Day 8: Palenque – San Jose (Guatemala)

Friday, April 5th, 2019

Day 07 of Mayan Discovery by G-Adventures

G-Adventures program of the day:

“Journey through the jungle by private vehicle, crossing into Guatemala and continuing on to San José. Explore Lake Petén Itzá and the island of Flores.

Private Vehicle Palenque – El Ceibo 3h-4h
Settle in and scan the scenery from the convenience of a private vehicle. Have your passport and wallet handy for the border crossing.

Border Crossing (Mexico – Guatemala) El Ceibo 30m – 1h30m
Pay the Mexican exit fee (Mexico charges 558 Pesos exit fee, most travellers already paid with their flying in Ticket- thats why we have a printed Ticket, which lists this tax, ready), then go to the immigration and customs booth in Guatemala. Pay the entrance fee there and continue on to a new country. Guatemala entrance tax: 10Q ($1.25USD)

Private Vehicle El Ceibo – San José 4h-5h; 200km
Part of the adventure is the journey! Some of drive is on unpaved roads – it may get a bit bumpy, but taking the road less travelled will show you a different side of Guatemala.”

More or less a driving day. We have breakfast at 7:15 am after putting all the things together once more, get lunch packages (a club sandwich) and board the minibus. Then we drive to the border from Mexico to Guatemala.

There we first have to go in one by on. If you are more than some days in Mexiko, they let hou pay 558 pesos exit tax. They accept my ticket, even if I am more than a week here, I donot have to pay.

We need to get our luggage out of the bus and carry it by foot over the border. Some forget their backbags, some their jackets, some have their passports in big luggage. Finally we cross the border, Lola does the 10 cezales entrance stuff, we board a bus, which has seen better days and of we drive to Flores. Lola entertains the group.We arrive in Flores and get our rooms in Hotel Peten. The rooms are bed + bath + 1 m2, no place to put the bag.

We try to find an ATM which works, not so easy here. The third ATM in a shopping mall over a bridge works. I get 2.000 cezales for 42 cezales charge (267 eur). We try some streetfood, which has a consistency like volcanic stone, then we go back to the hotel for preordered lunch at “La villa del chef”.We get lake fish which is surprisingly good.