Chicken buses are the way to go!

One of the most unique parts of travel in Nicaragua is the "chicken bus". They are everywhere and the country could not work without them. 

The following is my understanding and experience of traveling on chicken buses:

A chicken bus is a public transportation bus that runs from one destination to another, Granada to Masaya for example.  They go from one city to the next, turn around and do it again and again. However, they seem to stop just about anywhere along the way to let people on and off.  The route is painted garishly on the windshield of the bus so it is clear which bus is which. 

Aside from that each bus is different.

Nicaragua is poor. Only the 1%'ers have a car. Everyone else uses the chicken buses, took-took (motorcycles retrofitted to push a two or four seat compartment), motorcycles, bikes, horses or they walk.  However, by far the average Nica uses the chicken bus to travel any significant distance.

The buses are usually old school Blue Bird (yellow) school buses from the US. 

 The other day I saw a Chatham County bus (Savannah) but could not get a picture fast enough.  Once they are worn out in the US, they ship them here for a whole new life.  It is a good thing adult Nica's are smaller than Norte Americano adults.  The seats are still set for children and are very tight and are not really wide enough for two big butt Norte Americano's.  The Nica's seem to fit ok though!

They are called chicken busses because they haul everything and I mean everything.  Locals get on them with huge bunches of plantains, 50 lb bags of produce, tires, you name it.  They are used just like a pick up truck and the locals use them to carry their wares to market.  Yes, even chickens! 

The stuff is loaded on the top of the bus.  They have been retrofitted with railing to carry stuff on the top of the bus and are strapped down for the journey.

It is my understanding that each bus route is a semi-independent operator.  This means they paint and decorate their bus any way they want to.  Each bus has three people.  The driver and two expeditors (that is what I call them). These two guys hang off the front and back doors and "facilitate" the on and off boarding process.  They are incredibly efficient.  Lots of yelling back and forth and they really do get people on and off fast.  The guys in the back also crawls up the back of the bus to get stuff ready to unload, while the bus is traveling down the road!  It is read to unload when the bus stops!

The buses are packed and I mean packed.  I have never been on when when every seat is not full and the isles are two people deep.  However, there is always room for more people at each stop.  

The amazing part is the collection system.  As a reformed CFO this amazes me.  You don't pay when you get on.  Remember the facilitators? Their primary job is to get you on and off, fast.  At some point in the trip they walk around and collect the fare.  People are getting on and off all the time, but they do the fare collection at seemingly random intervals.  The fares are incredibly cheap, a 50 cent tot a couple of bucks at the most to travel from one city to another.  There are no tickets and they just weave their way through the packed bus collecting the fares.  They have huge wads of cash.  Somehow they seem to remember who they collected from on each pass through.  It is an internal control nightmare but it is what it is.

My only regret is that we have too much luggage to use them extensively.  If you have time they are incredible cheap ways to get around the country.  I found them to be safe and even fun.  Of  course you have to be self aware but the locals seem to find us just as curious as we find their customs.  That is what it is all about.