I drove a school bus mornings and afternoons through college back in Minnesota, so I was amused to see so many former school buses (that I drove 40+ years ago?) here in Guatemala.  “Chicken buses” are a common mode of transportation in Xela (and Guatemala) and are notorious for speeding around mountain curves, occasional spectacular crashes, occasional banditry – but cheap transport.

Virtually all the buses are former US school buses, specifically Bluebird branded buses, and for whatever reason, keeping that Bluebird logo (on the roof above the driver) appears to be mandatory.  Many of them are gorgeously decorated:

But while most are customized, the ones I get a kick out of are…

the buses where no one has hidden the original school district (or not so well!) like:

or (Hillsborough)…

or this one…!

I’ve toyed with the idea of tracking down one of the school districts, emailing them a picture of “their” school bus and saying it’s still hard at work!