Two borders in two days........

     

We crossed into Guatemala from San Christobal. We had read several blogs about what to expect for visas and car permits. 

We had to stop in a town 4km before the border to cancel our Mexican visas and car permit. Upon arrival they told us we could keep our car permit as we were back before the expiry date, but they did cancel our tourist visas. The whole process was quick and stress free, a nice change for us. 

We travelled to La Mesilla, Guatemala, where we expected to have to pay some small bribes and be constantly on guard. As it turns out, this was not the case at all! We paid no bribes and the process took all of 30 minutes. We are not sure how, but Rosa's tyres were fumigated for free!

With our new Guatemalan car permit added to the windscreen, we were off!

Topes are still topes even if they are called 'tumulos' or 'vibradores'!  Despite the cuter names, they are hardly relaxing!

                    

We drove all day to get to Lago de Atitlan our planned pitstop. A volcanic lake in the  Guatemalan highlands. On route, we went through a town called Huehuetenango (try saying that with a straight face!) 

Again! An hour or so off our destination and going through a town called San Christobal, Guatemala, mirroring the troubles we had in San Christobal, Mexico, the road to Lago de Atitlan was blocked!  We drove around and around with other traffic to no avail, we had to head south to Quetzaltenango.  It was getting dark and we had decided to go to a recommended campsite nestled underneath a nearby volcano. Upon discovering it was actually a garbage strewn parking lot, we decided to drive back into town stopping by an 'auto hotel' that we had seen on our way out. This is where it got a bit strange. 

We thought auto hotels were cheap alternatives to renting a room for young couples or lovers who don't have privacy at home. It seems we were a bit naive. We drove into one and saw the garage openings (when once you are parked, they close the roller door or curtain to hide your car) with different prices and themes to choose from. The prices were too cheap for a night but too expensive for an hour......... then it dawned on us! Some one was in the room! You were paying by the hour, for some company!  Deciding that three would be a crowd, we reversed out off the hotel as quick as possible and went to the regular hotel down the road. Only to discover this guy was a pimp and was confused about giving a price for the whole night. Again, we set off, looking for a real hotel. Two hours of driving at night in the one way, overcrowded streets, we had lost all hope, when Skye noticed a man opening a sliding gate. We drove in and asked for a room for the night, we were in luck! A good price, a good room and a safe parking spot for Rosa. This was the first time we didn't sleep in Rosa on the trip. 

This shower had electrical wires taped to the shower head. We presume it was to heat an element in the shower head to give hot water but all it did was smell of burning plastic!

      

The next day, we crossed to El Salvador at La Hachadura. There were about 5 kilometers of trucks waiting to be processed. We decided we were different to this process, so we drove with hazard lights (the international sign saying 'I know I'm doing the wrong thing, just ignore me') on the wrong side of the road, for 5km dodging oncoming traffic, to the check point. 

Guatemala was as easy to leave as it was to get in the day before. We got a temporary exit on our car permit and a few photocopies later, we were on to El Salvador. 

El Slavador customs took a bit longer and they inspected our car, but everyone was really friendly. We were chuffed to see some tuk-tuks taking people across the boarder. The drivers were not required to give passports or ID. 

        

        

After processing, just as we set off, a guy hailed us down, and we were asked to pay an unexpected 'road toll' of 5$usd (USD is the defacto currency in El Salvador). Sol asked if it was bullshit, the guy assured us it was real. We even got an official looking receipt. 

30 minutes in, we were waived down by police officers at a checkpoint. We provided our paperwork for Rosa and our passports (including our $5 road charge invoice) and we underwent our first invasive search of the vehicle. They checked through all our bags, even Sol's dirty clothes (poor guys) and they declared us 'limpia' (clean) and let us go. 

As we drove off, paranoia set in, maybe they had set a trap, planting drugs in our stuff so as later to extort money from us at a checkpoint further down the road. Just out of sight of the police we jumped out of the car and went through our stuff with a fine tooth comb! We seemed to be safe. 

With the daylight fast disappearing we hot footed it to the beach, El Zonte, where we are now. Our hotel is called 'las olas permanantes' (olas =waves) As you can see, it is not too shabby. 

Sol leaves Monday for a week in Europe, while Skye will stay here and try to put up with this horrible view!