Post 27 - On the road, a bit different
- Efrat abramson
- 2 days ago
- 8 min read
May 22, 2026
We said goodbye to Agami and his friends with hugs, knowing we would meet again in two and a half months in Israel. Early morning, in the usual manner, we prepare a cup of coffee, tea, sandwiches, fruit, and vegetables; only this time, we are heading back north to the United States. More travel, fewer excursions. The pace is changing, and we have schedules to meet.
The crossing from El Salvador to Guatemala
On Wednesday morning, we left the beach and drove north along the coast to the border with Guatemala. We reached the border relatively quickly, after about two hours of driving, we crossed El Salvador quickly and easily, and the crossing into Guatemala itself was also quick; we just signed the TIP (temporary driving permit) again and brought it back to life, stamped passports, and here we are again on the challenging Guatemalan roads.
It's hard to describe the chaos at the Guatemalan border; the number of trucks is unimaginable, and we're in line to have our passports stamped.
This time, we chose the main roads to cover as much mileage as possible. The landscapes passed before us, an open landscape of fields, farms, cows, and horses, everything is green, streams with water. El Salvador and Guatemala are beautiful, tropical jungles with endless shades of green, moving forward, and the view opened up to vast spaces with volcanoes standing in the background, some still, some emitting white smoke that rises and rises to the heights.
We are no longer here to visit, travel, and mingle; we are passing by, carried along by the big white bear spirit that advances joyfully and utilizes its immense powers, carrying the heavy trailer with the bicycles with it and moving forward, miles upon miles, and we with it, carried far away.
After many hours of driving, we decided to stop for the night. There were no RV parks in the area, so we stopped at the first roadside hotel we saw. We asked them to park, but it was so hot and humid that we decided to take a room. What a disappointment. The room turned out to be musty, humid, and unclean. We were torn between sleeping in a room with air conditioning or in our beloved RV. The air conditioning decided. We fell into a deep sleep, woke up early, and hit the road again. In total, we've been in Guatemala for almost two months, and here we are, passing through it in one day.
Mexico
Today we planned to reach the border with Mexico. After about three hours of driving, we arrived at a city called Hidalgo.
There are two border crossings there. One outside the city that seems more convenient for crossing, but it turns out we can't cross there, because it's only for trucks. We entered the city for the second border crossing. We say goodbye to Guatemala in tears. It was so beautiful and kind to us. Diverse with countless landscapes. The people we met were wonderful, smiling, and hospitable. And let's not forget the difficulty, especially on the narrow roads, the potholes, the mountains, and the overcrowding.
We crossed to the Mexican side, got our passports stamped, got an entry visa, and then it was time for the familiar TIP. Then it turned out that our vehicle was too big and we had to wait for the special clerk who knows how to fill out forms for large vehicles. He arrived after 4 hours of waiting. Nothing helped, no pleading in my broken Spanish, nada. He arrived after four hours, filled out the form in two minutes, and after another 5 minutes, the TIP was in our hands. We were broke, exhausted, and starving from the wait, but we're back in Mexico. Hooray. We're already familiar here, so we stopped at an ATM for cash, because everything here is in cash. We renewedought our cell phone plan, buy some fruit and snacks, and hit the roads of Mexico.
The wait was frustrating; at least there was air conditioning
We met this Argentinian guy at the border, and he's doing the Pan-American route with the Citroën Deux Chevaux. He started in Ushuaia, Argentina, and he's on his way to Alaska.
The landscape is still tropical, caressing our eyes with its endless greenery; the roads are wide again, more comfortable, and there is no doubt that Mexico is cleaner and tidier. We decided to stop for the night with a couple who live on a farm and host I-over-Landers (from our home app). They live in a grove of huge mango trees, in a large area, and raise beautiful chickens that they sell, along with their eggs. They have a pack of 5 happy boxer dogs that run around happily and play together all day. The farm owners, Joel and his wife, host us warmly and generously in the yard. We parked under one of the huge mango trees. We went outside, and the heat and humidity just hit us. Within a few minutes, we were dripping with sweat, and although they connected us to their electricity, it clearly wasn't enough to run the old air conditioner. Our refrigerator was also suffering and was unable to cool properly. We somehow managed to get through the night, with our power station and with the fans, woke up early, and hit the road again.
This is the third day in a row that we've been on the road.
At the mango and chicken farm
Beloved San Cristobal, we have returned to you with joy.
We decided to head towards San Cristobal, which is up in the mountains. It's almost on our way, a slight detour of an hour, and here we could breathe in the mountain air and get some relief from the heat. The roads would be wide, and we could drive fast again, covering distances. We fly; the landscape gradually changes, becoming drier and more mountainous. The road twists and turns and climbs. We remember the last time we did this climb. Sylvie had a clogged, old fuel filter and could barely get up to 20 km/h. This time, she gallops happily and shows us how she can do this climb without breaking a sweat.
