Mexico and Central America Ride Planning and Road Wisdom

If you have a tourist visa for less than the time you need, take it and your passport
to the closest Immigration office and they will help you. It isn't an issue unless you
can't get to a city.
I have always seen most tourists arriving by plane automatically get around 30 days.
They have to ask and give a reason if they want the full 6 months.

I dont really care about TC. I dint even turn mine in one of my previous mex trips.

Now I am worried about TVIP. That only says 30 days too. I will head to an office in PV. Would that be the passport office for TVIP also or a different place.

I like adventure but not an adventure in exercising my patience. I am pretty sure that is what I am in for!!!

oh well it will all work out or i will just donate 400 bucks.

Not as bad as the canal, I'd bet.

I got all turned around in that area several years ago; had a heat stroke in my wonderful Aerostich Sauna Suit.

I was down mid October.
As stated the old main road to Batoplias is closed for construction.
Easy way in at the moment is Creel to Guachochic (paved), then to Yoquivo (paved halfway and currently being extended) then to Batopilas. Dirt length about 80km.
This road isn't bad unless there has been recent rain, when everything turns to mud and the trucks really chew it up.

The much harder route is Samachique to Batopilas, which is impassable uphill from Batopilas after rain, but might be doable downhill. Again 4-wheelers really chew it up.

Don't know what you are travelling on. I was on an R80G/S, big tank, full luggage and I had two days of rain after I got down to the bottom of the canyon. Basically, after struggling for a day on the route up to Samachique, I returned to Batopilas and tried to get out by the way I came in from Yoquivo. That also defeated me and I ended up throwing the bike in the back of a 4 x4 and getting out that way. We still took 5 hours as the pickup was struggling in the mud.

It would have been a great ride if it had been dry. Keep it in mind. That said the challenges still made it a worthwhile and fun trip. (more so once I was back up top )

Hey, I was wondering since you are close to matzatlan, could you run the ferry over to la Paz and do your tvip export there, and renue it as well on the return to the mainland? Tvip not required in baja, and I know you can purchase it in la Paz. So maby you can turn it in there as well. Just a thought

No you can not out-process your TVIP at the ferry in Maz or La Paz. It has to be at the border either north or south.

I will go to PV INM tomorrow. I blew it off today and enjoyed San Blas and surfed Sayulita. I think it is a lost cause so good bye 400 bucks and hello hassle at the southern border of mex.

I typed up a pretty good story using google translate. We will see how it goes.

Thats a bummer, good luck to ya what ever you decide to do. Hope it works out in your favor. I will be crossing at agua prieta on Friday morning, and I can promise you I will be triple checking all of my paperwork.

Dick Hubbard from New Zealand had the same issue, he employed an official but at what cost I am not sure, they have managed to continue south at keep it all above boards.

So I spent almost the entire day running around Nuevo and Puerto Vallarta today. 4 different offices. 2 INM 1 Consulate and 1 La Aduana (SAT or bank type place that does TVIP). There is one in PV near Costco for those of you interested.

I am not sure if I need to write the story of how each place could do nothing and please go here then there or maybe here again. Also my attitude at this point is not great so I will spare all of you my anti-Mexico TVIP process rant. I was honest at some(like mom always says) and then made up a story about a family emergency in AK at others. Even with no TVIP INM was not willing to change my TC to an FM3 Visa unless I went to a border; PERIOD! Lady was not so pleasant. So back to square one.

In the end a large part the mistake was mine. I did not look at all the documentation as throughly as I should and thats that. The lady at the border did not have a clue and I knew that. That alone should have been cause for greater due diligence.

Here are my options as I see them at this point in the order of 1 being the choice I am leaning toward and 3 no likely at all. A lot of the issue comes from the fact I fly from PV to AK on Nov 9 and return on Nov 30. Due to my work there is little to no flexibility to this.

1. Leave Mexico at my leisure some time in early Dec as I had planned. Do not correctly process the bike and no longer be able to bring a vehicle into Mexico again(Today I am very ok with this, piss off Mexico and you process).
Consequences:-$400 dollars small chance of moto being seized if I get stopped and Mex Ins being void. Ugh maybe option two is really what i am leaning toward.

2. Wait until my TVIP expires and get a 5 day transfer permit. It is 5 business days so you can really get 7 out of it. Usually takes two days to process. Not sure of the cost and there is a lot to do to make this happen. I have all the paper work in Spanish and taking it back to Ak with me to get help from my bi-lingual amiga. This makes things all good if I get stopped by someone that wants to see my TVIP or if I get into an accident. Not sure how insurance would view this.

