Whoop whoop--today we're going to cross the border from Mexico into Guatemala! Michael was fortunately feeling better, and we went from Oaxaca to the state of Chiapas, the last Mexican state before reaching Guatemala. We paid our last toll (only one today, 177 pesos or just less than $10), and had our very first checkpoint stop at Mexico, where the man just looked at our papers intently, asked where we were going, returned our documents and then waved us on.
ยกAdios, Mexico!
To get to the border, we had to drive on the wrong side of the road, past a long line of trucks (it's a bit of a dodge 'em game, if someone then drives towards you, you have to figure out a way to let each other through). We were crossing the border at the Ciudad Hidalgo (Mexican side)/Tecun Uman (Guatemalan side). We followed Google Maps to where the border crossing office was, but it was closed, so we did indeed have to just follow the line of trucks all the way to the end. This was the first time we'd crossed a border where we had to cancel forms on our side and then get new ones on the other, and since we also needed to do things in Spanish it was going to make it a little more difficult.
We got to the Mexican side, we parked the RV and lined up to get our passports stamped out, which was easy enough. We then had to get our TIP (permit for importing our vehicle to be able to drive) canceled--this required us lining up again, and showing the slip of paper that had the list of items we'd marked when we first entered. The officer went to the RV with us, where he proceeded to run through the list and take photos of all the items listed. It took a while to get everything sorted, but overall it was a pretty straightforward process.
With Help from Mynor
Once we drove into the Guatemala side, we first had to pay to go drive through what looks like a car wash to get our RV fumigated (they took credit card payment fortunately). While this was happening, there was a man, Mynor, who was there who offered to help us.
Now, we've heard various perspectives on these "fixers"--some folks have found these folks who help people through the border crossing process to be super helpful and worth the extra bit of money, while others have said they've been scammed. After getting out of the RV, we walked to the place to get our passports stamped, and the lady asked something in Spanish, which turned out to be asking if we had a vehicle as well. Mynor saw that we hadn't gotten everything completed, so jumped in and helped to get this extra process sorted to cancel our TIP from Mexico.
After this, we were happy to have him guide us through--we had to figure out where to go next to get Sheila's paperwork sorted so she could enter the country, going into another office around the side for the officer to inspect her and enter her information, and take copies of her international health certificate. We then went into the customs office (Aduana); Mynor couldn't go in with us but this was to get our TIP for Guatemala. We ended up having a lovely lady who was working on her English--she had a paper that had the key phrases in English and Lisette also helped fix and add a few more sentences. She went to check inspect our vehicle, and we got a sticker to place on our windshield. For the TIP in Guatemala, we had to pay this in local currency to the tune of 160 quetzales at the bank within the customs building, so we exchanged some Mexican pesos to be just enough for this payment (Mynor had also mentioned we shouldn't change more than we needed to here as the people exchanging money are just men walking around with different currencies, and the rate is better once you clear customs).
It took a while to get this all sorted, but then we were off! It was funny, because the actual area to do all of this didn't have a lot of parking, and we had a bit of trouble backing out, but as this was happening there were people just casually riding their bikes from the Mexican side to the Guatemalan side without even being stopped!
Mynor found us (not that we're hard to miss in the big RV), and asked if we needed to exchange pesos to quetzales (seemed like he was going to help us do this), but by this time it was getting late, so we skipped this, particularly because we now had to just focus on driving the crazy street traffic in Guatemala! It was everyone for themselves sharing the road--people on pushbikes (like Mynor trying to guide us along), families crammed into motorcycles, cars and big trucks. We were glad to get out of the thick of it, and passed Mynor a bit of money for his trouble.
As the sun was setting, we found a petrol station that had ample space for trucks, buses and other big vehicles to park at, which charged 40 quetzales per night. Fortunately the space we backed into wasn't right next to the road, and there was a bit of space for Sheila to walk around (sharing space with a frog and hearing some birds and we swear what sounded like a monkey in the tree near us!). We didn't have enough quetzales on us, but we were waved through and could probably just pay tomorrow.
Australian Milk and No Quetzales
The next morning we negotiated to skip the overnight payment as we filled up on petrol where we'd stayed. There was a man with no shirt busy cleaning his chicken bus, in the bay next to us, and we were looking forward to seeing more of what definitely seemed like a more rugged and jungle-like terrain compared to Mexico.
