Guatemala, Rio Dulce – Renewing your Visitor’s Visa

The options available for renewing your Visitor’s Visa in the Rio Dulce, Guatemala may be important for cruisers, especially those on a budget, but down right boring for non-cruisers.  So, to my family and friends, feel free to jump to the pictures at the end!

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Options for Renewing your Visitors Visa

The country of Guatemala only issues Visitors Visas for 3 months.  After this time visitors are expected to leave the country.  For most people this is more than enough time to visit the country.  For cruisers, wishing to seek shelter for the hurricane season, 3 months is just not enough time.  So what do you do?

To the best of my knowledge you have two options.

Option 1

You leave the country and come back.

For most seasonal cruisers this is not a problem.  They check their boats into the multitude of marinas here on the Rio Dulce river and catch a flight home.  When they return their passports are stamped with a new 3 month Visa.

Actually you can go anywhere.  Neighboring countries, land locked destinations, or sail your boat out to sea.    As long as you are out of the country for at least one day, upon return you get another 3 months Visitors Visa.

But remember you have to do this before your Visa is up.

Option 2

You go to a port of entry or the country’s border and ask an official to ‘kindly’ stamp your passport out and then back in again with a new 3 Visitors Visa.

For most cruisers the easiest and closest place to renew their Visitors Visa is at the port of entry town of Livingston, at the mouth of the Rio Dulce river.

For most boats, this is where they checked into the country when they arrived.  But, because it is convenient, you will pay a bit more to renew your Visitors Visa here.

At the time of writing this, these were the costs per person:

Remember that $1 US dollar = 7.50 Q

400 Q  round trip on the water taxi

1200+ Q  Renewal fee and cost of using an intermediate (see blog on entry)

Total cost of renewing your Visitors Visa in Livingstont is around: 1600 Q

Of course if you take the ‘route less travelled’ you can save a bit

.A friend recommended getting your passport stamped at the Honduras border, a half days bus ride there and back.

At the time of writing, this is what we got charged:

12 Q each mini-bus ride,

30 Q for the boarder section of the bus ride, and

200 Q to have our passports stamped out and back in again

Total cost of renewing your Visitors Visa at the Honduras border is around:  308 Q

You have a few bus changes to do but, even if your Spanish is as bad as ours, the busy cross roads can not be missed as they are full of food vendors and other min-bus drivers shouting destinations in a sing song.

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So here is our day trip to the Honduras Border.

Any trip starts at the bus station at the foot of town.  The locals use mini-vans called ‘collectivos’ that leave at regular intervals.  The driver’s assistant shouts out the destination in a sing song ‘Morales, Morales, Morales’, and when the driver feels the van is full enough, he sets off.

Try to get a seat, or wait for the next bus, for your own sanity.  The locals may be short enough to stand up straight, but us tall Europeans get a kinked neck really fast.  Also the drivers are a bit ‘mad’ and health and safety is not a priority.

Tell the assistant your destination, the border, even though you are on the bus to Morales, and he will let you off at the cross roads to catch a connection.  He will also collect 12 Q from you.  He gives change, but do try to have the exact fair.

When you get to the cross roads just before the town of Morales, locally known as the ‘noisy cross roads’, because it is so busy, your collectivo will let you out and you will hear other collectivos shouting out to you. Listen up for Puerto Barrios.

Again you ask the drivers assistance to be let out at a cross roads.  This time the road that leads to the Honduras boarder.  12 Q again for the ride.

The buses up to now have been climbing up into the mountains that surround the Rio Dulce river valley.  Small towns and home steads dominate windy roads.

But once you catch you last bus to the boarder, the landscape completely changes.

You drop down into a huge fertile valley that runs all the way to the border and the majestic Honduras mountains in the back ground.

Cattle grazing quickly turns to mass agriculture as you descend.

Guatemalan cowboys.

Palm oil plantations.  Labour intensive processes flourish in Guatemala because wages are so low.

Banana plantations.  Historically the key economic crop in Guatemala.  Bags, instead of pesticide, are used to protect the bananas so they can be labeled ‘organic’ and fetch a higher price.  The waste product is tons and tons of plastic bags.  Perhaps not the best environmental choice?

The collectivo to the border is a little more expensive.  30 Q each way.  But it does stop and wait for you at the borders officials hut on the way.  Here you ask ‘kindly’ to be stamped ‘out and back into’ the country. Our official spoke some English and was very polite.  We received another 3 months on our Visitors Visa for 200 Q/each.

The border is only a short run down the road from the Border officials hut and you can catch another collectivo back to the cross roads.  30Q.

We jumped off the bus to Porto Barrios and heard the shouts of ‘Morales, Morales, Morales’ right away.  Usually you have to wave to the bus drivers to stop for you, but at the major intersections they seem to know that their fares are off purchasing cold drinks or a snack.  So they stop at these cross roads, rather than needing you to wave them down.  12 Q again.

You could get off at the ‘noisy cross roads’, just before Morales, and switch buses for Rio Dulce, but we road the bus all the way into the town for a visit.

The market square of Morales is much bigger than the tiny town of Fronteras on the Rio Dulce.  We stopped here to pick up some things you just could not get in Fronteras.  The town has the best hardware stores, a much larger supermarket, an extensive market centre where you can get everything from giant aubergines (egg plant) to upholstery zippers and snap fittings.  It also has a little Chinese restaurant.  A Chinese restaurant is probably not a novelty for you, but they certainly are here in the Caribbean.

After a lovely lunch (about 50Q/each) and a bit of shopping we caught the collective back to the Rio Dulce.  Another 12 Q.

Not too bad of a morning.  The good points of renewing your Visitor’s Visas this way is:

-it is more economical than doing it at Livingston,

-you see a bit of the country side,

-if you speak Spanish you get to chat with the locals,

-you have a chance to call in at the town of Morales,

-it only takes a morning.

Bad points

-leaving your life in the hands of mad collectivo drivers,

-the drivers try to maximize their profit so they stop and jam in as many people as possible along the way,

-when the busses slow or stop they can get very stuffy.

-you feel a little tired and saddle sore after riding all those buses.

Hope the blog is helpful!