its not an ancient mayan tradition, its the free-market

there are those who seek limits and those who push them. like the chicken bus drivers on the interamericana highway that has been and will be under construction for years. it is raining and in some places this international thoroughfare is nothing but a dirt road being widened, being soaked and muddied. it is known for its long lines and delays. people go to work daily selling snacks and diversion to those who wait, but the chicken bus drivers don´t want to wait. they can't wait. there are only a certain number of hours in a day, only an undetermined number of passengers who will need their services in a day. it seems as if their speed is the only thing they can control (and of course their spontaneous pricing for foreigners). and so, on a two lane highway that makes one lane stop for another to pass in the areas of construction, a twenty to forty minute wait is not acceptable. and so, that two lane highway becomes a three-lane, dodging race-track. i don´t know if i can explain this phenomenom of chicken buses racing up a mountain dodging onward traffic by either squeezing back into their proper lane or by swerving to the left to let the onward traffic pass between. and so, we continue with this swerving and dodging and honking and nervous smiles for a while, maybe fifteen minutes or so, when we finally arrive to the bottle neck where trucks, buses, and mini-vans of all sizes are parked. men smoke outside of their vehicules. they drink coffee, munch on peanuts. they have that laid back posture of those who resign themselves to wait. but our driver, no, he continues his inching forward and i would say that his strategy is to put himself in a position that blocks passage making it necessary to let him pass forward to the front of the line where he will then wait. but not very long becuase other chicken bus drivers do the same and soon there will be no passage what so ever and the construction workers will have to remove the orange cones and piece of wood with nails sticking up and wave them along. but during this brief rest, the men on my bus suddenly run to the bank to piss, the driver asks passengers where they are going because he no longer wants to stop at market 57, so why don´t you pass to that other bus back there. i look back and see one that says, san pedro via los encuentros. perfecto. my final destination. i grab my bags and race back just in time to be standing on the platform before the flags are waved and the race begins again.

historical footnote- guatemalean students have taken to the streets spray painting their rejection of a new transportation proposal to increase urban bus fares. last time this was an issue, seventeen buses were burnt. the newly elected government is also against the proposal and said they will respond by increasing government subsidies to the companies rather than take from the pocket of the people. november 2007

literary footnote- the title is a quote adapted from an article entitled on the chicken bus or the electric kook-aid asshole test by the surly bartender found in volume II of la cuadra published in antigua, guatemala