The day has come for my first border crossing, its the end of my time in Mexico but the start of my Guatemalan adventure.
Luce is also crossing the border today so we are both up early for the first bus (there will be 4) and Santiago has once again made us a delicous breakfast.
I feel excited and nervous about whats to come, both of which will fade however as the length of the journey ahead dawns on me, it will take 10 hours before I reach my final destination.
Before we have even left San Cristobal we change onto our second bus which will be the one that takes us to the Mexican border. Its takes around 5 hours (with a toilet break halfway) and as we pull up to the immigration office my feelings fear and excitement return.
Before i came away i did as much research as i could about the border crossing and theres a lot of conflicting information as to whether you should pay a ‘fee’ for leaving Mexico. Generally if you have flown in then you should not pay, but this can change.
Determined that i was not going to pay the fee i approach the intimidating officer at the desk and hand him my passport and immigration card (you must not lose this when you arrive) with my most confident ‘Buenas Dias’. You are only allowed to enter the office in pairs and the person who enters with me has already been processed, leaving me alone with 5 immigration officers all watching while the rest of the bus waits in line outside.
He is completely silent and doesnt look up from his computer for what feels like an eternity untill finally he checks my passport, looks at me, then starts speaking in Spanish about how i have to pay 400 pesos. Now i still have not mastered Spanish but i know enough to work out what hes saying but play the confused tourist, pretending i dont understand. He then points to a sign behind me that says if you have stayed longer than 7 days you must pay.
I say that i have visited immigration in San Cristobal and they have assured me i do not have to pay anything. This goes back and forth a couple of times until he shrugs, gives up and reluctantly stamps my passport- Win for me!
The same speech is given to everyone who enters immigration but we all refuse to pay, leaving a bus of happy travellers and a set of not so happy corrupt officers.
We then drive for around 10 minutes where we are dropped off in a crazy border town. The driver tells us (in Spanish, they never speak in english) that we must stay together, do not stop, do not go to the bathroom and keep all your bags on you- real confidence boosting guy! Its then a 5 minute walk to the Guatemalan immigration office where again you line up outside and enter in pairs or threes.
I hand over my passport along with the others and they take an un necessary amount of time checking the passports, looking through the pages, stamping and signing them. The passports are then sorted into 2 piles- the first lot given back and allowed to leave and the second pile is held onto while they tell us we have to pay a ‘fee’ to enter the country, great.
Again we all refuse to pay and the officer gives up pretty easy, confirming that it isnt a real fee at all.
We are then all waiting for our connecting bus (bus number 3) outside and the town is something like i have never experienced before. It is busy on a scale i have never seen with people crossing the border from both sides, vendors with their stalls, children begging and touts exchanging peso for quetzales.
We could be waiting for hours so we get comfy (as much as possible in sweltering humidity and cramped space) and i change my remaining pesos for quetzales. You have to be careful with how you do this but speaking in spanish will ensure you get a better rate as well as going for the guys who are around the office- the dodgier ones dont risk getting caught in the act.
After about an hour and a half our bus shows up and we cram in, it makes mexican buses seem luxury. The border roads are pretty poor and its a bone jarring 4 hour drive though it gives a good view of the Guatemalan landscape- its a lot greener and more sparse than Mexico.
At a petrol station its the final bus change, me and two others who are heading to Quetzaltenango (Xela for short) get in another bus that drops us at our hostels.
I get my dorm and chat with an Australian couple who are also staying the night, they are leaving for a 3 day hike in the morning the crazy pair!
They invite me out to dinner with them and a friend and we head to an Indian restaurant ( I know, in Guatemala? Not going to argue on an invite) and the food is amazing. Its a bit weird hearing people say Indian dishes while talking in Spanish and the menu translations are quite amusing.
Its an early night for all and I climb into bed having to remind myself i have changed countries today, crazy.
Findingmywayaroundtheworld 