Visa Run from Panajachel to Tapachula 2021

Back at the end of January, I did my first visa run since the pandemic started.

ZERO OUT OF TEN. WOULD NOT RECOMMEND.

I have done these visa runs for almost six years now and you can look back in my blog to see previous entries. I'm pretty much an expert at going from Pana to Tapa, but that doesn't make it any more fun.

If you are thinking, "How do I do a visa run to Tapachula?", well, just stop thinking that and pick a different way to get your tourist stamp! It is an adventure not worth having. Walk into any travel agency in Pana and book a nice clean shared shuttle to San Cristóbal de las Casas, Mexico. More expensive and actually a longer trip, but a lot safer and easier.

However, if you are absolutely sure you want to waste two travel days in dirty, dangerous, overcrowded chicken buses just to get another stamp, I can tell you exactly how to get it done.

A chicken bus driver surrounded by plastic as COVID-19 protection. (Guatemala)

First of all... what is a visa run?

Guatemala only allows tourists to stay in the country for 90 days from entry. When you arrive in Guatemala, the border official will put an entry stamp in your passport with 90 written in a box. This is the same if you arrive by air or by land, and I suppose by boat too, if that's your thing. 

After 90 days, you have three options if you want to spend more time in Guatemala.

1. Go to the migration office in the city and get an extension. This can only be done once. I haven't done this but I am considering it for my next renewal, partially just to see how it's done in order to tell you guys about it, and partially because of the painful memory of this last visa run.

2. Go on a visa run, or border run, to another country, stay out of Guatemala for 72 hours, and get a new 90-day stamp upon re-entry. Note that the other CA-4 countries don't count for this -- El Salvador, Honduras, and Nicaragua. You have to go to Mexico or Belize, or further away like Costa Rica or even back home to your own country. Also, the 72 hour thing is not found in any rule book. It's just what the border guards have been told. You can get away with 48 hours, if you're lucky, which I am not.

3. Send your passport for a new stamp with an agency. This is illegal, or at best unadvisable. Most travel agencies in Panajachel offer this service. It costs around Q500. The agency gives your passport to a driver who is going to Mexico, where they bribe the border official to get a new 90-day stamp. I'm sure you can see the problem here.

So how do I go from Panajachel to Tapachula by chicken bus?

Short and simple, here's the breakdown with my actual costs and times in January 2021.

PANAJACHEL TO TAPACHULA
Step	Route	Type	Time (min)	Cost
1	Pana to Xela	chicken bus	136	Q30
2	Xela to San Marcos	chicken bus	125	Q20
3	San Marcos to Malacatán	chicken bus	85	Q25
4	Malacatán to the border	colectivo	22	Q7
5	Talismán to Tapachula	colectivo	45	P23
			6 hrs 53 min	Q82+P23

Please note that my actual total travel time was longer than what it says in the table. I got on the first bus in Pana at 6:15 am and got off the last bus in Tapachula at 2:20 pm, so that is just over 8 hours.

Here is a more detailed description of how to travel from Panajachel to Tapachula, Mexico.

Step 1

In Panajachel, you can catch chicken buses near the the fire station on the main street. I happened to catch the direct bus to Xela (Quetzaltenango) across from La Palapa. It was idling there with a few passengers inside and I asked if it was the directo. The direct buses to Xela are all named Flor de Paisaje, Flower of the Countryside, but always ask just to be sure. The direct buses leave around 6:30, 7:30, and I think 10:30. You can ask in the Panajachel Community Group on Facebook for more current information. If there is not a direct bus, just take the regular chicken bus to Sololá (Q5), then to Los Encuentros (Q5), and from there to Xela (Q20?). 

Step 2

The bus terminal in Xela is just a big mess o' buses in front of the market. It's not a building or anything. It's crazy there, as you can see from this video that Bert took.

The ride to Xela is long, so you may need a bit of a break. Walk against "the flow" of buses (west) a couple blocks and you'll reach the Pradera Mall. They have a nice food court and clean bathrooms.

Your next bus is to San Marcos/San Pedro Sacatepéquez. As a tourist, the bus helpers might try to send you to San Marcos La Laguna, which is back at Lake Atitlan! Make sure you tell them either San Marcos in the department of San Marcos or San Pedro Sacatepéquez. The bus nameplate over top of the windshield will say San Marcos/San Pedro. (Curse the Guatemalans for naming all of their towns after the same damn saints.)

