BORDER RUN! CA-4 Visa Renewal from Xela, Guatemala to Tapachula, Mexico

After nearly three months spent traveling in Guatemala and El Salvador in 2014, my 90-day tourist visa for the Central America-4 (CA-4) countries (Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras and Nicaragua) was near expiration.  At the time, I was in the city of Quetzaltenango (Xela) in Guatemala’s western highlands.  As I planned on staying in Central America for another few months, renewing my CA-4 visa was now a must.

Below is the story of how I renewed my CA-4 visa via a border run to Mexico with less than 24 elapsed hours out of Guatemala (72 hours are preferred/required by Guatemalan immigration!) by using public transit and crossing different borders on the way in/out of Mexico.

Note that this is just one way to do a CA-4 visa renewal from western Guatemala – since writing this post, I’ve heard from many others that have done this border crossing in a bunch of different ways, like crossing over and back at either Mexican border immediately.  Some people even hinted at bribing border officials for quick turnaround.  I encourage anyone that wants to share information to post their border crossing method in the comments, as I have no illusions that this is the ONLY way to do a CA-4 visa renewal border run between western Guatemala and Tapachula.  Thanks!

Starting Point: Quetzaltenango (Xela), Guatemala. Destination: Tapachula, Chiapas state, Mexico.

A brief explanation of the CA-4 tourist visa:

When you, as a foreign national, first arrive in Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras or Nicaragua, you are generally awarded a maximum of a 90-day tourist visa (this is true at least for US citizens – please do further research for your specific home country!).  This visa allows you to pass through all four countries without the necessity of a separate visa for each.

RELATED POST:  Foreign Visas: What All Travelers Should Consider

But there’s a bit of a dark side to the CA-4 tourist visa, too:  the 90 days awarded are for ALL FOUR COUNTRIES, and your visa will NOT refresh when you cross between CA-4 countries.  In other words, passing from (for example) Guatemala to El Salvador doesn’t affect your original visa stamp at all – the clock keeps ticking on the original 90 days.  This can be a negative thing, especially considering that if you plan to see a bit of all four countries, you’ll very possibly need more than 90 days to do so!

Rumor has it:  upon entry to Honduras, travelers may be issued a fresh 90 day visa for the CA-4, but then again, maybe not (I’ve heard all kinds of things).  Additionally, bordering countries like El Salvador may not honor this fresh Honduran visa should you cross to the south!  I wouldn’t count on a crossing into Honduras getting you anything as far as extra time goes.

What are the penalties for overstaying my CA-4 visa?

The fee for overstaying your CA-4 visa in Guatemala is Q10 (about $1.30 US) per day of overstay.  Nicaragua charges 50 cordobas per day (about $2.00 US).  Clearly stated official information on El Salvador and Honduras overstay fees has been a little harder to find.  I’ve read $114 US for any overstay in El Salvador.  All of these figures are likely subject to change over time.

Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras & Nicaragua: too much ground to cover in just 90 days!

In this post, I’m only going to speak to visa renewals for travelers in Guatemala.  With that in mind, there are three ways to renew your CA-4 visa in Guatemala:

• Request a one-time visa extension in Guatemala City.  You can learn more about how to this here.
• Pay a visa renewal service to run your passport to the border for a fee.  This means handing over your passport to someone you don’t know well and hoping it’ll come back to you in a few days with a fresh 90 days.  I don’t feel comfortable recommending something like this, but hear that such services exist around Lago de Atitlan in Guatemala.  Your call on this.
• Leave the CA-4 countries altogether.  That means a border run to Belize or Mexico (or to Costa Rica, if you’re further south), or traveling out of the CA-4 region altogether by air or by boat.

I opted for the Mexican border crossing due to proximity and started making a plan.  I had three primary goals:

• Enter and exit Mexico within 24 hours instead of 72 hours.  I had heard and read that Guatemalan immigration REQUIRES 72 hours out of the country for a proper visa refresh, but I had also heard that this rule was not widely enforced, and that border agents were pliable with cash.  Which (strict or lax) would it be?  I had no idea.  Regardless – I needed to get back to Xela quickly and had little desire to linger in the city of Tapachula for 2-3 days, so I needed to work out a way to do the crossing in just one day.
• Avoid paying fines/bribes to immigration officials if at all possible.  The best way to avoid this was to NOT ENCOUNTER THE SAME OFFICIALS TWICE.
• Use public transit the whole way – no tourist shuttles, no luxury buses.

