one of the few times we're not getting the short end of the stick and having to pay more for traveling alone. It comes in handy...when it works. But when it doesn't, like for my lancha ride from Isla del Tigre, solo travelers are back to wishing they were traveling in a big group. Sure, it was only $2.50 that day, but the colectivo boat at Lake Atitlan is less than a dollar and the private one is more than ten times that, so it can make a difference.

Bringing it back around to the culture I also mentioned earlier, the common threads are waiting and sharing. The idea of "central America time" begins to make more sense when you realize people are used to waiting for things and waiting for an extra half hour past the scheduled departure time is just not such a big deal. Besides just sharing the fare, riders do also tend to share snacks and such as well, although not to nearly the extent that it's shared in India. 

So what do you think? If you were to ever travel in this part of the world, would you partake of the chicken bus experience or stick to the more expensive, private shuttle buses (I've used those, too!)? And if you've already traveled to this part of the world, did I do a good job explaining or is there more I should've added?

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(Also: happy birthday shout-out to my brother-in-law who never comments, but I'm pretty sure he's out there reading anyway. I'll have a Nicaraguan beer today in your honor!)

Churches of Leon

This morning, the only thing on my mind was finding a panadería for some bread and finding a shady spot to eat and people watch. I had no idea what the filling was in the sugar-crusted bread that I pointed at and requested two of, I just hoped it wasn't icky. Caramel! Oh my god, it was this yummy, not too sweet, not too sticky caramel. Why I've never seen or heard of this creation before, I don't know, but it was GOOD. It was also just the smile I needed after my last few days.

I hadn't specifically set out today to do a walking tour of the city's churches, but that's somehow what I ended up doing. I suppose it was even appropriate since it's Sunday and that's where most of the city's citizens were anyway. ;-)

First, though, let me show you what it's like trying to find your way around León. Here's a picture of a map that the city has posted at Central Park. Let me know if you notice anything...strange about it:

Give yourself a round of applause if you noticed that there are no street names on this map. The guidebook says that, unusual for this area, Leon actually has street signs. It does, but they are very randomly placed and you can't exactly rely on them. My strategy is to consult the map when there ARE street signs and count the numbers of blocks to my destination or turn.

My map shows ten churches and I think I only saw half of them. The cathedral located at Central Park is the largest in all of Central America and seemed as good a place as any to start, (especially since I was already there in a shady spot with my bread). It took almost one hundred years to construct (beginning in 1747) and definitely shows signs of its age and being battered by volcanoes, although it is currently going through a renovation.

 I don't really know much about the history of the other churches, unfortunately. So I'll just share a couple of my favorite shots of the day.

(La Merced Church in the background)

(The facade of La Recolección church dates back to 1786)

Other pics are posted, go check 'em out if you feel so inclined.

Tomorrow I'm off to Granada for a bit of adventure!

Isla del Tigre and travel to Nica

It's kind of hard to know where to start with relaying the events of the last few days. On the one hand, I'd like everyone to keep feeling envious of my travels and all the wonderful people I'm meeting along the way; on the other hand, sometimes there are just hard days and hard situations. For the sake of fair and objective reporting (you mean I'm NOT a journalist? Oh. Oh well.) and the hopes that maybe the full telling of the story will be therapeutic, I'm gonna share all of it...

Wednesday started with a bright and early 6am bus. By about 10:30am I'd arrived at Comayagüela, just outside the capital of Tegucigalpa...and was thoroughly disgusted in relatively short order. I'd been warned that a taxi here from where the bus dropped off was absolutely necessary because of the danger. I don't know about danger, but I was completely gouged by the taxi driver (who charged me almost the same amount for a five minute drive as what I paid for a four hour bus ride AND laughed in my face when I called him out on it) and then practically attacked by touts who were grabbing at me to go with their bus company and not the other guy's. I was then routed onto one particular bus where I got to wait for the next hour until we actually left. That wasn't so bad, kinda comes with the territory in these parts. What WAS bad was that during that hour I got to basically see the worst of humanity. Touts harassing anyone in their grabbing vicinity, blatant littering of the worst sort (trash cans were *right* there), lots of nose picking, junk grabbing, and spitting. Plus, it was hot and dusty.

