Guatemala

Guatemala
Information
Language:	Spanish (de facto)
Capital:	Guatemala City
Population:	13,000,001
Currency:	Quetzal (GTQ)
Hitchability:	Good
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Guatemala is a country in Central America.

Hitchhiking nowadays in Guatemala is relatively ok beside some spots. Nowadays most Guatemalans know what is hitchhiking and refer to it as “ Pedir un Jalon”

Next to Border crossing it is relatively easy to get a ride with big trucks that can take you very far. Even to The border of the next country if you wish. Like most of the world hitchhiking close to big cities tend to be harder.

The most common ride will be at the back of pick up trucks.

Like most of the world, rides are harder to get close to big cities, fast roads , and very remote roads that have very little traffic.

Most of Guatemala have roads with one lane to each side. And people drive kind of carelessly. The Government is reporting more than 1000 accidents every month. There for people can be hesitant to stop anywhere on the road, if they fear someone will crash into them while they are picking you up.

There for Next to the many Speed bumps is your best option, where cars tend to drive slow.

You should know to recognize the many types of public transportation in Guatemala. More about that at the Low-cost rides section.

Low-cost rides

Be aware that many of the small vans and pick-ups function as local buses/taxis. The word for bus in Guatemalan Spanish is camioneta which means "a small truck". Camioneta serves as a main transportation service for local (rural) population. When you hitchhike, they will usually stop for you, too − in that case strictly say "No" (you might need to repeat it a few times).

Many private car drivers that pick you up might also ask you to contribute to the fuel. It is also a good idea to ask "¿Es un ride, no eres taxi?" ("This is a ride, you aren't a taxi?") before you get in the car so that you don't get into a misunderstanding later on: if you don't negotiate a fare (free or otherwise) before you get in drivers often demand some kind of extortionate price once you want to get out − is it then too late for the "No" answer. Same is valid for local taxis and other kinds of transport. The good thing, though, is that fares are very low, almost always less than 2$, some hitchhikers chose to take one of the pick-ups or a bus and to pay this small amount. This is what locals do, anyway − and they often are very poor people, so it is quite normal that from you as a travelling foreigner some cash will be expected − such fees subsidize the cost of owning a vehicle for the drivers in this country. So basically, if you want to hitchhike in Guatemala, you can expect some combination of free and low cost rides.

It's also worth noting that the standard bus fare in Guatemala as of this writing (9/18/13) is Q10 per hour. You can use this to calculate a fair contribution.

Furthermore, if you see a truck that has a metal frame built into the back, it is probably operating as a bus and thus you will be charged.

Cities

• Antigua
• Cuatro Caminos
• Guatemala City (capital)
• Quetzaltenango AKA Xela

Border crossings

To/From Belize

There are 3 Borders crossing between Guatemala and Belize. One of the border is currently close. And one of the the two left requires a boat.

Melchor de Mencos if you Crossed this border please add information to this section

Punta Gorda to Livingstone On the south most point of Belize you can get boats that go to Livingstone. Boats go Monday to Friday leaving 9:30 from Punta Gorda to Livingstone and leaving from Puerto Barrios in Honduras passing in Livingstone To Belize at 14:00 with a company called Requena and cost 80 Belizean Dollars (June 2024). the ride takes about 40 minutes.

You need to purchase a ticket before at Requena’s office a little bit norther than the immigration office in Punta gorda. If you are coming from Livingstone to Belize tickets can be bought at docks when the boat arrives around 14:00. make sure you passed in the Guatemalan Immigration office before.

At the entrance of Punta Gorda Immigration office guards will want to see your boat ticket and maybe passport. Inside you will have to pay 40 Belizean dollars for leaving. I know, Crazy.

After paying you get stamped in the next stand and you are free to go to the docks. Come much before 9:30 else you might miss your boat. The Boat company recommends you to get there latest by 9 Am, But 9 Am might be too Late.

Entering Belize doesn’t cost anything for most nationalities, but you only receive 30 days, for another 30 days you’ll have to pay 100 US Dollars. On Entrance you will have to state on a paper how long you are going to stay in Belize. Just fill 30 Days, you want get more. And you’ll need to put a name of a Hostel/Hotel where you are planing to stay. Don’t worry you can later after crossing choose to go to another Hostel/Hotel if you wish.

In Livingstone the immigration office is not so close to the docks. About 6 minutes walk up hill. If you are leaving Guatemala you should get stamped before trying to buy a ticket from the boats at the docks. If you just arrived in Guatemala you should go to soon as you get to Livingstone to Immigration office to get stamped.

