Latin America Collection

After a good night's sleep, in spite of our having to break up a pre-Super
Bowl party outside of our door at 2:00 a.m., we were up at 5:00 a.m. and
on our way. We really hoped to drive through Guatemala and El Salvador
to Choluteca, Honduras that day. That would mean six border crossings
in one day, plus nine hours of driving. I figured that we would surely have
to cut it shorter than that.

We crossed the Mexican border at 5:30 a.m. with no problem. We had
been told that the border was open all night. Not so.

Incidentally, carry a large manila envelope with you. As you cross a
border into a country, put all of the papers they give you into that envelope.
As you come to the check point where you leave that country, the guards
will want some or all of the papers you have. If there are any left over, put
them in another safe place and hold on to them until you reach your
destination. Then use the manila envelope for that country, and so on.
After you get to your destination, you can "round file" everything except
the entry papers of your destination country. Hang onto them. You will
probably need them later.

Even though we had been told the border would be open 24 hours a
day, we found that it did not open until 7:00 a.m.. About 6:00 a.m. two cars
from California pulled in behind us at the inspection station. Both drivers
spoke fluent Spanish and had driven the route before. One of them told
me to make a list of the contents of each box and suitcase, which I did while
waiting.

The Guatemalan border guards showed up at 7:00 a.m., and the two
Spanish-speaking Californians used their ability to communicate to push
by me. They were out of there by 7:30 a.m.. Meanwhile a nice lady guard
started processing us. We had one big problem. We did not have either
U.S. or Guatemalan currency--and had used all of our Mexican pesos as
we figured we would not need them. We only had travellers checks.
Remember, you will need up to $50.00 for each border crossing, either in
U.S. or local currency.

While the lady guard was typing up our papers, Audrey had been
trying out her Spanish on one of the guards--a senior citizen-type. He was
curious as to why I kept talking into my little tape recorder. She told him
that I was planning to write a book about our trip, and was dictating my
notes into the recorder. About that time I needed some cash to pay for our
entry. No one would take travellers checks. We were about to have to go
back to the motel in Mexico for more money, when Audrey told the guard
of our predicament. He said he would cash a $50.00 travellers check for
us, so Audrey called him an "Earth Angel". When he gave me the money,
he told me to be sure to mention his name in my book.

So for all of you checking through the Guatemalan border at Tapachula,
be sure to pick yourself up some "Brownie Points" by asking for Joe Garcia
and tell him you read about what an "Earth Angel" he is in my book.
Incidentally, he tried to talk us into staying over and come to his house for
dinner.

Meanwhile I paid my fees, the lady checked our car, looked at the
packing list I had made, and put a nice green sticker on our windshield,
and we were off into Guatemala. We came to a customs check point just
a ways down the road where we discovered the two California cars pulled
off, with all of their bags on the ground beside their cars, being inspected.
The guards just looked at our papers and waved us through. The
Californians watched us drive off in envy. Their pushing through tactics
had backfired on them. Incidentally, we would meet one of them again at
the border into Nicaragua.