Multiple bus changes later and I was in the town of San Lorenzo which I knew to be the closest place to Isla del Tigre to get money from an ATM. I haven't had any problems at ATMs thus far, but of course this was the one ATM that wouldn't work for me. (Did you know that MasterCard isn't as widely accepted in Central America as Visa? Guess which one I have...) I was still an hour away from the island by this point and I was quickly convincing myself that if I could find a hotel that accepts credit cards (did you know that's not particularly common here, either?), I was going to suck it up and pay a lot of money for a private room with a/c. It took multiple attempts, but I did eventually end up in an overpriced, somewhat run-down room in a currently-being-renovated-hotel. But at least it was icy cold, was right on the water, and had sunsets that looked like this:

(When the tide was in, that little spit of land in the foreground completely disappeared.)

For my two days or so on the island, I was indeed the only foreigner visiting. Actually, during some parts of my wanderings, it felt like I was the only person on the island, foreigner or otherwise. It was almost creepy how few people were out and about. Aside from the roads in the main town of Amapala, the island just has one road that goes all the way around it, about 18km distance. After spending some time at the pool (too icky to go in, so I just sat next to it) trying to wrap my head around what the next five weeks will look like planning-wise, I took a tuk-tuk almost halfway around the island to Playa Negra - my first black sand beach, as far as I can remember. It was nice enough, but nothing too special if I'm being perfectly honest, and not much to it. The people there mostly just gathered around me and gawked, staring, not trying to make conversation even if I initiated. And the quietness was shattered when a boy who was old enough to know better tossed a glass bottle into the air and let it smash into a million pieces on the sand, right where people were walking and playing. I know it's kind of mean, but I almost wished that he'd cut himself. He would've deserved it. Lucky for him, my wishing had no impact.

(Playa Negra, pre-broken glass)

Friday came and it was to be another long travel day. The guys at the hotel front desk told me I could pretty much get a lancha any time, but that on the hour would be my best bet. Unfortunately, they hadn't told me that the boats are colectivos which means they don't leave until there are enough people to fill them. After waiting for about a half hour, one of the drivers offered to take just me for 50Lps instead of the usual 15Lps (more than triple the price, yes, but still only about $2.50 and I figured it was worth it since I had such a long travel day ahead of me).

That was actually the most waiting I had to do for the rest of the day because I was pretty much shuffled along without incident from there. In fact, in Guasaule I was shuffled so quickly onto a minibus that I barely had time to realize there wasn't really a seat available for me. I was essentially sitting between a guy's knees, facing him like we were in a marriage counseling therapy session, except it would've made the weirdest session ever since we'd never even seen each other before. There were about 20 people on that 12 seat bus and I had a cramped knee and an asleep leg about 10 minutes into the 45 minute trip. At one point there was a security checkpoint - fairly common, but it was my first where we all had to pile out so the bus could be searched. I still don't know what exactly happened, but one less person got back on the bus than got off.

Next came la frontera and it was probably one of the more maddening border crossings I've ever experienced, if not the most. A guy in a pedi-cab snagged me as I got off the bus and was cycling me from point to point, telling me what to expect next. By the time he told me about the fee to cross into Nicaragua, I'd already exchanged my Honduran lempiras for Nicaraguan córdobas and was beginning to feel panicky that I wouldn't have enough ($12). (Not that I wouldn't have enough, exactly, but I also needed money for my bus into León, etc. and didn't want to have NO money.) The ATM at the border also wasn't working for me, but I managed to piece together enough dollars, lempiras, and córdobas to pay the fee AND have some left over. As my pedi-cab driver and I were officially driving over the bridge into Nica, we were stopped by some soldiers. I'm not really sure what the point was - were they trying to bribe me? search my bag? something else entirely? - but I didn't even have to play dumb because I really didn't know what they were trying to say to me. It was mildly intimidating because the one soldier had this baton that he kept tapping against my leg, but the whole situation was over in probably less than a minute and a half. I finally got to where the buses into Nica were parked and this tout tried to gouge me, too. He was suddenly insisting on 200Lps, more than ALL of my travel up until that point had cost, combined. I gave him the rest of my lempira, about 80Lps I think, still too much, but I'd had enough and wanted to get away from him. As I thanked him and walked away, he was still calling after me that I owed him more money, but he did eventually give up and bike back the direction we'd just come.