I turned to the internet for help.  Early on, I found solid, detailed instructions on how to do this Mexican border double-cross via Rich Polanco’s post on UnwireMe.  This became my template for how to proceed, though my starting/end points and execution were slightly different than his.  I highly recommend a read of his visa renewal post!

A very boiled-down idea of what Rich Polanco of UnwireMe did, and what I would also attempt:

• Public transit to the Guatemalan border.
• Cross into Mexico at Tecun Uman, Guatemala / Ciudad Hidalgo, Mexico.
• Sleep in Tapachula, Mexico for one night.
• Cross back to Guatemala the next day at Talisman, Mexico / El Carmen, Guatemala – a different border, to avoid recognition by immigration officials.
• Public transit home.

Below is my process for CA-4 visa renewal, in 16 easy steps!

Qué suerte!  I had company for the initial crossing to Mexico – my friend Alison, of Australia, was also traveling northward on her way to Mexico City, so we traveled together.

The previous night in Xela, the popular Guatemalan cumbia band “Los Miseria” had played at a favorite venue, and after swilling plenty of aguardiente and singing along with the song “Chicharron Con Pelos“, we were both rocking serious gomas (hangovers) and acid reflux the day of our trip.  Dios mio.  Why make things easy on ourselves, right?

Los Miseria Cumbia Band @ El Cuartito. Sept 5, 2014.

Thanks to poor judgement the previous night and resulting suffering, Alison and I left later than planned, walking out of our hostel near the center of Xela at about 12:30 PM.  According to prior conversations and research, this would put us at the Guatemalan/Mexican border at about 4:00 or 4:30 PM, and in Tapachula about an hour and a half later.  Oh well, at least we were still going to cross before sundown!

Official pre-border-crossing dance/song. “Border crossing / Border crossing / Nobody said this would be easy / Nobody said this would be facil”. Best performed with front backpacks.

BTW, I stayed in this hostal in Xela for two months and can’t recommend it enough. Click through to their Facebook page, and tell them I sent you.

STEP #1:  GET YOURSELF TO XELA’S MINERVA TERMINAL.

Time Elapsed:  20 minutes
What We Paid:  Q30 for a taxi for two people

For the uninitiated, Minerva is the large market and camioneta (chicken bus) terminal in Zona 03 of Xela.  There are two ways to get there:  by micro van or by taxi.

Micro vans to Minerva cost Q1.25 per passenger during the daytime and sometimes Q1.50 at night.  You can hop one on 8a Calle (one block south of Parque Central) or on 14a Avenida as they travel north.

Taxis cost more, but are much easier than cramming into a crowded micro van with your backpack.  We chose a taxi from Parque Central to Minerva for our initial transport for this reason, which cost Q30 for two of us with packs.  Our driver wanted Q40 but settled for less without argument.

STEP #2:  BOARD A CAMIONETA (CHICKEN BUS) FROM XELA’S TERMINAL MINERVA TO RETALHULEU (“REU”).

Transit Time in Camioneta:  1 hour (más o menos)
What We Paid:  Q13 per person

When you arrive at Terminal Minerva, bus drivers and bus ayudantes (“helpers” – the guys that collect fares and load the tops of the bus with cargo) will approach you and ask you where you’d like to go.  Tell them “Reu”, which is the abbreviation for Retalhuleu and they’ll help you get to a camioneta that’s headed the right direction.

Your carriage awaits.

Further, ask “Está directo a Reu?” which means “Is it direct to Reu?”  I’ve had a few bus drivers lie in the past about this, but most have been honest.  Feel free to ask the fare before boarding if you like, too.

We carried our backpacks into the inside the bus (adentro) and stashed them in the racks over our heads, for better surveillance over our belongings.  Know this:  most of the time, ayudantes prefer that you put your backpacks on top of the bus.  And this can easily be done – I just don’t recommend leaving any valuables in your big pack if it’s going to ride on top.

Our trip from Xela to Reu was your garden variety camioneta ride – 6-7 adults per row of seats in a retired Blue Bird school bus from the USA.

Elevation drops considerably on this ride – from 2,330 meters (7,640 feet) in Xela to just 200 meters (656 feet) in Reu.  With this, the climate becomes warmer, balmier.  After a little over an hour onboard (though it felt longer), we arrived in Reu.

STEP #3:  CHANGE BUSES IN REU, HEAD TOWARD TECUN UMAN.

