Nica Transportation

I've spent a lot of time on different forms of transportation. Right now I'm writing from a school bus converted to an intercity bus service. It is commonly called a chicken bus by backpackers, though in all my bus trips in Central America I've never seen a chicken on one. But I have seem plenty of produce, furniture, and practically anything else you might want to move around. 

They are privately owned and in Nicaragua surprisingly and blessedly run on a very predictable schedule. In fact, I think my 1:45 bus pulled out at 1:44 according to my iPhone. 

Oops, I forgot to get the photo credit on this one.

They are often elaborately decorated and thanks to God may sit side by side with trucker babes.  They are also quite cheap, costing about a dollar even for long rides. 

And they are entertaining in their own way. Vendors jump on at one stop and off at the next, loudly hawking their wares. The guys who work for the bus take the big gear onto the roof, strapping it down and climbing back down into the bus as it is moving. 

But where I live in San Isidro the second most popular form of locomotion after walking is bicycling. I've seen lots of things carried in bike, from whole families to 20' lengths of pipe. I'm so lucky to have one lent to me. 

photo: wejetset.com

I haven't yet tried the prevalent bike taxis, though I want to before I leave. Young men bike around with a seat and awning in front of them and haul just about anything. Wes told me he regularly used them to haul barrels to make ovens with in the early days of EOS. 

I forgot the photo credit on this one, too.  I'm sort of tired.

And in my cowboy town there are of course horses. I haven't tried that either. 

There are actually a surprising number of wheelchairs for a developing country, especially one that hardly has sidewalks, much less handicapped ramps.  I did see a fellow propelling himself up a hill on a bumpy rock road in his wheelchair, seemingly far from anything.

It seems that for many the first step into motorized vehicles is a motorcycle. They look at me funny when I say how dangerous they are. It's not recreation here, but a necessity, and is probably as unusual as someone bad mouthing cars in the US (which I've been known to do as well). I've rarely seen women driving them though. And while I see plenty of women riding on the back, I have not yet seen a woman driving with a man on the back. 

Sure there are passenger cars and taxis, but I don't see too many of those in San Isidro. It seems the next step is a pick up truck. I haven't seen this much in San Isidro but it is a classic Central American experience to see a truck bed packed with goods, people or both. I did ride some in the back of the EOS truck, but primarily because we had all our gear in the back and when driving through larger cities, it's just dumb to stop at an intersection with a truck bed full of interesting looking stuff and not have someone there to watch it.

The guy perched on the front on top of all the sacks ducked down just as I was taking the picture,
but you get the point.

And of course in the countryside there are ox carts. And like many other vehicles, they can be loaded to their physical limits. 

photo: Steve & Chelsey Currie

It's a diversity of choices driven by economics and also often run by small business owners.