Driving from Petén to Villahermosa, MX part 1

On Thanksgiving one of our missionary friends mentioned that the road was now paved between Naranjo, Petén and the border of Mexico. When we moved to Petén, there was no border crossing with Mexico that you could drive through. Because of this we travelled to Belize to get our paperwork.

This new information set me to researching and I found very little information about the border crossing at El Ceibo. I did find that in the city of Villahermosa there are not only Walmarts and a Sam's Club, there is also a Home Depot. Looking at the Home Depot website, prices advertised were less than half of those we can obtain in Guatemala for fixtures of lesser quality. Because we are at the point that we need to buy things like toilets, sinks and doors, we thought it would be a good idea to check it out in person. It appeared that the time driving to Villahermosa would be close to the time it takes to go to Guatemala City, so if we could also complete a Visa renewal and get cheaper stuff for our house, it seemed like it was worth the risk. Here is how our trip went:

We left La Libertad at 10:30am (after dropping off 8 boxes of school supplies at an elementary school close to there) in the direction of Naranjo. There are over 80 speed bumps on this road with almost 2 of them painted and marked. A good rule of thumb is that if there are houses next to the road, there is a speed bump in front of them even if you can't see it. There was a clear sign showing the road to Mexico about 8 km before you get to Naranjo.

At 12:30pm we arrived at the border. You first have to park on the road and take your passports to immigration. I was able to take all four passports to the immigration trailer without having to take the boys out of their car seats. We were several weeks expired on our visas which usually entails a Q10 fine per day per passport. There was nothing I could do about this as my lawyer had my passport for 2 months in Guatemala city while changing the title and plates on our micro. I mentioned this to the officer so that I didn't get a lecture or a disapproving glance like I was trying to hide something as has happened at the Belize border. He acted like he didn't hear me, stamped the passports without asking me for any money and told me that I was done. I guess it wasn't worth his trouble.

I then went to the Sat trailer to show my vehicle information so they would let me leave. This was my longest wait in Guatemala as the money changers had to get the Sat agent from the Banrural trailer where he was flirting with the teller. He looked at my stuff and said I could go.

I exchanged all of my quetzales into pesos at 100 quetzales for 150 pesos and drove to the Mexican side.

It was immediately different from the Guatemalan side. There I was greeted by a Mexican official who told the me entire process before fumigating my vehicle and then pointing me towards a parking spot. There I was greeted by a customs official who asked to see inside my bags, confiscated my beef jerky (it is prohibited to import beef products from the States even though I came from Guatemala), and told me everything was great. While this process was going on two immigration officers were working on my paperwork for our visas. There was no charge and I was able to sign for all four visas including my wife's. I was told to pay 60 pesos for the fumigation and directed to the far area to get my vehicle permit.

I came with all of my information: registration card, passport, Driver's license, Mexican insurance purchased through Sanborn the day before and printed up at home (which the guy didn't care about) and vehicle title. I was then informed that I would need to pay $436 in American cash. They do not have credit card capability and there is no ATM anywhere around. $36 is the price of the permit and $400 is a deposit that will be returned to me when I leave Mexico with my Microbus. (The deposit is tiered: 2004 and newer is $400, 2001-2004 is $300 and anything older than 2001 is $200.)

When I asked how I was supposed to get American dollars I was told to go talk to the money changers back in Guatemala. He did advise me that they would charge 14 or 15 pesos/dollar (the exchange they offered me before was 1 dollar for 11 pesos) but he knew a guy in the office that would do it for 13. I didn't have enough pesos anyway, so I would still have to go to Guatemala, exchange for pesos from quetzales and then come back and exchange for dollars to pay my deposit.

Well I haven't lived in Guatemala for over 4 years to get ripped off by a Mexican, so I went directly and found out the Guatemalans would give me dollars for only 12.5 pesos. The only problem was that they don't have dollars with them and I would have to wait for them to go to their house and come back. They came back with $300 instead of $400 so I had to wait for them to go back home again and come back. After 30 minutes I came back to the vehicle guy who had thankfully already processed all of my stuff. Here we found that the only $50 bill the guys gave me was ripped and he wouldn't accept it, even though he's supposedly going to give it back to me on Friday. He told me I would have to go back and exchange the $50 for another $50 bill. Not wanting to go through that again I gave him 650 pesos (50 x 13) so that he could exchange with the guy later (probably himself), and I was given my permit and all of my paperwork.

I should also say that in this office are two very well maintained public bathrooms. You will not find the same thing on the Guatemalan side or anywhere near here going either direction.

So I took an hour longer than I needed to at the border. The total time should have taken less than a half hour with both sides of the border. We left the border at 2pm in the direction of Tenosique (the only direction the highway will take you.)

My next post will detail our drive through Mexico and arriving in Villahermosa. I will say that whether in Guatemala or in Mexico, my new Garmin Nuvi would have been worthless if I had not previously studied several different road maps and had that information in my head. None of the necessary roads even exist on the GPS, let alone have them in the right spot. It is necessary to know ahead of time exactly where you are going and what towns you will be passing on the way in case you need to ask for directions. Please do not trust a GPS.