The Wheels on the Bus Go Round and Round...

Riding the bus is a way of life in Guatemala.  Some buses are okay, some are great and some should not be on the road.

Our first year in Guatemala we rode Fuente del Norte.  All gringos commonly refer to it as ‘Death from the North”.   I would rather have 40 knots and be in twenty foot seas than ride with them again.

LiTegua is now our favorite bus line.  They have good hours and routes and they stop at the water park for lunch or breakfast depending on the time of day.  No matter if we are going to the city or coming back to the river we get the Express Special bus.

What exactly is the Express Special bus?...well it depends.   Sometimes it is a ragged old thing that is belching black thick smoke or it can be a middle of the road “rode hard and put up wet” bus that still is comfortable.  A movie may-be provided or not, you may get a sandwich , most likely not these days.  It may-be a straight run or you may stop along the road and at every bus station along the way for the next 5 to 6 hours.

We were shocked and amazed at our latest bus back from the City to the Rio.  It was NEW!  No one had broken a seat, no one and peed or vomited in a seat.  It still smelled clean, the curtains were new and still had the original holders and weren’t jury rigged with filthy rope.  The TV was a flat screen that swung down from the ceiling, not that we had a movie, instead of the old heavy type that you hit your head on or were afraid that it would come loose and kill you or at least knock you out cold.

We had LEG ROOM!  We had a driver that wasn’t too crazy.  We did stop and pick up any one that was willing to stand in the aisle.  But all in all not a bad ride.

Jehovah, Guard your exit and your entrance.  Now and forever.   That was hanging in our bus.

Cockpits R Us

Cockpit cock.pit \kak,pit\ n: place for a pilot, driver, or helmsman.

I spend a lot of time in cockpits. I find that they are interesting places. Once only the domain of men, more and more women are finding themselves at home in the cockpit.

The cockpit on our boat is simple. A binnacle with a compass, a large wheel for steering, the depth gauge and our chart plotter really is the sum total of what we need to move about the ocean. Down below at the navigation station we do have radar. I must admit that we rarely use it. Mainly for avoiding storms. I prefer the chart plotter with a good paper chart for navigation.

In our RV our cockpit is also simple, but it has more than the boat. The steering wheel, all the idiot lights for fuel, battery, oil, over heating. The radio which can handle CD’s, Sirius, an iPod and has a weather channel built in. You can control the air conditioner/heater from the driver’s seat. Windshield wipers, turn signals, emergency flashers and have your cup of coffee within reach. We have added “Betty” or GPS, who mostly we ignore.

 Simple but it gets us down the road.











While at an RV show we looked at Class A diesel pushers. Now folks these monsters have Cockpits. They rival the cockpits of small aircraft! The usual controls for driving then there are the hydraulic levelers, the air brakes and more gauges that Carter has Pills! Seriously I was gobsmacked as I sat there in jaw dropped speechlessness. You would need a weeks worth of classes just to figure it all out. It was a feeling of total control with all the gadgets and gauges surrounding me. I HAD THE POWER! But I wasn’t sure I wanted it.

Funny you would need all that technology to drive down the interstate that has mile markers, exit signs with more information that you can read while driving 70 mph. And that doesn’t include the guides and maps and scraps of information that you have at your fingertips to get from point A to B.

Cruising Guides have nothing on Woodall’s, Trailer Life Directory or the Next Exit. There are many times when coming into an anchorage, harbour, or marina that I would have loved a Next Exit Guide. But I digress…Cockpits big, small, fancy or plain…they are what get us from here to there.