Guatemala to Mexico

Flores (Santa Elena) to Palenque

One  route into Mexico from Guatemala is to take a minibus from Santa Elena to Bethel/ Fronterra de Corazol border, a small boat across the river into Mexico, a taxi to the bus terminal (stopping at border control) and a minibus onto Palenque.

Leave early because it takes a good six hours from Santa Elena to the border and border control closes at 5 so you will not be able to cross if you arrive after around 4:30pm and the border town of la Tecnica is not somewhere you want to spend any amount of time; especially overnight.

The whole journey should cost less than 300Q. Don't pay the whole ticket in advance at the terminal, because although it can work out fine, what happens is that you pay the agency, who gives some to the minibus driver from Santa Elena, who passes money to a man at the Guatemalan border, who passes money to the boat driver, who then passes money to a taxi driver the other side, who takes you to the terminal where you make your last leg of the journey. This is where people report being short; and at this point there is nothing you can do. You are in Mexico, your ticket is from Guatemala, the taxi driver simply tells you this is what he has been given to pay for your bus, that there is not enough and that you need to pay the rest. As money has changed hands so many times, you have no way of figuring out who took the money where; not that you could do anything at this point. To cut a long story short, pay each leg of the journey yourself, individually. Your ticket may look official but is only really good for the first minibus you get on for the border. You have been warned.