Visa Rigmarole III

At whatever time some protesting jerks decided to lock up the Inter-American Highway, the traffic had been about the same leaving the capital as it was going in. This meant I had only to walk a little more than half a mile up the road beyond the manifestación before I found buses that were in the same position as the one I was in when it decided to turn around. I found a bus for whom turning around meant going back to Guatemala City. A few minutes later about a busload of people came who had had the same idea and in no time at all I was on my way again to renew my Visa.

A cab ride from the bus stop in Guatemala City, and I was at the immigration office. It went off like butter. There was almost no line for anything but the photocopier and I had all my documents in order. I don't think I was even there an entire hour. I've read that the holdup at Immigration in Guatemala has to do with obtaining a lawyer's stamp. Perhaps the limited traffic into town that morning meant the Immigration lawyers had more time for things like my tourist Visa.

Having set aside an entire two days for the task, I didn't know quite what to do with myself. I stood on the steps of the immigration office pondering my options. I could try to get back to Santa Cruz and save the extra day, but I didn't know how long it would be before buses were running again, or even how to determine whether or not they were, without just hoping the nearest Tecpan or Encuentros bus and seeing how far it took me. Better to run for Antigua and wait to the thing to blow over.