Immigration office is located here: 15.826657451562127, -88.74908321548322, Google maps

Leaving is quite easy. Entering requires you to fill a form online. You can get very Weak Slow WIFI at the immigration office. The Problem is that Livingstone tends to have a lot of outbreaks where the whole city don’t have electricity sometimes for days which will make it impossible to fill this form using the immigration WIFI. In that case you might need to wait for the electricity to come back to get stamped.

After they give you the password for WIFI you can Scan the QR code they have on the entrance of the building which will lead you to a website to fill all your personal data. After succeeding to fill the form they stamp you passport and you are free to go.

Jalacte Border Crossing (Illegal by this moment)

December 2016 experience: El Chulito and Shamcore tried to legally cross the border with Guatemala via Jalacte in December 2016. They hitchhiked from Punta Gorda to Jalacte without any real difficulties. The traffic is poor, but they got rides from one village to a next one and reached the destination point in about 3 hours, which is not a bad timing. The road was completely paved and in great condition. Seems like the works are almost finished. About 5kms before Jalacte there's customs where the guards first ask where you go. El Chulito and Shamcore asked about a legal way to exit Belize and enter Guatemala and got bad news. The only way to leave the country legally is to find the only police officer in Jalacte who owns an exit stamp. Actually he's only authorized to put exit stamps only in guatemalan passports, but it seems like he can be convinced to help travelers as well. Now it's impossible to enter Guatemala legally, because there's no kind of customs or control when entering the country. This means that it's impossible to get an entry stamp and stay in the country on a legal basis. People say that Guatemala doesn't really participate in making a legal border crossing point because of a territorial conflict between two countries. Let's hope that in 2017 travelers will be able to cross the border legally. At the moment you can only enter Guatemala at your own risk, which is never advisable by HitchWiki community.

To/From Mexico

Guatemala and Mexico had 10 formal border crossings in 2004:

Ciudad Hidalgo, Chiapas – Ciudad Tecún Umán, San Marcos

Hitchhiking in Chiapas to the border is not so easy. Many Mistakes hitchhikers with Illegal immigrants and tend not to stop. Hitchhiking on the Guatemalan side is Much easier.

Mini buses go from Tapachula Termial De Cortos Recorridos to Ciudad hidalgo For 40 Pesos (March 2025)

The Crossing in Ciudad Hidalgo is quite close to the central park. As you enter the Immigration offices area many people will offer you to Exchange money. Careful! You will need 5 Pesos to cross the border, and if you overstayed your time the immigration will want to charge you in Mexican Pesos. There are People who will change your money on the Guatemalan side also, So don’t worry.

In the Big white building you will be asked to leave you bag while entering. It is safe to leave you stuff because there are being heavily guarded.

The Immigration workers ask if you coming or leaving Mexico. Leaving Mexico is Easier than entering. They stamp you and let you go. Without checking your bags.

Entering Mexico might be harder. Depends on your luck. Some get checked quite a lot and might get denied while others might cross with no problem.

As you continue towards Guatemala, you will face a Turn gate with a guard. Crossing costs 5 Mexican Pesos or 5 US Dollars I have no clue why. Better to keep with you a 5 Peso Coin before you start crossing because you pay the gate and not the guard through a machine coin slot.

You cross the gate and start to cross the bridge towards Guatemala. You will probably be swarmed by different type of taxis wishing to take you to the other side. The walk to the other side is about a 2 minute easy walk, So it is not really a must to take a taxi.

On the other side many people will offer you to exchange Money from Pesos to Quetzales. They Don’t offer the best ratio. The Immigration office it self is very small. It will be quite of a long wait if there are many people at the crossing when you arrive. But beside that the workers barely ask any questions and give you passage to Guatemala and 90 days with No questions at all. They Don’t check you bags either.

Talismán, Chiapas – El Carmen, San Marcos Please add information if you crossed this border.

Union Juárez, Chiapas – Toquían Grande, San Marcos Please add information if you crossed this border.

Mazapa de Madero, Chiapas – Sibinal, San Marcos Please add information if you crossed this border.

Ciudad Cuahtemoc, Chiapas – La Mesilla, Huehuetenango

This crossing is considered one of the more forgiving crossings. People who work in tourism for the last 20 years in Guatemala say that the likelihood of a person to get denied access to Mexico in La Mesilla is much lower than other crossings between Guatemala and Mexico. That being said, Many locals considered this crossing dangerous because some incidents that happen with the Mafia.

Coming from Guatemala hitchhiking to the border is relatively easy. Towards the final part it gets a little bit harder. There are many Mini-buses you can take if it takes you too long. A lot of them pass all the time on the main road.

