A Chicken Bus Ride to Remember
Seeing all the chicken buses in Guatemala reminded me of a ride I took 2 years ago in Nepal after having just finished the Annapurna Circuit…
There happened to be 2 buses that were pretty much packed leaving for Pokhara so we hopped on one. We were both sweating a lot from the last climb and it was so tight on the bus so we took out our cameras and had them put our bags on top of the bus. It was such a relief to have the bags on top, it created so much more space for us on the bus, which was not made for someone over 6 feet tall.
Pokhara’s bus terminal
Then it started with the lady sitting on the floor in front of me, she puked her brains out while leaning over the 2 people in the front bench such that her head was out the window. Then her 3 kids started puking too. Then a girl in the other set of front seats puked and a couple in the 2nd row puked as well. Then a few more people in the back hurled. It was ridiculous! Then the lady who started it all started eating potato chips, as if that would help, then hurled again on the floor a few minutes later. I moved my foot just in time to avoid the onslaught. By this point I nearly hurled too after seeing everyone else hurl but thankfully she got off with her family not long after she hurled on the floor and the bus attendants grabbed some mint plants from the side of the road and threw them on top of her work to mask the odor. The total ride was about 40 minutes but it was definitely an experience after having been trekking for the last 15 days.