Plan a trip to a Spanish-speaking country

by Shannon
(USA)

I recently read one of your blog posts about driving to Guatemala and I was hoping you'd help out. I am currently in my second semester of college and I am studying Spanish.

Our current assignment is to plan a trip to a Spanish-Speaking country. I do not fly. So, my "plan" is to drive through Mexico and end up in Belize, then go on to Panama. I was hoping you could offer some insight into driving through Mexico and anything else you think would be informative for my class. Is Guatemala a place I should visit as well?

Benjamin:

I’m not sure which direction you’re coming from (eastern or western US) but I’ll give you info for both.

Click here to read my journey of driving from Texas to Guatemala on my blog but I'll give you a lot more info below.

This details Mexico along the Gulf of Mexico coast to the border town of Tecun Uman, Guatemala.

Before I get too far into the explanation – if you wanted to just go to Belize, you would go from Veracruz to Acayucan/Coatzacoalcos to Villahermosa (I did this all in bus, too, about 3 years ago – hot, but interesting).

From Villahermosa you can go through Emiliano Zapata to Escarcega to Chetumal, Belize and on to whatever destination from there. Alternatively, you could go from Villahermosa to Palenque, through the Peten region of Guatemala to Belmopan, Belize. If you’re just driving to Belize, I’d avoid that part of Guatemala because border crossings can be a hassle with a car and not all the roads are the best – stick to Mexico for that part.

Well, that’s Belize. If you want to go to Panama, the journey is really not that difficult – just follow the capital cities. The road is CA-1, also known as the Panamerican Highway or Carretera Panamericana.

Here’s the route from Veracruz, Mexico. You have two options until you get to Guatemala City. (by the way, you can use Google Maps for this – it’s not the best for specifics, but works ok for this trip.)

Veracruz->Acayucan->Matias Romero-> Arriaga-> Tonala-> Tapachula, Mexico --to Tecun Uman, GT-> Mazatenango->Escuintla->Guatemala City (this route is relatively flat and good if you just want to get there).

Veracruz->Villahermosa->Tuxtla Gutierrez->San Cristobal de las Casas->Comitan->Cross into GUA->Huehuetenango->Quetzaltenango->Chimaltenango->Guatemala City (this route is more scenic and mountainous).

From Guatemala City, following CA-1 all the way to San Salvador. Cross into Honduras near Santa Clara (south part) and keep going east to Choluteca if you want to avoid Tegucigalpa (if not, well, go to Teguc then J) At Choluteca either go north or south depending on which side of Lago de Managua you want to go on. I’d go north. Get to Managua, go to Costa Rica and cross into Costa Rica south of Lago de Nicaragua. Follow to San Jose, then on to Panama.

The trip is very doable – the only part of the Alaska to Chile part that can’t be done in car is at the south part of Panama/north Colombia where guerrillas hang out. You have to take your car in a boat from San Jose or Panama City (I think San Jose is actually better for this).

I hope this has been helpful. At each border you have to get vehicle permits if you’re driving. Going into Mexico it’s about 30-40 USD and some paperwork. Unfortunately, I don’t have experience driving the rest of Central America, so can’t answer that. You can probably check out state.gov and it’ll provide some info about that. I always recommend the Guia Roji Mexican Highway Map for any trip, and it was very accurate and detailed.

Any readers that have experience with this route, we'd love to hear your input in the comments.