Guatemala and a little bit of Belize

My time in Mexico was coming to an end, as my visa was about to expire. I couldn't believe I was already in Mexico for almost 180 days! But the good thing about that is, time to explore some more of central America! I was already in Palenque, so it was easiest for me to cross the border there. There are two options to cross the border. You can either take the one at El Ceibo, or the Frontera Corozal. The last one is via a boattrip on the river.

Border crossing Mexico - Guatemala

After a lot of research, I decided to go for the Corozal border crossing. I wanted to cross a boarder by boat instead of by land. You can cross by land so many time, so why not via the river! It costs a bit more than the one over land ofcourse, but worth it.

You can get there via colectivo from Palenque, or you just take a tour that goes straight to Flores in Guatemala. I choose the latter as I didn't feel like all the hastle with busses that are known for not showing up.

At 6am in the morning, I was picked up in Palenque and the drive towards the border started.

If you are not in a hurry, I recommend taking another tour that brings you to Yaxchilan and Bonampak as well. Two Maya archeological sites that are definately worth a visit! Yaxchilan is a relatively unknown Maya site and you can only get there by a 30 minute boattrip on the same river where the bordercrossing is.

The road to the border crossing was beautiful, mountains, rainforest and cute little towns and waterfalls. We had a nice driver who was happy and singing along with the music on the radio.

After 3 hours we arrived at the immigration office to stamp ourself out of Mexico. Please note: they will try to have you pay a fee, do not pay for it if you entered the country by air! You automatically pay for the fee when you enter Mexico by plane. If you entered Mexico by land, then you have to pay the exit fee which is around 300 pesos.

Once you're stamped, the bus takes you to the boats. The boats are very very small and they put as many people on them as possible. Once full, they cross the river and let you out on the Guatamalan side. The trip itself is just 5 minutes, but really beautiful. It's like being in the Amazon!

Crossing the river

Guatmalan side of the border

When you arrive on the other side of the river, a nice little town greets you. The town is called La Technica and there is not much to do. But it's great to walk around while waiting for the bus to pick you up. You can also exchange your pesos to Quetzal here. We found a guy that had a better exchange rate than the official set rate. So we were lucky!

La Technica

Finally after 2 hours of waiting, our bus arrived and we set out to Flores. We had to make a quick stop at the immigration service, which was in the town next to La Technica. Easy process, no fees and after the stamp we set out once more towards Flores. We finally arrived there after a few hours driving along a bumpy road.

From there I had to find my way to El Remate, where my hosts lives. All the people in Flores try to rip you off by telling there are no busses going there and you need to take a expensive special taxi. Don't fall for this! Everyone is working together with eachother, to make money of foreigners. I felt they were trying to rip me off, so I went to the bus station. And ofcourse, as expected, there was a bus to El Remate for just 20 Quetzel. The busride took just half an hour and when I arrived my host was already waiting for me.

El Remate

This was seriously one of the highlights of my trip in central America. It's so sad I was only there for 4 days. 4 days with no internet connection, no technology, just nature, rainforest and a beautiful lake and great company. Watching the beautiful sunset every single night, while my host played the guitar. Deep conversations under the stars and with the sounds of the jungle coming to live in the night. 

This place is so tranquil, so serene and beautiful. If you plan to go to Flores/Santa Elena, don't forget to go to El Remate. It's a lot cheaper than Flores and it's very close to Tikal. (Just half an hour by bus. El Remate is halfway between Flores and Tikal.) 

It's just a small town, but incredibly beautiful. I left a massive piece of my heart there and I can't wait to be back there.

If you love calm, relaxing moments, El Remate is the place. Back to basic, away from society.

Unfortunately, 4 days pass so quickly when you're having such a great time. It was time to go back to Mexico, via Belize.

I've only seen Belize through the bus trip we did, it took 5 hours across the country to get back to Mexico. The landscape was stunning, but for some reason I didn't really feel like going back to Belize some other time. It just didn't appeal to me so much. But what doesn't appeal to me, might appeal to you ofcourse!

Well that was it again! My next adventures will be in Euroasia and the middle East.

Have a great day!