My arrival and first 18 hours in León have presented their own challenges, but that will have to wait for another day because this has already gotten long enough. Suffice it to say that I have cash now and can eat something substantial for the first time in a couple of days, so things can only go up from here, right?

Sorry if this was a bit of a downer of a post, but I had to get it all out. Here, about a cheerier picture to wrap things up?

(Because how can you not smile with this guy staring down at you like that?)

Pulhapanzak Waterfall

My adventure for today was a trip to the Pulhapanzak Waterfall. But "today" is actually Tuesday and you're not seeing this until Thursday because I scheduled it that way. Wednesday is a travel day and I'll be on an island without internet on Thursday and Friday, so I figured I'd space the postings out a little bit.

ANYWAY. I hadn't exactly planned to go to las cascadas, but a couple of people from my hostel were going and since I didn't have anything better to do, I figured I'd tag along. The three of us hired a taxi and made the 20 minute trip. Had I done this on my own, I probably would've opted for public transport, but considering how far away it was I was kind of glad that I didn't end up doing it that way.

It's 60Lps ($3) to enter the park and another 130Lps ($6.50) to go behind the waterfalls with a guide. We all quickly decided that going behind the falls was a must, so we made our way to the office to get our tickets and meet our guide.

My lucky streak with good guides continued with Luis. He was a guide not in the let-me-educate-you-about-this kind of way, but truly in the you-need-to-follow-me-to-make-it-through-this sense. He was awesome because he told you every step of the way what to expect, helped you along the slippery parts, and even lent me his hat so that I wouldn't lose my contact lens as we moved through the super powerful falls.

You see those falls right up above? They are 43m high, the tallest in the area for sure. THAT'S what we walked/scrambled/slipped behind. It was pretty awesome. There were opportunities to do some cliff jumping, too, but my dorm mate sliced the bottom of his foot pretty badly doing just that. Sliced it enough that he thinks he may end up having to cut his trip short by a month and go home. I let his misfortune be my warning and played it pretty safe.

Tonight I'm picking the brains of some of the staff here at the lodge to figure out logistics of getting from here to Isla el Tigre tomorrow and then from there to Nicaragua a couple days later. I'm feeling a little anxious about it because it's well off the beaten path, there aren't a lot in the way of budget accommodations, and I may well be one of the few foreigners around for miles. The owner of D&D said the best way around it is to knock on doors and ask about lodging and even meals. Wow. Wish me luck! Since there's no internet on the island, so I'll be back (from Nica) sometime over the weekend.

Lago de Yojoa

On Saturday I had an 11 hour journey from Utila to Lago de Yojoa - a ferry, a taxi, two buses, and a 10 minute walk. (Am I the only one somewhat amused by all of the types of transport I have to use in any given day? I keep mentioning it, but are all of you out there like, "why does she keep telling us that?") I woke up for that journey at 5:45am and had only gotten about three hours of sleep because it was too hot to sleep. By the time 9:30pm rolled around I was completely exhausted and crashed for the next 12 hours. It was glorious. Especially because it's cooler here and it was MUCH easier to sleep.

I had high hopes for exploring the lake and surrounding area on Sunday, but after a looooong leisurely breakfast, well, that used up just about all the energy I had! Instead, I read, surfed the internet, sent out accommodation requests to couchsurfers and hotels, and did a bit of Nicaragua planning. There may have been a beer or two in there as well, consumed during conversations with other travelers (I am staying at a place called D&D Brewery, after all!). But that's about it for the entire day.

So Monday came, today, and I knew I had to get out there and do something, maybe even take a picture or two. I figured seeing the lake I came to see would be a good start, but I mistakenly thought I was much closer to it than I am (Santa Cruz de la Laguna close) and, as it turns out, it's about a 35 minute walk/hike away. No worries, after the laziness of yesterday, I needed the exercise.