Transit Time in Pullman bus:  1.5 hours
What We Paid:  Q20 per person

Rain was coming down hard as we pulled in to Reu.  Just like magic, the bus we needed to connect to (to “Tecun Uman” – but ayudantes may be shouting “FRONTERA” instead) was waiting just alongside us.  It was an old Pullman bus, with proper bucket seats and even a bathroom (that I dared not use, despite my dire, near emergent needs!).  We were hungry too – but fortunately, there’s always a food parade of sorts on every public bus in Guatemala.  Alison and I bought fresh fruit to snack on for Q5 and moved forward to the Guatemalan border town of Tecun Uman.

When you connect in Reu, you should ask for buses to “Tecun Uman” or to “la frontera”.  Preferably, ask both before boarding.  There are multiple fronteras (frontiers / borders) between Guatemala and Mexico, after all.

The comparatively smooth ride (comparative to chicken buses) took about an hour and a half, and we found ourselves at the terminus, in a weird little bus terminal in Tecun Uman, Guatemala.

STEP #4:  UPON ARRIVAL IN TECUN UMAN, HIRE A BICYCLE TAXI TO THE BORDER.

Transit Time:  10 minutes
What We Paid:  Q10 for one bici-taxi (fits two people)

Note that Pullman buses from Reu do not drop you right at the border – you’ll still be about ten minutes away from the Mexican frontier when you disembark.  Fortunately, there’s a cheap and easy solution for this – hire a bicycle taxi from the Tecun Uman border for onward transit to the border.

You can walk this route instead of taking a bike taxi, but why bother trying to save what adds up to $1.25 US wandering quite a ways through an unfamiliar and reputably somewhat dangerous border town?  Hire the bike taxi and enjoy the ride.

Food en route.

Our stomachs were now eating themselves, so we bought fried chicken and papas fritas from a 10 year old girl at the Tecun Uman terminal and sallied forth.

Bici-taxi to the Guatemala/Mexico border.

Alison was a bit sad to be leaving Guatemala. I was enjoying the ride.

STEP #5:  VISIT GUATEMALAN IMMIGRATION AT THE TECUN UMAN BORDER.

Time Needed:  Depends on mood of border official, but likel less than 15 minutes
What We Paid:  Nothing.  This should be a 100% feimmigration visit if you’re within your 90 day CA4 visa.  Note the Q1 fee we paid after immigration.

What to know when you pass through Guatemalan immigration:

If you’ve stayed in the CA-4 countries for under 90 days, you should have no problem at the Guatemalan border office, and shouldn’t have to pay anything to the border officials.  They will probably ask for something like Q10 without explanation.  You do not have to pay this, as it has nothing to do with your passage out of the country nor your passport stamp.  So don’t pay it – it’s a scam.

Furthermore – make sure you double check your passport for your fresh new Guatemala exit stamp before leaving the office.  It’s important to have if you plan on re-entering Guatemala for a new 90 day tourist visa.

How it went down for us at the Guatemalan office:

The Guatemalan border officials tried to intimidate Alison by insisting there was a problem with her passport.  There wasn’t.  I think they were trying to shake her down for a bribe.  They eventually gave up on this nonexistent “problem” a asked Alison for Q10.  She was ready, and told them she didn’t have to pay it.  The officials didn’t fight back.  She got her Guatemala exit stamp and it was my turn

During Alison’s little battle with the immigration guys, I had quietly hidden myself in the corner of the immigration office, trying to maintain a low profile.  After all, if I was going to cross to Mexico and back to Guatemala in under the required 72 hour period, I didn’t want to be visually memorable to border officials that were already digging for bribes and could very possibly be working there when I crossed over again.  Fortunately, the border officials gave me an easier time (thanks to Alison) and stamped me out.  They didn’t even ask me for the customary Q10.  We moved on.

One thing I noticed:  the Guatemalan border officials scanned my passport, and their computer *beeped* in some kind of recognition of it.  I can’t be sure of how organized their electronic database is of passports that have come and gone, but it may be more sophisticated than just pen, paper and passport stamps at this point.

After exiting the Guatemalan immigration office, some women insisted we pay Q1 for some (probably) meaningless piece of paper before crossing the bridge.  Our Spanish wasn’t quite good enough to keep up with them, so we both paid it, just so we didn’t chance a walk back across the bridge in the rain.  should this piece of paper be the golden ticket to Mexico for whatever reason, we now had it. We walked onward, on the bridge toward the Ciudad Hidalgo Mexican border.

