The Road Conundrum

"Maak'a li bus."   I expect to hear this a lot during the next year.  These three words, Q'eq'chi' for "there's no bus," may very well become the bane of my existence.  There's.  No.  Bus.

My village is getting a road.  Not a road in the village, but a real, paved road connecting the village to the main highway.  This is very, very good news for everybody.  Nobody has quite been able to tell me where the money to build it is coming from, but I have my suspicions that it may have something to do with it being an election year.  Nonetheless, this road is a big deal.  A better road means quicker, safer transport which means more chances for business, for commutes to the city, and Dios knows what else.  It will probably shave about 20 minutes off of the hour and a half long trip to the city. 

The less shiny side of the coin?  Construction of this road will take one year.  Which in Guatemalan, means closer to two.  And because the dirt road they are paving is the only road into the village, there's no option for a detour.  Instead, the road will remain completely blocked to through traffic while the workers are working.  This means that if somebody wants to come in or out of the village, they must do so before 7am (when construction begins), between 12 and 1pm (when the workers are on lunch), and after 6pm (when the workers finish for the day).  This is the new bus schedule that I will have to deal with for the rest of my time here.  And to make things worse, because of this change in schedule, many of the village's microbus drivers have decided to switch routes and travel in the opposite direction of the city, further into the other villages.  Which means that, a lot of the time, there's no bus at all.  And when there is one, it's often so crowded that even a sardine wouldn't board. 

Pero así es, and I'll deal with it.  I'm just going to have to be even better about planning my traveling ahead of time, and expect there to be problems. 

Or maybe, I'll just buy one of these.