The standard way the locals get around Guatemala, both locally and long distance, is by a so called Chicken bus.
This is the bus station in Antigua. These buses are retired school buses. A local not for profit in Antigua, Niños de Guatemala, runs tours out to a local village. One of the things that they show you is a chicken bus workshop where the locals convert an American school bus to a chicken bus.
However, to get to the village we take a chicken bus. The guide walks you down to the bus station where all the drivers are yelling their destinations. From here “Guate” is a popular destination. Short for Guatemala City.
These buses are driven from the United States, through Mexico and into Guatemala. At that point they tent to cut off some of the back of the bus (roads are narrow here and corners tight) and remove any insulation and fire retardant material. There are no safety standards here – they are only concerned with packing as many people on as they can.
They then give it a flashy paint job. This is to attract customers. After all, if the owner can pay for a paint job, he can pay for new brakes and suspension right?
Are they safe? Structurally they seem ok. However, there are a large amount of robberies that occur. The drivers are an easy target for theft and pickpockets are rife. Being a chicken bus driver is not exactly an ideal career choice, but so many people here don’t get much of a choice.