I consulted a map, double-checked it with one of the staff, and was off. Along the way I snapped a pic or two and greeted people who were fishing from the riverbank. It was a warm day, but I was still grateful for the long pants and longish sleeves I was wearing because it helped protect me from the brambles and other pokey, grabby things. 

Now, I don't know where exactly I lost the trail (or even if I was truly on it to begin with), but I figured I'd power through it - swampy, shoe-sucking muddy reeds and all - because as long as I walked along the river I'd eventually come to the lake. And that's true. I would have. Eventually. But before that could happen, I realized that I was in about knee-depth water (definitely no path in sight by this time!) and I was still pretty far from my destination. Lucky for me, a group of four hondureños had been pacing me in their rowboat for about the last five minutes or so. They must've had pity on the crazy girl trudging along and called to me in Spanish to get into the boat. I gladly accepted because I needed the help for sure!

When we got to the lake, they asked me where I was going and all four cracked up when I replied "no se" (I don't know). I really didn't know, I just knew I wanted to take pretty pictures of the lake! Eventually we got to the lakefront and all piled out of the boat. They joked and laughed and skipped rocks while I took pictures, and they climbed back in and told me "let's go!" Awesome, looks like I was gonna get a ride back, too, yay! They took me much further past where they picked me up which was so nice.

I indicated where they could drop me off and asked if I could pay them. (By the way, SO proud of myself for that sentence: ¿puedo te pago? I just finished the Duolingo lesson on clitic pronouns and it was a BEAST. I didn't understand them when I first learned them in high school and I struggled with them this time, too. But damn if I didn't get it right when I needed to!) Anyway, in typical Honduran fashion, they refused to take the money I offered, but I insisted. I wished them a good day and said goodbye (and that's when one of the guys got cheeky and made kissy noises at me haha).

And that was my big adventure for the day. Now I'm back to doing what I did yesterday. :-)

A look back in pictures

Yesterday I reminded people about my Flickr page and it made me start to look through some pictures I haven't looked through in awhile. So I thought that while I'm making my way through the Honduran countryside today, I'd share some favs that maybe you haven't seen before.

This one is helping me think cool thoughts right now:

(Franz Josef Glacier in New Zealand, about this time three years ago)

I haven't seen too many big, bright, shiny cities like this one in Central America:

(Petronas Towers in Malaysia, spring 2010)

My own little slice of paradise. I've never had so much privacy on a public beach before or since:

(Padangbai, Indonesia, May 2010)

This is how lunch is meant to be done. Fishing trip with big ass nets that took all of us working together and then we gathered around the banana leaf to reap our reward:

(Muang Ngoi, Laos, Feb 2010)

Who doesn't love a good distillery tour?

(Islay, Scotland, fall 2010)

One last one in case ya'll are growing weary of this already. There have been a lot of long road trips recently, but none have been as long as the cross country one I took with the sister:

(Middle of who knows where, USA, June 2011)

I hope your weekends are off to great starts!

Yesterday's sunset

When you last heard from me, I was on my way to an icy beer and a sunset. Here's some of what I captured (and, in case you need a reminder, all of my photos get posted on my Flickr page):

I feel like I've been on a quest for that most glorious of sunsets for most of this trip. Most of my attempts have been thwarted by rain or clouds (I am traveling during the rainy season, after all). This one has come the closest, but I'd have liked if the island was positioned a bit differently to see more of what gets hidden by the western side of the island. That's not asking too much, is it? :-)

Tomorrow I take the early ferry (6:20am, ugh) back to La Ceiba to make my way southwest towards the middle of the country, to a place called Lago de Yojoa. The lake is home to over 400 species of birds (too bad I'm not a huge birdwatcher!) and is near coffee plantations, caves, waterfalls, and national parks. After spending a few days there, I'd like to head further south to Isla el Tigre, but I'm still working out the logistics of getting to and staying on a not particularly highly visited island.

Happy weekend everyone!