Additional Guatemala Border Crossing Information

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From Drive the Americas

People's experiences vary depending on crowds at the border, corrupt or honest border officials, and rules can also change. Read about individual experiences at specific borders below.

[edit] Entering Guatemala

Cuidad Cuaugtemoc, Mexico to La Mesialla, Guatemala

November 8, 2008

We crossed the Mexican/Guatemalan border at Ciudad Cuauhtemoc/La Mesilla. After completing the necessary paperwork in Mexico, we then drove about a mile before hitting the somewhat chaotic street market at the beginning of La Mesilla. We first came to the fumigation point.

It was wise of us to change Mexican pesos to Guatemalan quetzales before we got there, as people were offering to sell us quetzales for a terrible exchange rate. After paying Q18 to have the car sprayed (count the change they give you carefully, they ´accidentally´ forgot to give us Q50 at first), we proceeded next door to the ´migracion´ station with the proof of fumigation document.

Guatemalan Vehicle Import Fumigation Station

Guatemalan Immigration Office

Our passports were scanned and stamped, but we were not asked to pay for a ´permisso 131 rp,´or tourist permit, as we had expected based on information we found online. Hopefully this won´t be a problem down the road. We then proceeded one building over to the 'aduana´ for the vehicle entry permit. The officer needed our car title, passports, and the mexican receipt showing we had canceled our Mexican vehicle import permit. He never asked for a drivers license or an international drivers permit, but we´ve heard procedures at the borders are somewhat fluid, so it´s probably a good idea to have these in hand. He kept our documents after giving us a receipt to bring to the Banrural nextdoor for payment.

After paying Q40, we returned to the aduana with proof of payment, and the officer gave us our vehicle import sticker for the window. This whole process took about 30 minutes. We then drove through Mesilla (after taking a crazy detour to avoid the market which had taken over the street) and were on our way on CA-1 to Xela. It took us about 3.5 hours to get there after the immigration.

--Posted by Kristin

[edit] Exiting Guatemala

Esquipulas, Guatemala to Agua Caliente, Honduras

December 14, 2008

We crossed the Guatemala-Honduras border at Esquipula-Agua Calienete. It was a fairly simple process of showing them our passports and vehicle import permit documents. They did stamp our passports, and there is some debate as to whether or not they should have done so.

The countries of Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, and Nicaragua are part of the CA-4, and for a period of 90 days tourists should be able to travel between the 4 countries without paying any fees (vehicle import permits are a separate issue). The border personal at Honduras didn't mention this, but the border personal at El Salvador pointed out that the Guatemalan authorities should not have stamped our passports. However, they said that was Guatemala's problem, and I shouldn't have any trouble with my travels. The border guards asked if we were planning on returning to Guatemala, as the permit was valid for 90 days. Since we were not returning, we surrendered the sticker-permit we had placed on our windshield. The process was fast, efficient, and free.

--Posted by Kristin

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