August 21, 2010

 

 

Although we've gone here almost every day we've been here in Guatemala, today was the first day I pulled out the camera in the bus market in Antigua. Our bus won't travel through here, but it's a super safe place and it provides an opportunity to get a glimpse at how the whole bus business works.

 

First, the bus pulls up from its destination and passengers pour out the front and the rear (which used to be an Emergency Exit). The driver holds down the fort as his helper, or ayudante, climbs up onto the roof and helps unload the heavy cargo, which can include anything from to baskets of fruit to sacks of potatoes to live animals.

 

The people carry their things to the place they're headed and the bus pulls into a parking spot. Sometimes a driver will take the chance to rest or to clean his bus. When they're ready for the next trip, the ayudante starts walking around and calling out the destination they're headed to and tries to herd the passengers like sheep onto his bus.

 

Competition between ayudantes usually isn't too fierce, but sometimes there are two buses going to the same place at the same time and people step on each others toes a bit. As the bus pulls out, it drives slowly until it is almost full. After an hour or two, we packed up and got on the bus to Ciudad Vieja.

 

We arrived at the workshop by 11:00 AM so there'd be some time to overlap before everyone finishes working. Saturdays are half days. When I woke up this morning I felt really sick so I took a solid nap in the back seat of the Japanese bus in the corner and woke up to find out they wouldn't be finishing up until closer to 2:00PM or 3:00PM. They'll be paid overtime, but one of these buses has to be finished by the end of the day. That leaves less daylight for us to work with.

 

Things wrapped up around 2:30PM and when we began to set up for the interviews everyone wanted to stick around and watch. It was cool they were so excited about it, but I knew it would be a distraction. In the end, I had to explain that this was meant to be one-on-one time and that an audience would make people feel uncomfortable. Besides, the microphone would pick up all the scuffling and whispering.

 

Nobody wants to be put on the hot seat, so let them be! The rains came 30 minutes into our interviews and started to tap at the tin roof as if to mock us, slowly building in intensity and frequency. There was a great moment when Rafael asked us - “So, tell me. Why do all the school buses from the US come down here and they are all yellow and black? They are all the same. Why is it like that?”

 

A ride home from Julio, Rudolfo's brother, helped us avoid getting soaked on the way back to our apartment, but there's really no escaping the rains here...