'Chicken' Bus

Local 'chicken' bus

Even after three days in Granada, Nicaragua, we still hadn't warmed to the place. In fact, despite the hot temperature it left us feeling a bit cold so we decided to make our exit but was it to be by taxi or the famous old ’chicken’ bus? At $60 for the taxi and $4 for the bus, the decision was made for us.

The local buses are the are big old iconic yellow American school buses which when retired, come to Central America to live out their dying days. A huge amount of discomfort is included in the price as well as a large slice of local life. There’s no such thing as a full bus, everyone and everything just keeps piling on and there’s a fair chance that sitting next to you will be a chicken, hence their name.

Whilst the bus is bursting at the seams, various food and drink sellers squeeze down the aisle plying their trade plus some more slightly obscure ones. Our favourites were the guy selling razor blades, another chap selling dog leads and finally a clown selling sculptured balloons.

Sunset entertainment in San Juan del Sur

Vanessa was one of four people on a seat designed for two schoolchildren and I was fortunate enough to grab the last seat on the bus. No one was sitting there because it was wet but luckily the conductor was on hand with an old piece of newspaper to wipe some of it up. Two hours later and the seat was dry after my clothes had soaked up what could have been anything from pineapple juice to pig juice.

As a bit of a sales tactic the taxi drivers warn you that you could be robbed on the bus but there is so little room that I would have been unable to rob myself let alone anyone else getting in on the act.

We arrived safely in San Juan Del Sur, a small beach town in the south of the country, popular with the surfing crowd so the atmosphere is excellent and will be keep us occupied for a few days.