Step 3

San Marcos bus terminal is actual buildings with food vendors outside and clothing vendors inside. There are several bathrooms located here for Q3. This is where I often have to wait for my connection, but usually no more than 10 or 15 minutes. You want the bus for Malacatán, which is usually pretty empty so you can get a nice seat by yourself. (Funny sidenote: Guatemalans will crowd themselves three to a seat before they will sit beside a gringo!)

A chicken bus and two colectivos at San Marcos bus terminal,
Sacatepéquez, Guatemala

The ride from San Marcos to Malacatán is my favourite leg of this trip. You descend from the high pine-treed forests of the mountains down into the steamy tropical jungle, passing through a zone of coffee plantations. On the right-hand side, you get an amazing view of Tajumulco volcano, the highest peak in all of Central America.

Tajumulco Volcano peeking over the clouds on a sunny afternoon in Guatemala.

COVID-19 surprise -- the bus driver actually refused boarding to a guy not wearing a mask. Good for him!

Step 4

This is the most confusing connection of the trip. When you pay the ayudante (helper) on the bus to Malacatán, tell him you want to go to the border, la frontera. Because you are most likely the only non-Guatemalan on the bus, he will remember you and hopefully signal you when it is your turn to get off. He will drop you at a corner, nothing special, no landmarks, just a corner of two streets in Malacatán, and tell you to wait there. You are looking for colectivo, a mini-bus type vehicle. There will be a young man hanging out the sliding side door and calling out, "Tally-man, Tally-man." That's your ride. They come along every 5 or 10 minutes, so you won't have to wait long.

Step 5

The minivan will take you to the border town, which is quite small and easy to navigate. You will be besieged by guys trying to sell you pesos. The exchange rate is BAD but if you didn't get pesos in Pana before you left, you can buy some here. You can bargain with the guys, although they will grumble and complain as if you are the worst kind of thief. You will need 23 pesos for your trip into Tapachula, so get at least double that, just in case.

Here at the border, you have to stamp out of Guate, walk across the short bridge, and stamp into Mexico. 

From your bus, walk downhill past the official looking cement building with the big overhanging section. That's not for you. (I think it might be for claiming exports?) The Guatemalan migration building you want is further on, on the right-hand side, totally unassuming, easy to miss, almost all the way to the bridge. Look for white and blue paint, and a low metal barrier. There are two windows -- one for entry and one for exit -- but only one window is ever open. Present your passport and tell them you are going to Mexico. Usually, leaving Guatemala is not a problem. They don't care if you leave and don't ask questions or check your bags. On this trip, the agent did remind me that I would need a COVID-19 test to return.

The border of Guatemala and Mexico at Talisman.
I'm standing in Guate, the yellow building is in Mexico. Super short bridge!

After you get your exit stamp, you can just stroll across the bridge pictured above. If you peek over the left edge, you will see people wading across the river with their bags on their heads. Sometimes there are guys will big black innertubes floating bigger parcels across. This is all in plain view of both the Guatemalan and Mexican authorities.

To cross into Mexico, stay to the right and pass through a metal turnstile. You will immediately be in a more organized, clean, and professional area, totally unlike the dirty chaos of the Guate side. The fenced walkway will funnel you along to where you need to go. Show your passport to the guard and he will tell you to go inside. (The outside window is for Guatemalans and Mexicans only, I believe.)
Inside, approach a window and tell them you are entering Mexico. They will ask you for how many days; just say three days or for the weekend. They will give you a form to fill out. Fill out the top and bottom, sign and date. You will have to put in your hotel name in Tapachula. Take it back to the window and they will ask you a few more questions -- or not -- and stamp you into Mexico. They will give you a portion of the form to keep. Hang on to this! You will need it to exit Mexico. If you lose this paper, you will have to pay a fine.

COVID-19 note: I'd say mask-wearing at the border was only about 50%. I asked the Mexican border agent if masks were mandatory and she said yes. In Mexico, they call them cubre bocas, mouth coverings. In Guate, they call them mascarillas, little masks.