STEP #6:  CROSS THE BRIDGE BETWEEN GUATEMALA AND MEXICO ON FOOT.Time Needed:  5 minutes
Cost: Free

Bici-taxis offered us passage across the bridge, but the walk wasn’t terribly long, so we hoofed it in the rain.  We were already tired, dirty, and still pretty hungry, so getting a little wet wasn’t the end of the world.

Near the middle of the bridge, we noted a significant change – while the Guatemalan side is just an open air sidewalk, the Mexican side has a covered walkway and curbs painted a different color, so it’s obvious when you cross over.  Mexican immigration was way nicer as well – looked like the entrance to modern regional airport – a real contrast to the basic, understated Guatemalan passport office.

One foot in Guatemala, one in Mexico, in perhaps the worst picture ever taken.

Alison’s turn.

Time Zone Note:  know that the time zone is different for Guatemala than it is for Mexico.  You lose an hour.  This shouldn’t affect you too much, but it can be a bit surprising when you realize all your clocks are a bit off.

STEP #7:  VISIT MEXICAN IMMIGRATION BEFORE ENTERING CIUDAD HIDALGO, MEXICO.

Time Needed:  5-10 minutes
What We Paid:  Nothing, it’s free.

Regardless of the nice looking immigration facilities in Ciudad Hidalgo, things were still a little confusing there, and it took us a few minutes of wandering around before we could find the correct area at which to stamp in to Mexico.

Once we were in the right place, it was a quick process:  we filled out basic entry forms for Mexico, walked right by x-ray machines that weren’t even on, and had a casual bag search by a friendly young woman.  We exited immigration and now were formally and legally in Mexico.  More transit operators awaited us outside the gate.

STEP #8:  RIDE A COMBI VAN FROM CIUDAD HIDALGO TO TAPACHULA.

Time in Combi Van:  45 minutes.
What We Paid:  35 pesos per person.  Not sure if this is the CORRECT amount.  See below.

Now in the streets of Ciudad Hidalgo, we were approached first by bike taxi men and taxi drivers.  The bike taxistas seemed ready to pedal us all the way to Tapachula – in the rain, as night began to fall.  This would have taken hours.  Taxis would have likely been unnecessarily expensive, so I didn’t bother to price it out.  We were looking for public transport – combi vans – and we found them about a half block to the left of the exit point of Mexican immigration.  They didn’t make themselves particularly obvious, and the taxi men sure didn’t point out the competition to us.

“Tapachula?” we asked the driver.

“Sí.”

“Cuanto cuesta cada uno?”

“Treinta y cinco pesos.”  The combi van driver quoted the price so quietly that I felt like he was cheating us.  I’m still not sure if we paid the right amount, but the pesos felt like play money for the moment, so we nodded and loaded our backpacks in for the 45 minute ride to Tapachula.

Remember:  at this point, you’ll need Mexican pesos to pay for your onward transit.  I had exchanged some money back in Xela so we were armed with enough to get us to Tapachula.  I recommend taking care of this BEFORE arrival, or you’ll risk getting cheated by moneychangers in the street, or at least lose a bit of time on finding a bank or window at which to change money.

STEP #9:  ARRIVE TAPACHULA, SLEEP TAPACHULA.

Hotel room cost for two people:  Q200 total for one night, split.

The colectivo terminal (on Calle 5a Poniente, a few blocks NW of Parque Hidalgo) is a big concrete platform with a permanent awning – fairly new place, and fairly clean.

We exited the bus station thinking “Oh, isn’t Mexico oh so nice and modern!  I haven’t seen anything like this in all my time in Guatemala!” and immediately had our expectations checked at the door.  The street that led to the main square of Tapachula had been demolished for construction, and all that was left was dirt, large rain puddles, errant rocks, and boards over open sewers on which people were walking to and fro.

The streets of Tapachula by light of day.

In our tired, hungry mania, we referred to the moon’s surface roads as “cancelled streets” and trudged uphill in the muck for about four blocks until we arrived at the main square of Tapachula, which, by contrast, was modern and pleasant (and for some reason ringed by more farmacias (pharmacies) than I’ve seen in one city prior.

We stayed at Hotel Maria Daniela, which was Q200 per night for a room with a private bathroom, two beds, a fan (no AC desired) and a tv we never bothered to turn on, plus functional wifi! Good value. Said hotel is located just to the left of the big statue of Benito Juarez on Tapachula’s main square.  We had to ask about seven people where this place was before getting good info from a farmacia employee.  Prior, a group of five cops confidently pointed us four blocks in the wrong direction.  Gracias chicos.

