South to Guatemala
Written by Sandra DunlapLast updated 2005-09-04 14:23:27
We continued our drive across the high desert of New Mexico. The first stop (actually the end of the Arizona drive) was Lordsburg, New Mexico.
Lordsburg is in the bootheel area of New Mexico - an area filled with the ghosts of times gone by. The historic ghost town of Shakespeare is nearby as is the Granite Gap mining camp and the ghost town of Steins.
Drving across Texas was uneventful. We spent our first night in Van Horn - between El Paso and San Antonio. Night two was just south of San Antonio and then we headed to Brownsville. I was battling an upper respiratory infection and just needed to crash out and rest for a few days before heading into Mexico.
The morning was spent getting the dogs ready for the border crossing while the afternoon was spent at the customs brokers having our truck and trailer inventoried for Mexican customs. Crossing the Mexican border was an all day affair. We sat there from 8 a.m. until 6 p.m. when customs agents and immigration finally got around to examining our papers and vehicles. We were finally crossed well after dark.
Our drive south was short, just past the first military/police check points. We over nighted at a large PEMEX station that the truck drivers use as a rest stop. PEMEX is the state owned gas and oil compnay. We ate dinner and got some sleep before heading out the next morning.
At sunrise, we headed south to Ciudad Victoria. The landscape was very dry and high desert like in appearance with very little traffic on the roads untik actually reaching Victoria itself. We spent a few days there replenishing supplies and making some minor repairs to the truck.
Heading south, our next destination was Tampico. We arrived to discover that the campground listed in the RV guide to Mexico was no longer in existence. For a small fee, we were allowed to overnight in the Tampico Airport parking lot. The weather was wet and windy, making for an uncomfortable night in the truck and trailer. Sleeping was virtually impossible and we were forced to use the airport restrooms for our toilet needs.
From Tampico, we continued on to Pozo Rico - an oil town on the way to Veracrz. We ran into problems with a construction detour that was poorly marked and ended up having to carefully watch the direction from which oncomming busses and large trucks were comming. Eventually found our way back out to the toll roads and arrived in the city. The road between Tampico and Tuxpan could best be described as off road driving with bits of asphalt present.
Next stop - Costa Esmerelda - the Emerald Coast. A vacation destination for many Mexicans. We enjoyed a pleasant stay at Torre Molina hotel and RV park, right on the beach.
From Pozo Rico on south through the Costa Esmerelda and on into Veracruz, the roads were very good and the driving was comparativley easy. We stayed in a beachside 
campground in
Veracruz - fresh fish being sold from RV to RV by the fishermen who were catching them off the beach. Nice restaurants, pleasant tropical setting, supremarkets to replenish supplies. We took some time to visit the aquarium and central waterfront area.
The remainder of the trip south through Mexico was relatively uneventful. We ran into a small glitch at the border crossing at Tapichula. It seems we stayed in Mexico 2 days too long. OUr tourist cards were good for 30 days but our vehicle permit was only good for 12 days. We were traveling with the dogs and a very understanding immigration official took us to his supervisor. We received our traffic paperwork for the fine for the overstayed visit. They held the bank open for us so we could pay the fine and we were allowed to cross over into Guatemala that night. We would to have left our dogs and vehicle unattended in the customs and immigration lot overnight had we not been able to pay the fine that evening.
When transiting Guatemala, normally you are only allowed 24 hours. Because we had the dogs, when we entered, the immigration and customs officials extended the allowable time to 72 hours. With the exception of getting lost in Guatemala City, transiting the country was uneventful. Roads were in very good shape and we had no problems until we reached the Guatemala/Honduras border.
We crossed at Agua Caliente, with the closest large city being Esquipalas, Guatemala. We were held up in no-man's land at the border because the information given to us by the honduran Consulate was inaccurate and out of date.
