Our first attempt to get on to a minibus collectivo to take us on the first leg of our journey was laughable as the very on-the-ball locals filled it before we could get a look in. Fortunately, that meant we reserved our seat on the next one (initially sat in front, but quickly changed our mind after noticing a complete lack of seatbelts) and only had to wait half an hour for that to fill up for us be on our way.
The journey, described as one of the best in Guatemala, was also described as 'half hellish dirt road and half beautiful new road, with spectacular views from start to finish'. They seriously weren't kidding. Unfortunately, since our guide was written, they have started trying to turn the hellish dirt road into a larger paved road, but the work completed so far consisted of incredibly huge gashes being sliced across the hillsides, and vast mountains of dust and dirt uncovered, but no actual paving having been done.
Huge trucks, diggers and caterpillars were on every single-track hairpin bend digging into the mountainside. It was possibly the largest excavation project I've ever seen. Below is an example of what our (non four wheel drive, seriously underpowered and seriously overloaded toyota hiace) minibus was up against.
It was incredibly hard going. Obviously at some point they will get to the flattening, paving part of the project, but that seemed a long way off, and although the views were incredible, it was visiously bumpy and so dusty that everything and everyone was coated in the stuff.
Eventually though (after about 3 hours) we reached the paved road. This was still not perfect though as landslips had meant there were still a fair few obstacles to overcome. Still, an incredibly rugged landscape.
As the paved road smoothed out, our pretty full tilt driver upped his speed yet again, and I couldn't help but notice a certain bumpyness of the ride that didn't seem to be there before our offroad excursions. Sure enough with a sudden lurch the noise and vibrations suddenly jumped to a new level. Our driver didn't seem too perturned though, and slowed down only slightly. this proved to be a bit of a mistake though, as the minibus crunched massively down on the rear left side making a horrific grinding sound and we had the comedy sight of the wheel overtaking the vehicle and rolling into a ditch up ahead of us.
The offroad antics had proved too much, and all 5 wheel nuts had sheered off. As the vehicle's jack could only go so high, a bit of man power was needed. Clair grabbed a quick action shot.
Frankly the wheel looked properly knackered. The brake drum had been dragged along the road bending it at right angle to the wheel, and the driver only appeared to have 2 spare bolts. Fortunately, within 10 minutes an empty replacement bus turned up and took us the remaining 20 minutes to our first change in Uspantan.
Here, we had some refreshments. Clair, fascinated by the lovely cast iron machine, asked the little girl to make whatever she was selling. Unfortunately for her, it turned out to be a sickly sweet slush puppy type affair which I loved! The machine ground up the ice to make them.
The journey onwards to Sacapulas took us up yet higher mountains (the Chatumains) giving epic views.
This minibus really showed us just how many people you might be able to get into one. I counted 24 adults and 4 children.
Oh hi! Hilariously scared expression on Clairy's face.
Lots of folks getting on with their backbreakingly hard labour.
After our final change at Sacapulus, we were on our last bus heading to Huehuetenango (which everyone just calls way-way). It got hotter and dustier as we approached, but no less beautiful.
About 8 hours after we began, we were finally in Huehue itself. In the main square there was this topographical representation of some of the way we had come. Pretty darn rugged.
We also found this childrens art class going on. We were both very impressed with what the tiny ones had produced.
It was a totally epic journey, and as the Lonely Planet described it 'for the more adventurous traveller'. We certainly felt as though this was our initiation to real Guatamalen travelling.
1 comment:
oh dear god... minibus! awful!
im guessing seeing the wheel travel ahead of the bus was highly comical at the time... but it is like something that would happen in a film. and as for how many people on about that bus... talk about a lack of personal space!
.xxxx
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