how did i end up here?

Things you don’t see in the States

Or at least you don’t see often. I thought I’d just write a few of the things I’ve seen since I’ve been here…although most of these things were from the trip to and from the beach today.

Women walking, balancing baskets full of food on their heads.

A black sand beach. Black beaches are really hot to walk on with bare feet, in case you’re wondering.

Hundreds of school buses painted in bright colors, called chicken buses. It’s Guatemala’s form of public transportation.

Women in little shacks on the side of the street making tortillas. (Muy delicioso!!)

Chickens…just walking around seemingly without an owner.

Mountains of trash right on the bank of the river.

El Fuego Volcano eruption…from a very safe distance. Really all you could see was a plume of smoke…but it was still so cool to see!

A mountain side that looked like the profile of a woman’s face.

So much poverty you can’t even imagine. It’s gonna be hard to complain about anything anymore.

A bike taxi contraption that was so cool. It had two wheels in the front, with a bench seat and an awning, and the bike rider sat behind it. The opposite of a tuck tuck…instead of the biker pulling his passengers, he was pushing them. So strange.

I saw a little girl, probably 2 years old, sitting in the basket in the front of a bicycle while her mom shuttled her around.

Three people on a motorcycle…none wearing helmets. Motorcycles are everywhere down here. They seem to be the main mode of transportation…however, most don’t have three people on them.

A sign for a hotel that said it had many rooms at a cheap rate. But when I looked, all I could see were essentially small cubes with hammocks in them. The rates better be REALLY cheap.

And my favorite…a truck with four people in the back. That’s not particularly unusual. But what makes this interesting, is one of the men in the back was holding an iguana by the tail. Yep. I’ve never seen that in the states.

posted by taiautumn @ 9:28 PM