After you get your stamp, there will be guards outside who will check your bags. This trip, there were two separate stations and both checked my bags, one with a drug dog. The stations were only a few meters apart so I'm not sure what the point was. They're nice folks though, and sometimes like to practice their English with you.

Once you're through that, take an immediate sharp left and cut across the traffic that is crossing the bridge. Walk thru the small parking lot. You will see motorcycle taxis with red-and-white striped tops. You can take one, if you're tired or have a lot of bags, but it's just a few blocks to get to your next bus so you can stretch your legs.

Walk along the wide tree-lined street almost to the end. You will hear a guy calling out "Tapachula, Tapachula directo." Most likely he will notice you and usher you to the waiting minibus. (If you somehow get to the extremely gigantic tree on the left, you've gone too far.) 

Ride the mini-van all the way to the end, which is the Tapachula bus terminal. From there, exit and turn left, walk up a HUGE steep hill, and you will be at the central park. You made it!

The new Tapachula sign in Parque Central Miguel Hidalgo.

RETURNING

The return trip is kind of the same. You will get confused at Malacatán again. If you can speak to the helper on the mini-bus from the border, tell him you're trying to get to Xela. Hopefully, he will get the driver to drop you near the bus terminal and you won't end up at the market. I'd say this is a 50/50 chance. If you do end up at the market, take a tuc-tuc back to the terminal. It's way too far to walk. And when I say terminal, I mean a small gravel parking lot with bathrooms and one bus. 

Also, I never seem to find the direct bus from Xela to Pana. Instead, I take any bus going towards Los Encuentros and ask to get off at La Cuchilla (the knife). Then I just wait for the next chicken bus heading to Sololá, which costs Q5, I think, then from Sololá to Pana, another Q5. A bit of a hop-skip-jump but totally easy.

Where to stay in Tapachula?

I stayed at a different hotel than my usual one this trip, just out of boredom. You can see my review on Tripadvisor 👉 Hotel Cabildos. TLDR -- it was okay, but I won't return.

I normally stay at Hotel Cervantino, which is cheaper but also doesn't have hot water. You'd think that would be a problem but Tapachula's weather is scorching, so cool showers are a relief. (Trivia ... Tapachula roughly translates to "hot lid".)

What about getting a COVID-19 test in Mexico?

When I crossed from Guatemala into Mexico at the Talismán border, the Guatemalan border official reminded me that I would need a coronavirus test to return to Guatemala. I had prepared for this and researched where to get the antigen test in Tapachula. It was actually super easy.

I went to a place called MediLab. It is close to the central park, Parque Central Miguel Hidalgo. The address is 69A 6th Avenue North. Basically, go to the park, find the Scotiabank, and walk north from there. It's just a few blocks on the right-hand side. 

Check the current hours for MediLab on their Facebook page. They weren't open on Sunday, so I had to go Saturday to get my test done for my departure Monday. The test results are good for 48 hours, I believe. Prices can change too so just message them on FB if you need to.

The receptionist had no idea what I was talking about when I asked for a test to travel to Guatemala. She called in the doctor, who told me I needed a PCR test, which would cost MXN 2990. Um, nope! I told him I only needed the antigen test (nose swab), which costs MXN 1100. They asked me to pay upfront and gave me a receipt. I waited less than 10 minutes before the doctor called me, swabbed both my nostrils -- not painful, just made my eyes water -- and then they told me to come back in two hours for my results. When I came back, the receptionist gave me an envelope with a single paper inside saying my result was negative. Yay! 

TIP: Get a photocopy of your test results. The Guatemalan border official asked me for that, which I didn't have. There are photocopy places at the border but might be easier to just have it done before you arrive there. 

WHY THIS PARTICULAR VISA RUN WAS SO VERY AWFUL 😭

At the start of this post, I mentioned that this trip is zero out of 10 stars. I was literally in tears at several points on the way home to Pana. 

First of all, and worst of all, the Guatemalan border official didn't want to let me back into Guatemala. It was horrible! I was standing at the stupid plexiglass window trying to talk to him through a hole that was covered with more plastic. I could barely hear a thing he was shouting at me, but I could tell he was super upset. He looked at all my stamps and said what I was doing was illegal. He asked about my job and where my money came from and where it went. I tried to answer him honestly but he just kept getting madder and madder. He yelled at me for probably 10 minutes. I was struggling to hold back my tears and frantically thinking to myself, "What do I do?"

