Fleeced at the Border

Guatemalan Immigration
see all photos »

Crossing the border was much easier than we thought it would be. From Flores in Guatemala we purchased a ticket that would take us all the way through to Palenque, Mexico on a bus, boat, bus combination. We started with a two hour mini-bus ride to the border town of Bethel, stopping en route at an immigration building in the middle of nowhere to get an exit stamp in our passports. This involved paying 5 dollars each for the privelidge which is a blatent scam that you can do nothing about if you want to cross the border. Seeing our driver behind the counter with the immigration officials confirmed our suspicions. We also found out that each group doing the same crossing paid different amounts depending on how much the officials could be bothered to rinse them by.

Our boat across the border
see all photos »

The River Usumacinta divides the two countries here so a half hour boat ride was needed to get in to Mexico. I had imagined this to be a busy crossing with many Latin Americans trying to out-fox the armed guards patrolling the frontier in order to make a new life in the U.S. I was wrong. There was no-one around except us tourists and the boat companies taking us across the river. There were no security checks or passport control at either bank of the river. Anyone could cross with no problem at all.

It´s easier to sit on a deck chair all day fleecing the on-coming tourists than it is to get a job in these parts

From left to right - Mexico, River, Guatemala
see all photos »

The most dangerous thing here was the river itself. It seemed calm at first until we started the crossing and saw all the whirlpools that the captain had to cautiously navigate around. When i asked for a life jacket i was just assured that it was not needed, in other words they couldn´t be bothered to buy any.

We crossed the river and arrived into Frontera Corozal where we volunteered our presence at an immigration office once more. We boarded the waiting Mexican shuttle bus and off we went on the 5 hour drive north to Palenque, the first stop in our 6 weeks in Mexico. We encountered problems early on as we tried to leave the border town. Apparently tourists have to pay 2 dollars each to pass through the town and there were a load of guys ready to take our payment. It seems that it´s easier to sit on a deck chair all day fleecing the on-coming tourists than it is to get a job in these parts. The whole bus was not happy, except for the driver who was probably getting a cut of the profits. It was a stalemate, we were all reluctant to hand any money over and the bus wasn´t moving until we did. There was only going to be one winner here. Eventually one by one people paid up and we were on our way. Another successful days takings for the locals.

Approaching Mexico
see all photos »

We arrived into Palenque just in time for lunch, the first of many tasty dishes we would be sampling in this country. The main attraction here is the ancient city of Palenque, we decided to skip this though for fear of an overdose of Mayan ruins while travelling this area. So we just had a look around town which is a fairly ordinary place but an easy, gentle introduction to the Mexican way of life. We survived the sweltering mid-day heat and subsequent afternoon thunderstorm and were on the move once more that day as we boarded an overnight bus to Tulum on the Caribbean coast. A busy day of travelling. Gary