taxis, buses, vans - part 2: traveling through Guatemala

Though it was a long journey, traveling through Guatemala was easy enough.

It was quite strange using quetzales after using lempiras for such a long time; we got used to how much things ought to cost in lempiras.
At this point in time, the exchange rate was 0.4 quetzales for 1 lempira. So, for every 1000 lempiras we changed, we got 400 quetzales.

After we got our stamps on the Guatemala side of the border, we had to catch a taxi to get into Esquipulas. There were many options when we arrived at the border but, because we took so long trying to figure out how the border thing works, we were left with only one option when we were finished taking care of business. This option was the expensive car taxi.

***

The guy said that he could take us right away, just the two of us, for 30 quetzales each, or if the car was full (5 people total) then it'd be 20 quetzales each. We didn't want to pay that much, but nearly everyone had already taken the cheaper options and were on their way to Esquipulas. There was no one else around as we waited. We had no other options; we had to take the car taxi.

As we were leaving, there magically appeared a woman who needed a ride. Then, as we started driving, the driver decided to randomly turn around and we picked up two more. Our car was full. He turned back around, in the right direction, and started driving toward Esquipulas.

We only got stopped one time by the border patrol. We were a couple minutes up the road and we pulled over. Everyone rolled down their windows and the man asked to see our, just us two, passports. He looked at them quickly and then told us we could go.

Once we arrived in Esquipulas, the cab driver told us that we owed him the original 30 quetzales that he quoted us for a half empty car. I don't know why, but we did not argue. On the bright side, he helped us find a van that was leaving for Chiquimula immediately. We forgave him for overcharging us at this point, and then forked over 15 quetzales each for this one our van ride.

***

When we got to Chiquimula, we were greeted by a guy who offered, insisted on taking, to carry Alex's bag. Alex said that he would take it, but the man would not give his bag back to him. We told him that we were going to Puerto Barrios, and he led us to the large van headed for our destination. He handed our bag off to a guy who put our bags in the back of the van. We were uncertain about having our bags be unattended, but thought it was probably ok.

As we boarded the bus, the man who carried Alex's bag from van to van started saying something that we could not understand. Alex asked him several times to repeat, and told him that he could not understand him, but he kept saying the same words. Finally, the guy sitting next to us said "he wants a tip". We looked at each other with our wtf faces. We kept saying that we didn't understand, and sorry, until the van took off.

This van ride was quite difficult for us because it was very, very tight; there were hardly any seats available when we got on. I had to ride, for 2 of the 4 hours, on Alex's lap. It was quite uncomfortable, but we were finding that the over-filling buses or vans is commonplace.

We weren't sure how long the bus ride would take but, we figured about four hours, we were hoping that we'd arrive in Puerto Barrios in time to catch the boat, which we thought was the last, at 2pm. Due to many stops along the way, this did not happen, and we arrived at our destination at 2:15pm. This ride cost us 40 quetzales each.

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Though we were sure that there would be no boats leaving Puerto Barrios in the late afternoon, we went down to the docks to just make sure; we did not want to spend the night in Puerto Barrios when we had a nice cottage in Punta Gorda waiting for us.

To our surprise, we met Memo, who owns a business transporting people from Puerto Barrios and Livingston to Punta Gorda, and he told us that the last boat, his boat, would be leaving at 3:30pm.

Because we were so relieved, we bought tickets without thinking about the cost. He told us it would be 200 quetzales per person, but he would give us a discount of 50 quetzales each if we bought a round trip that day. We wanted to save money, so we did it.

After our business transaction, he pointed us in the direction of immigration and told us that we could wait on the boat when we got back. The process of having our passports checked and stamped was as easy as the others. The only difference was that we had to pay an exit fee of 80 quetzales ($10 US dollars).



Return trip
Memo's boat leaves Punta Gorda at 12:30pm, which actually means a little after 1pm. Lunch at the immigration office is from noon to 1pm, so you can't get your stamp until about 5 minutes before. But they will take your money, 37.50 Belize dollars as an exit fee, at any time.

Because the boat left so late in the afternoon, and we encountered a bit of rough water, we got back into Guatemala at 3pm. We checked back into immigration and caught a cab to the area where the buses all congregate. This van did not leave immediately, which was all right with us because we really had to pee after that long boat ride. Read: I totally suggest going to the bathroom before the boat left so late in the afternoon, and we encountered a bit of rough water, we got back into Guatemala at 3pm. We checked back into immigration and caught a cab to the area where the buses all congregate. This van did not leave immediately, which was all right with us because we really had to pee after that long boat ride. Read: I totally suggest going to the bathroom before you head to Chiquimula from Puerto Barrios, or vice versa, because it is quite a long ride and they almost never stop for any substantial length of time.

This van got into Chiquimula at about 7:30pm. We asked the guy who takes all the money that we needed to get a hotel, and he pointed us the right direction. He suggested that we stay at the Hotel Victoria, but it was full. We ended up staying another place, though the name escapes me now, about a block down the street. It was very cheap, 80 quetzales, and simple. Though the rooms did not look bad, and there were private bathrooms and TVs in each room, I ended up walking away with a bunch of bedbug bites. So, I can't say that I exactly recommend this place.

In the morning we stopped at a pastry shop, right next door to the pizza place on the same street, and got some delicious goodies for 8 quetzales. We walked around until we found the area where all the buses congregate and found a bus leaving for Esquipulas for 15 quetzales each.

While in Esquipulas, after we found a van to take us to the border for 20 quetzales, we changed our quetzales for lempiras.