Chapter 6: Frontier Experience - From Mexico to Guatemala in 13 hours

The alarm clock rings not very lovingly at 5:00 in the morning. Today it's serious! In the dark and extremely sleepy, I pack my things. The bus leaves at 6 o'clock. It's a 13-hour trip from San Cristobal de las Casas, Mexico, to Antigua Guatemala, the old capital of Guatemala. It's hard to believe that the bus tour takes a whopping 13 hours for 480 kilometers.

For those who want to know more, here's the link!

https://www.google.com/maps/dir/San+Crist%C3%B3bal+de+las+Casas,+Chiapas,+Mexico/Antigua+Guatemala,+Guatemala/@15.5152984,-94.5516423,7z/data=!3m1!4b1!4m14!4m13!1m5!1m1!1s0x85ed453b1ea89bcf:0x48d55ca34957e2de!2m2!1d-92.6376186!2d16.7370359!1m5!1m1!1s0x85890e74b0250b15:0xf786ba2b2903723d!2m2!1d-90.7332233!2d14.5572969!3e0

However, I'm not really concerned about the duration of the trip, it's the border crossing that scares me. Since it's my first border crossing of this kind on foot, I have no practical experience, I have never experienced it myself, never felt it myself. Two countries with presumably highly corrupt authorities, in non-touristic places and with a great deal of potential for violence. Anything can happen here!

The border crossing in theory: The imagination runs wild!

Through some research on the Internet, I only know that shortly before the border with Guatemala, you have to leave the bus with your luggage and walk the last 500 meters on foot. Then you have to clarify the entry formalities and then cross the border. There, another driver with a new bus is supposed to be waiting for you. In theory, it seems simple. However, when reading the numerous reports of border crossings between Mexico and Guatemala, it quickly becomes clear that a lot can go wrong here.

For example, it is written that border personnel sometimes like to demand fictional, sometimes high fees and that luggage gets lost. Similarly, necessary vaccination certificates or tests are not accepted for unexplainable reasons. It continues with pushy people who snatch the tourists' luggage when they get off the bus, carry it across the border, and then demand 50 € for it. Since the threshold for serious violence is low in Mexico and Guatemala, you don't want to argue or get too emotional. Always be cautious, please!

The thought of the luggage being stolen is unfortunate. But I don't want to experience it at all, not even crossing the border and embarking on the return journey to San Cristobal as a solo traveler in a rough and dangerous environment without knowing Spanish and without internet.

But now the practice!

Back to 6 o'clock in the morning. A travel bus is ready, which may be nearly 30 years old.

A real Mercedes, wow! Besides the strong exhaust smell and the deafening engine noise, the bus seems to be in good condition. I'm the first one to get on. The bus driver, looking a bit senile, now drives to every hostel in the city and picks up one backpacker after another. So the first hour passes! When we leave San Cristobal, the bus is almost full, fortunately the seat next to me remains empty. My tactic of pretending to be more prepared than I actually am works once again. None of the others seem seriously interested in voluntarily giving up half of their seat just to sit next to me. I know, not the best behavior, but with my long legs in the usually too small buses, I have to be resourceful!

So the first hours of the journey pass. Still tired from the short night, I doze off in front of me until we make the first stop. At the foggy, huge, somewhat gloomy Mexican rest area, I treat myself to a dry croissant, talk to Lou, my girlfriend, via WhatsApp, and get back on the bus 40 minutes later.

After about 5 hours, the bus stops in the border town. The bus driver says something in Spanish and kicks us out, finito. Since I threw my luggage into the bus's trunk first and then a pile of backpacks fell over it, I don't worry much about the 'volunteers of luggage handling' also lining up for my backpack. And what a miracle, no one is there to 'help' and snatch the luggage from the bus. Level 1 is conquered!

Shortly after, everyone has their luggage in hand. Since the bus driver shows no signs of feeling responsible for us and the border crossing is not yet in sight, there is a brief moment of confusion. What happens now? Suddenly, the bus driver starts moving and starts running at an impressive pace. With a hand gesture, he signals us to follow. Shortly afterwards, we walk towards the border. The environment is dirty, run-down. The streets are muddy. It stinks and people are staring at us. I feel a little uncomfortable, but because of the group around me, I feel relatively safe.

Arriving at passport control, everything goes quite smoothly. I show my passport, my vaccination certificate, and the COVID-19 antigen test. With a little more than below-average interest, the officer scans my documents. The COVID-19 antigen test is so ignored that it could have been from last year. Anyway, I am glad that I passed and did not have to pay any invented fees. Level 2 completed!

After passport control, it gets a bit amusing. We are assigned into groups for the onward journey, as the travel group has different destinations. However, it seems that this doesn't work as one of the drivers imagines. 30 minutes and 4 sorting attempts later, we finally set off, uncertain if all the travelers are really going to Antigua and its surroundings.

When I sit in the minibus and realize that I got the right driver, I relax and take a sigh of relief. Unaware that the adventure is just beginning. It is the roads through the mountains of Guatemala that will soon capture my full attention and bring a few drops of sweat to my eyes. Parts of the road are finely paved, while other parts impress with gravel and an impressive craterscape. The car rocks so much at times that the movements are indistinguishable from a boat in rough seas. However, the environment with the overgrown, cliff-like mountains is so beautiful that you can temporarily forget the hardships of the journey.

Besides the roads, the traffic has a lot to offer. By the way, the two-lane road is the Pan-American Highway, on which you can drive from Canada, through the USA, through the Caribbean, with a small interruption between Panama and Colombia, all the way down to Chile. A whopping 25,000 kilometers to cover. All kinds of vehicles can be found on the road. From a small 3-wheeled roadster that exudes Italian flair to trucks with multiple trailers. Overtaking maneuvers are generally only initiated when it's at least somewhat unsafe. So occasionally, there are precarious situations where three vehicles squeeze next to each other on the two-lane road. And that often at 80 km/h or more. My life is now enriched with a few real moments of suspense.