Here’s their contact info if you’re looking for affordable, central digs in Tapachula:

Hotel Maria Daniela
3a Calle Poniente entre 8a y 10a Norte #40
Tel:  962-625-2950
hotelmariadaniela@hotmail.com

Dinner was tacos and beer at a 24-hour place off the main square.

Domestic beers in Tapachula.

In the morning, Alison stayed behind for her onward travel to Mexico D.F. and I hopped a combi for my return transit through a different border crossing.  At this point, I was traveling alone and didn’t pull my camera out much due to space restrictions on buses, and the desire to avoid flashing my electronics.

STEP #10:  RIDE IN A COMBI VAN FROM TAPACHULA’S BUS STATION TO TALISMAN, MX.

Time in Combi Van:  20 minutes
What I Paid:  17 Pesos, if I remember correctly.

Back at Tapachula’s colectivo terminal, I asked for a combi to Talisman and climbed aboard.  The ride took a short 20 minutes.  Again, the colectivo terminal is the same place at which you arrive in Tapachula in an earlier step – located on Calle 5a Poniente, a few blocks NW of Parque Hidalgo.

The combi dropped me a 3-5 minute walk from the frontera.  Just far enough to create an industry for local bike taxis.  The walk was quick and painless.

STEP #11:  VISIT MEXICAN IMMIGRATION @ TALISMAN, MX.

Time Needed:  5 minutes or less
What I Paid:  Nothing.  Stays of 7 days or less in Mexico do not warrant exit fees.

This is where things got a bit annoying for me.

Upon arrival at Mexican immigration facilities, the Mexican border guards smiled and immediately pointed my confused-looking backpack-donning self in what was COMPLETELY the wrong direction for stamping out of Mexico – they sent me directly over the bridge and into Guatemala, telling me that I could get my stamp THERE.  It felt wrong, and it was!  The correct thing to do if one is leaving Mexico:  one needs to enter the large official looking building on the far side of the road BEFORE crossing the bridge.  Stamping out took seconds once I actually entered the office.

What happened in my case:  thanks to bad information on the Mexican side, I walked directly across the bridge and into Guatemala unhindered, and then got surrounded by touts just over the river – largely pushy money changers, but also a dude that wanted to act as my “guide”.  I did not request this, and I knew it would be a problem from the start.  Oh so very helpful, he walked me all the way back to immigration in Mexico, where I stamped out.

STEP #12:  WALK ACROSS BRIDGE BETWEEN TALISMAN, MEXICO AND EL CARMEN, GUATEMALA.

Time Needed:  2 minutes tops.

When I came out of the office, my tout “guide” was waiting for me.  He walked me back across the bridge to the Guatemalan side, and onward to Guatemalan immigration, muttering about how “esta es mi trabajo“.  I did my best to ignore him and quicken my pace.  I noted the illegal activity below the bridge – men were shuttling small rafts of smuggled goods back and forth in the light of day, despite considerable police presence surrounding the border.  Crazy.  Nobody cared.

FYI:  The Guatemalan immigration office at El Carmen is a small building on the left side of the road, not far from the bridge.  You don’t have to even step inside, just step up.

By the time I arrived at Guatemalan passport control, I was attracting all kinds of attention, and  I had a contingent of five border touts tailing me.  And bear in mind, the entire reason I visited the El Carmen border crossing was to avoid being NOTICED by immigration.  Now I was rolling deep.  Ugh.

The Guatemalan passport control guy asked me for the standard Q10 that you don’t have to pay.  But I paid it this time, because I figured my footprint was so big by this point that I didn’t want to attract any more attention than I already had by getting crazy about what’s more or less $1.25 US.

This Q10 payment was a success as far as I was concerned – given that I had stayed in Mexico (or rather, out of Guatemala) for less than the standard 72 hours, I thought I stood some sort of chance of getting hit with a larger fine/bribe on the Guatemalan side.  I was almost disappointed when it didnt happen – I had never bribed a government official prior, and this was my big chance!  Next time, next time.

STEP #13:  RIDE IN MICRO VAN FROM EL CARMEN TO MALACATAN.

Time in Micro Van:  around 30 minutes
What I Paid:  Q4

I checked for my new 90 day visa stamp for Guatemala, and there it was!  I thanked the immigration official and paced up the hill to the waiting combi vans to Malacatan (my next waypoint), tout entourage in tow.