I finally asked to be let inside to talk. He opened the side door and asked again about my work and was just overall angry about something. He finally threw up his hands and told me to go back to the window. He stamped my passport and waved me away. I think he only let me go because he could see the lineup of 10 people behind me, all staring, and he was tired of me saying, "No entiendo. Por favor, puede usted hablar mas despacio?" ("I don't understand. Please can you speak more slowly?") I triple-checked the stamp to be sure he gave me 90 days. I had heard from other people on the Facebook groups that sometimes the guards get upset and only give 3 days and tell you that you have to start your residency process within those three days. I don't qualify for residency, so this would be impossible for me. 

After that disaster, I stumbled up the road to get in the mini-bus to take me to Malacatán. I was grateful for my mask which hid my face. I was trying so hard not to cry! I have never had a customs official get so upset with me, and I have never come so close to being refused entry. 

What would I have done if he told me I couldn't enter? I guess... walk back to the Mexico office and tell them. Probably get stamped back INTO Mexico, then take a bus over to the other border crossing at Tecún Umán and try again there.

When I posted this story on the Panajachel Facebook group, a few others said that they had had troubles but not a single person had ever said they'd be flat out refused entry. Many commented that the guy was probably looking for a bribe, a multa, but I don't think that was the case. Bert said that probably the guy had relatives who had been deported from the States and he was just mad at foreigners. Another person said that he had spoken with migration officials in the city and was told that border guards were being advised to "watch out" for people like me, people with multiple entry stamps over many years. So perhaps the time of visa runs is coming to an end. I'm honestly not sure what I'm going to do for my next visa run in April. Maybe take my own advice and go with a group to San Cristóbal.

Another awful thing that happened on this trip is that the bus from Xela overcharged me BIG TIME. The trip from Xela to La Cuchilla should only cost Q20 or maybe Q25 since the prices have gone up. I gave the helper Q50 and then he tried to ignore me. I said I wanted my change and he waved me away. I insisted on change and he gave me Q10 back. I was furious! I said that it doesn't cost Q40 and he told me the prices went up. I told him I just did this trip on Friday and the direct from Pana to Xela cost only Q30 so why would this bus cost Q40? He told me that the bus was empty so he had to charge me double. A nice Guatemalan lady tried to help me and backed up my complaint by saying that the bus should only be Q20. But the guy wouldn't budge. He just laughed and turned away. 

So what did I do? (Besides FUME 😡?) When I got off the bus, I took down the license plate number and reported the bus to the authorities. I had seen a sign on another chicken bus that said you can report COVID-19 protocol violations by calling 1532. (The shortened number is like a 1-800 number.) I was worried I would have to speak in Spanish on the phone, so instead I went to the DGT website and sent them a message through the contact form. I entered the bus license plate number and reported that not only had they overcharged me but also neither the bus driver nor ayudante were wearing masks. I'm fairly certain nothing will come of it, but it helped me to think I did something to fight back.

Here is an article about reporting chicken buses (autobuses extraurbanos) to the transportation ministry, DGT.

So, yeah, this trip was a disaster and when I finally got home to my weird little pink house in Panajachel, I burst into tears! Bert was totally shocked and listened sympathetically to my story. On top of the problems I had, I am always super sore after riding chicken buses. The seats are not big enough for an adult person, or at least not anyone taller than 5'5". My knees are always bruised from bashing against the seat in front of me, my butt sore from hitting speed bumps, my arms tired from clenching the rail to prevent myself from sliding off my seat on sharp corners, and overall muscle aches from the terrifying speed that chicken buses go, regardless of rain, fog, darkness, traffic, safety, whatever. 

Final Thoughts

Don't take chicken buses for a visa run. It's not worth the pain.

Book a nice shared shuttle to San Cristobal de las Casas, Mexico, through Magic Travel at the top of Santander. I've blogged about this trip before (click here) although it has been years. The journey takes about 12 hours, which is loooooong, but the drivers are generally safer, the border guards don't harass you because you're in a nice group of gringos and have a guide, and you might even be able to wear a seat belt. It is worth the extra cost.

On top of that, San Cris is a nice city with lots of things to see and do, while Tapa is a dirty, boring city that is stifling hot.

Until next time. 👋