3. Go to my boss and ask to leave work 4-5 days early and make an iron ass run to Guat. Mind you this right after my very understanding boss just approved a 3.5 month leave of absence and has to stretch coverage during that time. Also would need to change flight(minor). I would also get my money back. Right now this is really more of an idea than an option.

I could write for my pages on the day and its events but I am not going to. It just get me all wound up again. Some highlights are that my cell phone slipped out of my hand, hit the ground and split in two and a warning light came on on my bike. It is all almost comical tonight and I am sure will be tomorrow the kicker is that my situation really wont change when I wake up. Oh well such is life and things could be a much worse. I will get this resolved on way or another and continue my trip with this being just a story and part of the entire adventure.

AK,
Whatever you do, don't fail to cancel your TVIP. That will be a real problem when you try to get another scooter back into Mexico.

Hello, planning a trip from Louisiana to Guatamala to help build a house for a family down there. Looking for information on routes and if its advised to do this solo on first trip? Will leave around Jan. 11.

Why not do it solo?
Send me a PM if you are routing down the Mexican east coast.
Whichever point you cross at, cross early and get a few hundred kms into Mexico the first day.
And don't believe what you hear about Mexico from people who have never been here.
You'll be fine, the house will get built and the only danger is that you'll never want to go back to the USA.:eek1

Hola amigos. I am currently in Creel. any recommedations for a hotel that has secure parking and WiFi?

This place is kinda sketchy and i do not know who to trust.

thanks for helping a fellow ADVRider out!

Just pick one on the main drag as they're pretty comparable. Just don't go to Best Western; its an overpriced gringo bus tour outfit. Los Pinos is fine as is the one a couple doors down.
Creel is not sketchy, c'mon. Excellent pollo a al parilla out on the main why through town. Suerte, Jim

Don't know of any reason not to go solo. Would help to know your destination in order to suggest routes/crossings.

Hello, destination is San Juan Comalapa, Guatemala.

Sorry to be so late with this but I've stayed at Villa Santa Cruz on Domicilio Conocido just east of the main through-road. It has courtyard parking, wifi, clean cheap rooms. Would stay there again.

Let us know where you end up and what you think of it.

Last Feb we rode through Tuxtla Gutiérrez to San Cristóbal de las Casas where we overnighted. Then took Carretera Federal 190 to the border, passing through Comitán and Ciudad Cuautehmoc to make the Guate crossing at La Mesía (La Mesilla). SC de las C is a nice town to overnight in and 190 provided a pleasant ride to a friendly crossing at La Mesilla. From there you simply take CA1 to your turn off for SJC. It's a pretty sweet ride.

Don't know what you're riding or how you feel about dirt roads but there is one paved road into SJC off of CA1 you can get onto from Zaragoza which lies due south of SJC and just west of Chimaltenango. Looks like a nice piece of road on Google Earth.

If you have time on your return consider heading east through Guate City then north to Tikal for the ruins. Then Palenque on your return through México. You might even see Ester there.

Do try to meet up with MikeMike in Veracruz if it works out that you overnight there. He's someone worth meeting and certainly worth riding with.

You know what, I take it back. Creel is a great place. The people are great, and the town is pretty cool.

I ended up staying at the Casa Margerita, which is a hostel with private rooms (a ton) and a dormitory. Given that I was the only one in the dormitory, I elected to stay in the dormitory. The cost was $150 pesos, which included dinner and breakfast. Given the exchange rate of $13 pesos to $1 US, I was happy with my food and lodging costs being kept to under $15 (and closer to $10). They have a sister hotel (Plaza Mexicana) that had secure, locked parking for my bike. So I drove my bike over there after dinner. I woke up this morning and my bike was fine. I would not recommend that you leave your bike in front of the Casa Margerita, as a few of the locals indicated that doing so would be a bad idea. Therefore, if you elect to stay here, you'll end up eating at Plaza Mexicana's restaurant, and so when you are over there, inquire about secure parking and just move your bike over once you have unloaded everything into your room. Great WiFi from the dormitory--and I would suspect the other rooms would have okay WiFi, too. Let me know if you have any other questions.

I'm off to Urique-and mybe Batopilas from there if I can fall in with a group heading that way over the connector.