Transportation is an essential (very important) part of life. Can you imagine having to walk everywhere you needed to go? In Guatemala, many people rely on public transportation to get to work, school, run errands or pasear (pah-say-ahr). Pasear means to go somewhere and walk around, enjoying yourself. Because of different needs, resources and road systems (or lack thereof) there are plenty of options for how you get from where you are to where you need to be.
Many Guatemalans are lucky enough to live in a community that is completely walkable. Imagine walking to your friend’s house, church, the grocery store, a restaurant, an ice cream shop and back home in just an afternoon! If you live in an aldea (al-DEH-ah --village) like me, you might have to walk an hour to the closest bus stop if you want to go to the store. Fortunately for me, I live on a main bus line! Everyday except Sunday, retired US school buses zoom by my house every 15 minutes. They come from the second largest city in Guatemala, called Quetzaltenango (ket-suhl-tuh-nang-go) or Xela (Shey-lah) and go up to the communities far into the mountains.
Let’s talk about camionetas (kah-MYOH-neh-tahs), the school buses I mentioned earlier.
