Tuk-tuks: The Tricycle of Taxis

A tuk-tuk in beautiful Antigua

It's true. Tuk-tuks have three wheels, are covered (they have cloth flaps on the sides instead of doors), and fit 2-4 people (2 comfortably). The steering on the inside is more like a motorcycle than a car. There are no pedals and everything is controlled by the handlebars. There is one smaller bench seat in the front for the driver (usually a 16~25 year old male) and a larger bench seat in the back. There isn't much room. Hailing one is like hailing a cab: just wave one down on the street. What you cannot do is call a number and have on pick you up. There is no tuk-tuk dispatcher number. As far as I know they are privately owned and drive around where / when they want.

As you can see they are very...open

The front row of the tuk-tuk.
From right to left: paying passinger, driver, driver's son(?) along for the ride

In my small town there was a line of about five tuk-tuks lined up by the one bus stop. It was only about a five minute walk from there, the center of town, to my house, but if it was really raining and I was carrying a large bag of laundry then I would sometimes pay the 5 Quetzales (~$0.65) to have a tuk-tuk take me to my house.

Like any other buying situation in Guatemala, taking a ride in a tuk-tuk requires negotiation. You have to bargain with the tuk-tuk driver. What I found is that there is generally a set price for certain distances and you need to know how much more than that you are being charged. If you are a gringo or don't speak Spanish - expect to pay more for everything. That is just the way it is. Luckily things (and tuk-tuk rides) in Guatemala are relatively inexpensive and even the foreigner price is low. I highly recommend taking a tuk-tuk if you find yourself in Guatemala (they can be found all over all cities). 

If you are wondering why the driver's head is tilted to the side it is because he was on the phone. In general, this is how I feel about transportation in Guatemala:

http://howapcvputsitgently.tumblr.com/post/130546685762/how-i-feel-while-riding-local-transportation

In conjunction with:

http://howapcvputsitgently.tumblr.com/post/123538299831/hcns-concept-of-personal-space

(HCN is Peace Corps lingo for Host Country Nationals aka Guatemalans in my case)