My “guide”, sensing the end of our time together, now started asking for money.  100 Pesos.  No.  100 Quetzales.  No!  “Mi propina.” NO! I walked on, faster.  My money tout & money changer tail now merged with a mass of anxiously waiting combi drivers in front of me.

Now everybody was talking to me at once and some of them were also touching me and my backpack.  Not good, not appropriate, and not appreciated.  I wheeled around on my heel and growled, raising both hands toward the touts with palms facing out and fingers spread.  “No me togas!”

Adjusted plan:  I knew that by climbing aboard a given combi, I could lose my tout and “guide” tail. Guide-man was now raising his tone.  Propina, mi propina.

I loaded on to a combi, destination Malacatan, with a given driver and put my backpack on top.  The driver began mocking my “guide” and laughing.  More or less:  “Trabajo?  I don’t know what HIS trabajo is!”  I was safe from additional harassment for the moment.  But guide wouldn’t leave, so I had to make things final.

“Señor!  Lo siento, pero no necesito ayuda para cruzar las fronteras!“

I said to guide-man, firmly planted in my seat on the combi.  He looked like he was about to cry, and through clenched teeth, uttered something I didn’t catch. Frankly, if he would have asked Q10, I would have paid it just for the time savings on the border.  Or even Q20 if he would also fend off money changers, as an ally.  But Q100?  NO way. Unrequested help is not invoiceable.

Getting to Malacatan took under an hour in a packed micro van.  No problem.

STEP #14:  CAMIONETA FROM MALACATAN TO SAN MARCOS

Time in Camioneta:  About an hour if I remember correctly!
What I paid:  Q15

My micro van driver was still on my team when we arrived in Malacatan, and helped me find my next bus.  I thought I’d be heading back to Reu (because I wasn’t terrible familiar with the area), but he told me no – San Marcos will be faster and better served.  So onward to San Marcos I went.

(Note that this was San Marcos in San Marcos Department – not San Marcos La Laguna near Lago de Atitlan)

I took a clearly available (perhaps too available) seat on the camioneta adjacent to a man who was holding an open beer.  He soon proved himself the drunkest person on the bus.  Within a few stops, a rather large woman sat down in the seat with us, cramming me entirely against the drunk, who was now so passed out that he knocked the top of his head into the metal bar on the seat in front of us hard enough to wake (or injure) anyone other than him.  Ow.  He convulsed a bit at times, and I was ready to help him puke in his own lap if it came to that.  It didn’t.

Soon enough, we were in San Marcos.

STEP #15:  CAMIONETA FROM SAN MARCOS TO XELA (MINERVA MARKET)

Time in Camioneta:  About an hour
What I Paid:  Q10

As I hopped off in San Marcos, a nice 20-something woman helped me find it before I even started looking.  “Adonde va usted?” she asked with the utmost courtesy, and then complimented my Spanish as well.  “Tu hablas muy bien en Español.”  It’s basically a very pleasant, kind way of saying “thanks for trying to speak Spanish.”

The camioneta filled to capacity quickly and we traveled to higher altitude, in misty, chilly western highlands to the east.  The driver had a tv rigged in the front of the bus, and inexplicably showed the Adam Sandler film “Blended.”  A short cap-wearing Guatemalteco fell asleep on my shoulder.  Que preciosa!

STEP #16:  MICRO VAN FROM XELA’S MINERVA MARKET TO PARQUE CENTRAL

Time in Van:  15-20 minutes
What I Paid:  Q1.25

The camioneta’s terminus was in Minerva, where all the other camionetas land – on the north side of the large market.  Of course, the micro buses into the city are all the way on the other side of Minerva market, on the south.  I walked south through the entire market, hailed a micro van with enough space for me and my backpack, and was back at my hostel about 20 minutes later.

En route from Terminal Minerva to Parque Central in Xela.

CA-4 Visa Renewal Complete!

I was tired and dirty, but my CA-4 visa renewal was done – I  had a 90-days for not minimal cash spent, with all my objectives achieved.

Here’s the final breakout on time and money for my Xela – Tapachula – Xela visa run:

• Total time elapsed, portal-to-portal:  about 30 hours altogether.
• Total cost of transport for one person, roundtrip:  $14.50 US
• Total hotel costs:  $7.47 US
• Total costs at borders:  $1.43 US
• Grand total, costs (not including food):  $23.40 US
  

If you’ve done a similar (or different) visa run crossing to Tapachula, I’d love to hear about your experience.  Thanks for reading and travel safety!