In La mesilla the mini bus drops you a bit far for the border crossing. You can take a taxi or walk down hill on the main road for about 8 minutes.

The immigration office in Guatemala is quite ok. They just check your passport and immediately stamped it. No questions. They didn't check my bags when I crossed there.

After crossing you are in a buffer zone between Mexico and Guatemala.

And the distance is a little bit far. About 5 minutes by car. People said it is dangerous to walk it. If you prefer not to walk there are taxis waiting at the buffer zone.

They bring you straight to the Mexican immigration office.

The Mexican immigration is a bit tougher. They asked me what's my plan for Mexico and for how long. I asked for 180 days And they said they can only give me 90 days and it will cost 861 Mexican pesos (January 2025). I think they keep it always at 50 Us dollars.

All the conversation was in Spanish, and the workers seemed a little bit angry. Eventually they sent me to the building next door to pay.

In the next building there was no one. And after 10 minutes someone came to the toll booth. After paying he gave me a large paper and told me to go to where I was before.

They stamped my passport and the large paper I brought and told me to guard it well. This paper was checked many times while I was in Mexico. And they took it from me when I left Mexico. So i think it is important.

Carmen Xhán, Chiapas – Gracias a Dios, Huehuetenango Please add information if you crossed this border.

Nuevo Orizaba, Chiapas – Ingenieros, El Quiché Please add information if you crossed this border.

Frontera Corozal, Chiapas - Bethel, El Petén Please add information if you crossed this border.

El Ceibo, Tabasco – El Ceibo, El Petén Please add information if you crossed this border.

El Martillo, Tabasco – El Naranjo, El Petén Please add information if you crossed this border.

Sleeping

Camping is not a very common practice for Guatemalans. Most Guatemalans will tell you that camping in a place remote with no guards is not safe. Many think that dangerous people are roaming in the middle of nowhere at the middle of night.

Practically Camping in Guatemala is generally safe and easy. I do recommend asking locals where you can camp, many times they will be very helpful and give you a good spot.

In many wonderful spots in nature where you are hidden you can camp and have a really chill night.

The exception is when you are close to big cities or borders. In places like Esquintla robbers might approach a tent if they see one.

Beside that Guatemala suffers from a large alcoholic population which tend to come an harass a tent if they see one.

Therefore, totally hidden spots, or guarded spots like someone’s garden or a gas station if you get permission are where you should aim camping.

Personal Experiences

I have been hitchhing as my primary means of inter-city/village transport for the last year in Guatemala. It's been a great experience so far; its the best way to take in the country. I've updated a bit of the info above drawing from my personal history. If you have any questions or are interested in reading more I wrote a full guide to hitchhiking in Guatemala and posted it on my website jasonridesabike's guide to hitchhiking in Guatemala - jasonridesabike

I hitched on two different occasions in Guatemala. The first time I made it through the tourist belt, to Semuc Champey at Lanquin. The second time through I hitched with a trucker who brought me to the Salvadoran border, letting me sleep in the bunk the whole 9 hour nighttime ride. Just watch out for mudslides. - Chael

Zenit seriously enjoyed hitchhiking in Guatemala. Waiting times were short, people were friendly, the country felt much safer than Mexico. In three or four days it only happened once or twice that somebody wanted money, and they were easily spotted right away.

two weeks romping around the carreteras of guate: 15 minute max waits, staying in people's homes when they incredulously protest your plan to sleep in the bushes somewhere tonight, and only a 200 Quetzal fine (dear French driver - and Guate resident-, don't forget your passport at home!), and plenty of curious passers-by. guate is as colorful as it is great for hitching! myself and a male friend rocked it this past october (2017). signing off -- two_string_sally , april 2018

Only good experiences - please give a few quetzales for gas if/where you can. Hitched all around the greater antigua area, to/from atitlan, to flores, 16 hours in a van with students - got to watch shaw and hobbes in spanish on that one. so common and easy, it felt very strange/cumbersome to actually take the bus. Hitched just me (sola female), with two girlfriends, with three people, paid only once 10Q ($1.25) because they saved our asses (2019) -- justgettingaround

Getting to Guatemala

There are of course many ways to get to Guatemala. The way you choose to go depends on where you want to travel. One of the most thrilling ways is by sailboat. You can find many sailing vessels in the Rio Dulce area. I traveled there using https://www.worshipsailing.com/guatemala.html. The more experience you have the cheaper your fare is. My ride was free and the experience was beyond what I ever expected.

wikipedia:Guatemala trash:Guatemala