Travelgoddess.net

1. Local buses 

There are local buses, like the red buses that exist in Guate City. These are the same physical buses as the notorious chicken buses, the old Norte Americana school buses, but they are painted one color, instead of the multi-color chicken buses.

Despite the color diff, the buses are both cheap(dont know the cost of local rides, but the chicken bus from Antigua to Guate City I was told was something like 10 Quetzales, about $1.25 US, the taxi ride was closer to $25 USD).  They both pollute a great deal, and have no AC, and are crowded.

2. Long distance buses 

Next are the long distance buses, I am most familiar with the ones run by the bus company Litegua (www.litegua.com). S. and I took this bus from Guate City to Rio Dulce. It was 50 Quetzales. We were the only gringas on the bus, which was fun. What was not fun was the fact that we left so late in the day 1:30 pm and it was stinking hot, and we got stuck on the road, during some major construction, for 1 hour. Boiling. This made the trip that was scheduled (HA!) to be 5 hours, into closer to 8.

On the return trip from Rio Dulce to Guate City I broke down and took the first class bus (prima classe) (aka, tienen aire conditionado) that cost twice the price, 100 Quetzales. Twice the price being the difference between $14 and $7 USD. And it was so worth it. Still only 2 gringos on the bus, but it was considerably less packed than the cheaper bus.

3. Shuttles/mini buses

Above the AC buses are the minibuses, or shuttles. Seems I am spending more and more on transportation as my time in Guatemala goes on, cause this is the kind of transport I am taking today to Xela. Mostly because I cant find another way to get there. I am in Antigua right now, which is slightly west of Guate City. I thought by traveling an hour closer to Xela (which is about 4 hours west of Guate City, this may be a good time to check out a map), my trip to Xela would be quicker. Um, not easily with Guate’s current bus routes.

Most of the buses to Xela leave from Guatemala City. The travel agent I talked to yesterday tried to talk me into going back to Guate City to head to Xela. No. One weird look from me and a search for the word “weird” in my dictionary and he started to call around for more options. There was no way in hell I was headed back into that maddening traffic twice in once day when I didnt have to.

Thus leading us to the next option, the shuttles. So, it is costing me $25 US to travel 3 hours to Xela. Oh well. This is where I think I will be basing myself for the Spanish classes/volunteer work, so once I get there my daily expenses should go way down.

4. Car rentals, taxis and more

Of course, there is an option of renting a car, hiring a taxi, or I am sure other more expensive options to get around Guate. But these are my experiences so far. Will update when more traveling is done.

For now I think I will fight with this computer some more to download more than 20 pictures from my camera per day. Oi!