Border battles

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Our entry into Belize marked the first of a number of battles with border guards. First up was the exit from Mexico, where the guy tried to get 100 pesos out of us for the privilege of leaving and being able to return again. Who knows what the real story is, but we refused to pay as we were roughly aware that it should be free to come and go. We mentioned this down the line of other travellers but they all paid various amounts based on their personal circumstances. Some people from France paid US$25 each, all of which I assume goes into the pocket of the particular border guard.

Later, we searched and searched but could not find a straight answer as to whether these fees are official or not. I later heard a Mexican say that Mexico would have been on the top of the list of most corrupt countries except they paid someone off to be placed further down the list! So I suspect none of the charges are official.

Belize itself was fine, except they slap a US$17 charge on you for leaving their beautiful country. Not a battle so much, but it still wounds the skint traveller.

Last, but not least, there was Guatemala. We managed to avoid paying on entry using a variety of techniques such as asking for a receipt, stalling for time, and ultimately walking away from the window since we already had the stamp in our passports. We could not avoid the 40 quetzal bribe on exit however, owing to a distinctly stubbon border guard and a tour guide who spoke English who could explain to us the ridiculous reasons given for why we needed to pay (and probably got a cut of the proceeds). Sigh.

In between, we had a nice but short visit to both Belize and Guatemala. Belize is English speaking and much more like a Carribean country that its neighbours. It had quite a different feel about it (plus the Queen is on the currency). It was also expensive, and we could only afford about 4 days there. We spent it wisely, heading out to the barrier reef, snorkelling with sharks and then wandering around the interior.

Guatemala was a beautiful place. It also had quite a sense of danger about it. I tried not to read about all the things that had happened to tourists here, but the unease was all around us. I've never seen so many ordinary people carrying guns, even just to go to the shops. Locals also seem to have bodyguards that follow them around (with even bigger guns) while going about their business. In the rural areas, locals carry huge machetes. While this is mostly for the purposes of work, I would imagine the machete would come in quite handy should someone decide to accost you on your way home! It seems you're not a real man unless your machete is as long as your leg. There are small ones for kids too.

We went to our 18th ancient ruin, Tikal. This is all in amongst the jungle and we had a nice day wandering around the paths spotting howler monkeys and birds.

Finally, we had time for a quick visit to Semuc Champey, an interesting set of limestone pools in the highlands. The people here still speak Q'echi, a Mayan dialect. We stayed with a lovely bunch of people, drank the best coffee ever, and bought some wonderful chocolate from an old woman with no teeth.

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Photos

The pools at Semuc Champey
There is a huge, flooded river somewhere under here. Instead, we have a nice limestone bridge with warm pools.