We needed to get some groceries and fortunately Michael saw a sign for a supermarket not far into our drive, which had a large enough parking lot for us to fit--our spot was marked for buses and was right outside the door to the store! Grabbing a shopping trolley, we got some fruit, stuff for sandwiches, and snacks--and realized that unlike Mexico (but more like Nicaragua), Guatemala doesn't really sell fresh milk, everything is long life. There was an entire display for Australian milk, so we got that, although it's definitely a long way for this milk to travel to reach Central America!
There was a bank nearby, although Michael kind of had to double park on the road and Lisette had to duck out to see if we could exchange money. As it turns out, the bank guard told Lisette that there are no banks in Guatemala that exchange money, we needed to go to a specific money exchange. There was one a few more minutes' drive away, but by the time Lisette returned Michael had a migraine coming on very quickly, so we skipped this and kept driving.
Same Name, Different Bumps
In Mexico a speed bump is a "tope" but in Guatemala this is called a "tumelo." Different name, but same concern when we drove over them that we'd scrape the bottom of our RV! There are no toll roads in Guatemala like Mexico, but we will say that out of all the countries we drove through, Guatemala takes the lead for the worst roads. These were filled with huge potholes, speed bumps, and random debris on the road (we once had to stop because there was a tree in our lane!).
Guatemalan roads were also more hectic because in addition to cars, buses, and trucks, in some places there were people standing in the middle of the street selling fruit and other items, and there were tuk-tuks also zooming around. We loved seeing snippets of everyone's daily life!
We were challenged at one point when Google Maps took us into a small town, and we faced the biggest "tumelo" we'd seen--it was unnecessarily steep, and shaped like a massive brick (squared rather than a rounded hump). Michael had to be extra, extra careful, slowing down to attack it from the side. Fortunately we made it without any major incident, but we held our breaths as we were driving over it!
There was apparently a road closure on part of the highway that we were meant to drive along, so we ended up on a gravelly, rocky road in a rather rural part of Guatemala. The scenery around us was incredible--rows of rubber trees with sap being collected from them, hundreds of banana trees, coconut and date palms, and so much more through the thick jungle surrounding us. As we were bumping uncontrollably along this road, we noticed a man driving towards us from the other direction (both our lanes were clear). He ended up driving up the embankment on his side, when he suddenly lost control of his motorcycle and fell, landing on his shoulder and head!
We rushed out of the park, and we could see that he was badly hurt, wincing in pain from the fall. Fortunately, a few more people arrived and we explained what happened. We suggested taking him to the hospital in our RV, but apparently the hospital was really far away, and it would be expensive. Michael offered him water and some Ibuprofen for the pain, but we found out that he had been drinking so could only have the water. A lady had him peel his shirt back to look at his shoulder, and we could see that his arm had been completed dislocated from his socket, so we couldn't really put a sling on it either! Eventually someone came on a motorbike so he hopped on behind him to go home (he had been really adamant to drive back, but he apparently lived pretty far away and we all insisted he not drive). Michael had taken his bike down from the embankment and it was broken in part but seemed to still run, so someone at some point probably came back to pick it up. How scary--and this is why Lisette always recommends helmets! But more importantly, don't drink and drive!
Isabel y Javier
Our aim had been to drive into El Salvador today, but given the challenging roads and partially closed highway, we would need to stay in Guatemala for the night, and cross over in the morning. We saw quite a few gas stations, but then we found a campsite that was filled with positive reviews, which we would end up reaching about 30 minutes after sunset, so decided to push on.
The campsite, La Combi, is run by a couple, Javier and Isabel, in Chiquimulilla. They live onsite and have set up their land so that there's plenty of spaces for RVs and campers to stay. There's a playground, zipline, quad bike area, showers and restrooms, outdoor barbecue area, and a lot of facilities that allow them to not only host campers, but also host events for kids and the community. Lisette had sent a WhatsApp message ahead of us driving there, and confirmed there was space.
It got dark very, very quickly after the sunset, and it ended up being like a video game driving at night, squinting to avoid potholes and trying our best to avoid them!! It was so challenging that when we arrived at the entrance of La Combi we missed it, had to find a place to turn, and then make our way back down the road to get in.
But finally, we made it! Javier was waiting for us on his pushbike, along with their adorable little dog, Bruno, where he guided us on where to park. Once we had stopped the RV, he was very generous in showing us around to all the amenities we could need--from the ice machine to the showers to the cooking area--noting that "mi casa es su casa" (my house is your house), and making us feel right at home. We met Isabel who was very warm and sweet, and Sheila met Bruno and had a positive dog interaction! Bruno is little but easygoing and wasn't barking or aggressive at all. While it was rather challenging to drive in the dark, it was well worth the extra time to arrive at this lovely campground, with such a warm and welcoming couple in Guatemala.