Finally across the Golfo de Tehuantepec, I found fishing lines across my path as I approached Puerto Madero. Buoys held up flags made of plastic garbage bags. I worked my way around and into the channel.

After getting tied up at Marina Chiapas (pictured), I was getting my documents together to go up to the office when someone knocked on the hull. I came topside to find three military men and another man in a Port Captain’s uniform…. and a dog. Looking over, I saw two more men at the bow carrying automatic weapons. Of course, I invited them on board for an inspection of the boat. The dog sniffed his way around the boat uninterested in my belongings and hopefully making no judgment about the mess created by a two and a half day passage. Meanwhile, I did paperwork with the Port Captain. Once this all was completed, the men smiled at me and welcomed me to Chiapas.

Eva, who had helped me get so far so fast, left the boat and headed off to tour Guatemala. Once all the boat chores were completed, including installing new batteries, I made ready for a tour inland. This necessitated a few trips into Tapachula, a very noisy and extremely crowded city. The downtown was packed with people at all hours that I visited.

These trips got me to thinking about all of the different types of transportation I have ridden on here in México. And a few I have not tried. There are many taxis here, probably because fewer people own cars. Uber is confined to several larger cities. In Mazatlan, they have an open taxi called a pulmonaria and pickup trucks with benches. Buses and “colectivos” are everywhere and relatively inexpensive, but it is sometimes difficult figuring out which line you need to take. The collectivos are small fifteen passenger buses that pick up passengers wherever thy are flagged down. . I have ridden on one of these when they had packed more than twenty on board. Buses and collectivos are very cheap. Sometimes the drivers seem a bit crazy, driving very fast and close to other vehicles. I think in some cities they are competing for passengers and want to get to the next potential stop ahead of the other bus.

When traveling long distances, first class buses are the way to go. They have very comfortable reserved seats and air conditioning. Often there is a movie playing. It is just such a bus that I was aboard when leaving Tapachula for San Cristóbal de las Casas. In the first 150 kilometers, we went through four checkpoints, including one where all passengers got off and ran their luggage through a scanner. My passport was checked at all four locations by Mexican immigration. At the fourth stop, an immigration officer took three young boys off the bus. Made me wonder if they were Guatemalan immigrants trying to make their way north.

After an eight hour ride, I arrived in San Cristóbal de las Casas.