Borders always loom as a hassle, border officials have total control over your life and you have no real idea no matter how much you read ahead, what will be approved or denied. Our rule is show up with the proper papers and a big smile.
The Belizeans were the usual unsmiling remote figures of authority and we paid $20US each to leave. “I hope they spend it wisely” I said to the severe looking bureaucrat behind the screen. She glanced at me like I was an idiot. Bye bye Belize. It took her 15 minutes to print a receipt.
We drove out of Belize into the section of Guatemala that is across the river because they draw the border as a straight line and the border river wiggles. We ended up getting a helper and gave him 20 Quetzals ($2:80) for leading me the dance. In theory it’s simple: in reality the offices are scattered and the order to visit them is obscure. And though we thought we had all our photocopies we lacked a copy of our registration. (No one has ever asked for the title, though we do carry it).
Eduardo led us to immigration. Big smile “Welcome to Guatemala!” Then the vehicle guy to whom I explained my wife the boss was mad because she thought I’d lost the photocopy. Conspiratorially he made me one. Cheers! Big smiles. I had a pet passport and a health certificate for Rusty from Chetumal less than a month ago so with a quick glance at the little prince in his bed the Agriculture Inspector was good. It’s just a matter of some dollars in fees ($14 I think) and you have a permit for Dog. Less than an hour and we were done. We showed our paperwork to the sentry and crossed the bridge to Melchor de Mencos.
The bridge keeper in her little yellow hut wanted 40 Quetzals for a municipal fee, almost six bucks which seemed high but we had changed money in Benque Viejo in Belize so we had sixty bucks in Quetzals to spend lavishly. The Guatemalan officials also took Visa which made the process even easier.
Melchor de Mencos has a population of 24,000 people, as many as Belize City and is a hopping center of commerce with banks and department stores and people and motorcycles everywhere. It was confusing and delightful and alive after the dour street scenes in Belize. It’s named for a Spanish Sergeant Major who in the 16th century took a patrol to the coast to roust the English pirates camped at the mouth of the Belize River. He is honored today as Guatemala still claims Belize.
Gas was $4:60 a gallon as they sell it in gallons and we got 19 of them at almost half the price of Belize. His card reader was down and we paid cash as we had just bought $250 in Quetzales at an ATM. Up next? Water was rather expensive at 60 cents per purified gallon but we got it anyway as you need water. Loaded with water and gas and the engine cooling perfectly and chilling us with a/c on a one hundred degree day we took off on Central America Highway 13.
Rob and Mandy whom we met in Belize told us they didn’t the night at a restaurant along the highway so we stopped for lunch. It was pretty delicious. Guatemala was okay so far except for the potholes and the occasional speed bumps.
Up next: finding a cellphone shop in Flores to buy a SIM card and some car tubing to cool off. Laynes been to Tikal previously and I went to Caracol so I don’t need to burn up in 100 degree heat looking at more ruins. Wish us luck as we take off in Guatemala.