We climbed until we reached the city's entrance and remembered the narrow streets. And here, we got tangled in its streets again. We entered a street where a car was parked, so we couldn't pass. After many minutes of trying, we decided to go back in reverse, and everything was set in a narrow street, with cars parked on one side and concrete roofs protruding from the other. This is my life lesson. To be in a situation where people behind me were waiting for long minutes, as I was preventing them from passing and continuing their daily lives, everyone needed to be patient until this tangle was resolved.
During this entire half hour, we didn't hear any shouting or sirens. On the contrary, on the main street where we reversed, an elderly man was standing, explaining to us exactly how to get there, and even accompanying us and making sure we were indeed taking the right turn.
We arrived at our sweet, familiar parking lot exhausted and broken, but the weather, yes, it filled us with joy.
We decided to stay here for three nights to rest from the roads, the heat, and the humidity, and to gather strength.
The weather here was wonderful. You could walk with a long shirt, which was really cool at night, and we took out the winter blanket again. A few days of rest from the adventures, and we were visiting places we loved before, the beautiful night market, the main city square, and the streets full of surprises of all kinds.
On the left is an excellent cafe, according to the poet, selling coffee with pictures of the towers on the bags - respect. In the center is the "best restaurant", a cozy family restaurant with great people.
After three days, we woke up early again and, as usual, got ready for the road and set off. We descended from the mountains and headed towards the east coast.
There are several ways to cross Mexico. We did some research and chose the safest, fastest, and most convenient way to drive. It does cost more because the highways here are toll roads, but they are considered safer and more convenient, with fewer stories of roadblocks and extortion.
In reality, the roads are indeed wider and faster, but they are not free of potholes and roadblocks that cause long traffic jams. In addition, in front of almost every toll booth, there is a huge traffic jam of huge trucks, which extends the travel time by at least a third, and sometimes even by half, beyond what we planned.
All travelers in Central America already know that the time shown on Google Maps should be added by at least a third, and sometimes even half, to get an accurate sense of how long it really takes to get from one place to another.
Traffic jams, roadworks
With music on the go
We arrived at the East Coast and decided to continue our journey a little further. I found a host family on the app, and we arrived there in the afternoon, tired and hungry. They opened the gate for us and revealed a stunningly beautiful, well-kept yard, and here, too, we parked among some huge mango trees. Again, the combination of extreme heat and humidity challenged us. Raul and his mother took us to eat at a small stand across the road, which turned out to be a gourmet meal in every sense of the word. It's true that we were starving, but the food was excellent; we literally licked our fingers.
But, again, the heat and humidity, not enough electricity for the air conditioner, the mosquitoes eating us without salt.
Again and again, we meet wonderful people who host us with generosity, joy, and curiosity. I managed to chat with the parents a little in Spanish, and with Raul a little in English. We slept next to a parrot that also speaks Spanish, and the dogs, as usual, flocked to Guy as they do to the Pied Piper.
After another sleepless night, we woke up to a pleasant morning and received a royal breakfast from Raul's mother, who worked around us to make sure we were comfortable and well.
The charming courtyard
Above, Raul and his adorable mother, the dogs who love Guy, a twilight walk in the family fields, and a fine dinner, on a plastic table on the road, and the Mexican parrot
We said goodbye with hugs and hit the road again. Today's trip wasn't very long. We decided to stop in Cholula, where we were already at a very comfortable campground, and indeed we arrived at the familiar place, parked, went out for lunch, and rested a bit until the next day. Here too, the weather was very comfortable, and we breathed a sigh of relief. The rain even makes us cancel our plan to go out to buy fruit for the trip.
San Luis Potosi
We arrived here after the longest day we've had so far. Most of the roads are good, and we cover distances, emptying our wallets in the process (the toll roads here are horribly expensive). We arrived at Peter's campground in the afternoon. It's a huge area, neat and organized, with neat corners for trailers with electricity and water connections. Peter welcomes us warmly, his wife immediately prepares delicious food for us (we arrived starving again), and we rest for a moment from the long road. We'll stay here tomorrow too to gather our strength for a moment, and we're making great progress.
We have another long drive ahead of us to Monterey, about two hours from the Texas border. We'll be there for a few days to do some work, and in the middle of next week, we'll cross the border into the United States. So the next post will be about the roads in Big Uncle Sam, which is a whole other story.
We are actually here at our last campsite in Mexico, and these are the last few weeks with Sylvie - the big, white bear we've learned to love over the past year, before we put her to bed for her long winter sleep.
I asked Chatty to make me a map of the route, to make it visual. It's not really accurate in terms of the map, but it's very colorful and beautiful.
This is a little more accurate.
So far, for now
We will continue to share, tell stories, and photograph.
With love,
Guy, Efrat, and the bear 🐻
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