...you may not want to ride the bus in Guatemala. In addition to chicken buses, we have green, blue, and red buses. Each red bus travels a specific route and costs one Q1 per ride, which is about 12 cents. The buses are old, but refurbished (as you can see) and are usually crowded, and not necessarily safe...well, actually not safe! They are privately owned and cover the whole city. One of the first things we were told after we arrived was, "Don't ride the red bus!" So within a couple of months when we went out to do apartments inspections with the zone leaders, they informed us one day that we would need to park the mission truck at their apartment and take the red bus to Jocotales. Evidently that is where the previous mission truck was stolen...and given the two options--parking the truck in Jocotales or riding the red bus--the red bus was safer. And knowing that we had these two 19- or 20-year-old, experienced bus-riding "bodyguards", we headed off on the red bus. Being mid-morning it wasn't even crowded, and the ride was pretty uneventful, except that when we had nearly arrived at our destination, Rick's phone rang...so he answered it! For security reasons, the two young missionaries were shaking their heads and instructing (too late), "Don't answer your phone on the red bus!" After completing our assignment, we returned home without incident, with our phone still in Rick's pocket, but learned a little about the red bus! Green and blue buses, on the other hand, are government-owned. They are newer, cleaner, and safer as they have police at every station, and they are often on the bus! We've been on the green bus, too. It also only costs Q1 each way, but travels on a
very limited route...basically down one street
and back another, but it runs for several miles and went where we needed to go. Blue buses seem to run all over town,and although we see them everywhere,
we've never been on one. All you need to remember is, "Don't ride the red bus!"
