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HomeBlogsRoutes Around the World: Buses and Road Construction on Ometepe

Routes Around the World: Buses and Road Construction on Ometepe

World traveler and STN contributor Anson Stewart’s bus ride becomes interactive as he transforms from a rider to a worker.

The former school buses on Ometepe were quite durable. I talked with one of the island’s first bus owners, and she told me about how, despite the island’s rough roads and lack of any garages (meaning the buses have to take the ferry to the departmental seat of Rivas for maintenance), the buses hold up pretty well. After completing a paving project between the port towns of Moyogalpa and Altagracia, the government is now slowly proceeding to pave the road out to the town where I stayed, Mérida. I unexpectedly got the chance to help out with this construction work.

STN’s Stewart is a graduate of Swarthmore College and a recipient of a 2010 Thomas J. Watson Fellowship, a grant to study abroad. Stewart’s project is “School Bus Migrations: Recycling Transit in the Global South.” Follow his blog and see more photos from his journey.

Moyogalpa-bound bus along the shore of Lake Nicaragua

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Bus in Moyogalpa

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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1983 Blue Bird conventional starting a run from Moyogalpa to Merida

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Rough patch of road between Merida and Altagracia on Ometepe

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Bus shed

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Construction trucks unloading paving stones halted buses on the road between Merida and Altagracia…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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…so the buses’ passengers left the buses and helped unload to expedite the process

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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