South of Sancristobal Mexico to Guatamala border crossing

[buyarbi]

Crossed a couple days ago . Very straight forward. When close to border watch for an official looking building on the left.( Bunch of taxis parked on the right side of the street that may kick in the location to watch for. I would have missed the imigration office entirely if i had not stopped to ask the taxi drivers where to go and had them point across the street) It has imigration and aduana in it. Get stamped out at imigration and then aduana. Hop on bike and drive 3 kilometers till you get to a crap load of locals selling their stuff and continue. The road takes a fork to the right and heads downhill that seems like you are on a side street but shortly you turn left and go up a steep hill then right turn back onto the main road again. ( This may have been a temporary diversion in which case you would have just gone straight instead of taking the fork to the right.) A 100 metres or so and you are at the Guatamala border. On the left is the imigration office.On the right about 10 metres further on the right side is the guy with the bug spray that charges a bit. Just next door to that on the right side again is the aduana.

I dont recall fees but only 20 pesos at aduana and next to nothing else. There is a money changer at guatamala border. Check the rates before you get there. I got 7 Q to 1 US Not bad.

Bill

[BlackBeast]

Wanted to recap this border crossing as we did this crossing 2 days ago:
1. Stop off at the Banjercito, left had side of road to cancel TVIP. Get your receipt that is is done.
2. Walk next door to get stamped out.
3. Ride the 3km till the fumigation guy stops you, 12Q per bike. Get your receipt.
4. Go to Migracion, to get stamped into Guatemala. NB. there is no fee here. The officer asked me for 20 pesos and I responded with "Recibo" - he played around in his draw and returned our passports.
5. Ride your bike to the next building as the VIN will have to be checked with the Aduna. Fill out some forms, go to the bank next to the Aduna and pay 40Q per bike, return with the receipt, get the sticker and you are good to go.
6. Ensure you have drivers license, title and registration, they asked me for the the cancellation receipt for the Mexican TVIP. They did not ask for the fumigation receipt.

Whole process, including photos at the border and changing whatever pesos we had left was about an hour for both borders.

Daryll

[markharf]

Hey Daryl, nice to hear you're still making forward progress.

One feature worth paying attention to at Guatemala borders is that they seem to sometimes run a scam where they try to make you pay upon exit if you lack an entry stamp. Strictly speaking, you need just one entry stamp to cover four countries (El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, Guatemala), but you should make sure to get one for Guatemala even if entering from Honduras or El Salvador. Get a Guatemala exit stamp too, just to be safe if you're coming back that way later in the year. And be sure to get properly stamped out of the last of the four countries (usually Nicaragua), since they'll check carefully if you ever return.

And when route-planning, bear in mind that northern Honduras is more or less hassle-free, while the PanAm route includes a great many roadblocks, some more trouble than others. This doesn't mean don't follow the PanAm; just be ready to smile, wait patiently, and refuse to pay bribes for nonexistent offenses.

enjoy,

Mark

[BlackBeast]

Thanks for those valuable tips Mark. Also sent you a pm for some other help.
Daryll