How Many Guatemalans Can You Get in a Microbus?

The official answer from my friends here in Guatemala is they can fit about 30 Guatemalans in a microbus. During my two trips I saw a maximum of 27, so I can believe they actually can get 30 in there given that as an American I should count for two Guatemalans in size. The experience was quite entertaining and fun to see how many more they could fit inside. When there was no more room inside, the door to the micro van was left open and three or four people were hanging outside the door. The whole time a young man was collecting money and hanging out of the sliding door. Sometimes he would hop off at a stop and ride on the back bumper. Once while we were traveling along about 40 mph, he climbed up from the back bumper up over the roof and back down the side where the sliding door was to hang off the edge and collect more money. How do they get so many in the bus? The put four in the back seat, four in the next row, another four in the front bench seat and about 4-6 standing in the gaps (the Mayans average about 4 foot 2 for women and 4 foot 6 for men and can almost stand straight in the inside of the bus). They can fit another three or four sitting backwards near the drivers seats and three or four in the front with the driver. When you add in another three to five people hanging out the sliding door of the van you reach the capacity of about 27 to 30. I have to say it makes for slow going over speed bumps and up steep hills!