Sorry, I don't want to seem a nit picker Ian but in the first paragraph I must tell you there are two serious errors, and you put yourself through a lot of needless work by going to Tijuana.Obviously an outcome of your admitted poor Spanish skills.
At TECATE there most definitely is a BANJERCITO office - it is located on the east side of the street right across from the customs building where you got your tourist card ( you called it a visa, not the same) Yes , you can pay this at any of the listed banks , but at some border crossings they will actually now permit you to pay it in cash at the BANJERCITO ( and I think Tecate is one of those, if memory serves). More importantly you do NOT need to have paid it before you can get your temporary import permit. What they clearly tell you is that it must be paid before you can CANCEL the temp.import permit and tourist card when you leave Mexico at the end of their legal valid period.
You could have obtained this temp.import permit at TECATE just with the proof of your tourist card. Correct, as you state, this import permit can only be paid for by use of a credit card. However , failure to have a working credit card would not need to stop you from entering, as in such cases you can post a cash bond , up to $400 depending on age of vehicle. That cash bond will be promptly returned to your hands when you cancel the temp.import permit when you leave.

HONDURAS ENTRY ; your 90 day visa had nothing to do with any of the other countries but it was valid for any return to Guatemala within that time so if you did come back to GT you would not have paid any additional fees, just stamps in passport.
I agree that the Central American borders can be very trying, depending on which crossing you choose.However there is a standard sequence which applies to them all, in four steps 1 MIGRACION - PASSPORTS 2 TRANSITO- VEHICLE DOCUMENTATION 3 "SEPA' the acronym for the entity in charge of protecting the agriculture,health and environment, also called OIRSA, CUARENTENA and FUMIGACION, depending which country and step 4 ADUANA - They check all your documents and luggage. These steps must be followed in this sequence, or you will be wasting time waiting in line to find out that you will be sent to another line to wait some more.

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http://advrider.com/index.php?thread....207964/page-5 then scroll down to post #93