How to Renew Moto Docs in Nicaragua(30 Day Extension) – 20220815

I went to the Aduana in Managua. I was a little nervous as my registration had already expired but I figured I would give it a shot anyways. I read that if I did not extend it it would cost $50 plus $1 per day after which actually did not seem that bad to me.

GPS Coordinates

DGA entrance: 12.151187054576848, -86.23322431085462

https://goo.gl/maps/f2YuhPnjjHBLQjz38

Bank for payment: 12.15115621136764, -86.23382223957317

https://goo.gl/maps/BumJB8uQdaPgAFCRA

I showed up to the Aduana, was forced to wash my hands, dry my hands on my muddy pants, and mask up. Then they took my passport and added my name to a list and told me to sit. My name was immediately called so I went to Escritorio #4.

Waiting a brief moment in the “DGA”

They only asked for my old import paperwork and passport. They then handed me a little slip of paper and told me to walk 30 meters down the road to the bank to pay $10 USD.

So I walked down, got doused in sanitizer, got told not to use my phone and had the bank lady ask me 10 questions all of which I didn’t hear a word of due to her mumbling, wearing a mask, and the thick wall of plastic between us. She just kept rolling her eyes and eventually figured it all out for herself as I walked out 10 dollars poorer but with a receipt.

Recibo en mano

I walked back to the aduana, was forced to wash my hands again, again dried my hands on my muddy unwashed pants now damp from multiple handwashings, and again they took my passport and told me to sit. They again immediately called me and I went to Escritorio #2.

He wanted the receipt, old paperwork, and passport. He called me up 3 times for random bits of info like where I was staying. He then told me to come back Wednesday at 2pm with the little slip of paper that he put in my passport. Why couldn’t I get the paperwork then? Who could ever know, you don’t ask questions about those kinds of things in Latin America. Maybe they were just out of printing paper.

Follow-up: I went back on Wednesday at 2pm and after washing my hands and then drying them on my now washed pants they promptly handed my 30 day motorcycle import extension. Woot.

Guatemala Border Crossing at La Mesilla, on to Huehuetenango – 20220701

Border crossing day! 1.5 hours to get to the border from Comitan. Stopped 3.7 km short on the México side at the banjercito. They gave me my stamp out and a document to bring to the Guatemala side. No cost. Dudes were nice.

Entrance to Guatemala. 2nd border crossed!

Cross the border and immediately on the right is immigration. They gave me a form to fill out, my stamp, and I walked down like 30 seconds and they asked me to bring my bike around. They checked the Mexico doc and walked around the bike. They wanted the Mexico doc, drivers license, passport and reg. Super easy. Guy was nice.

Entry document. I have no idea why I wrote Nicaragua, but they didn’t care.

The border is pretty chill actually, pretty narrow entry and exit and the roads aren’t great. A couple shops throughout

I got one document from the Guatemalan side which cost 160 quetzales.

1 of 2 docs you get on Guatemalan side
2 of 2 docs you get on Gua side. 90 day verhicle permit.

Rather than get ripped off by the money exchange guys walking circles around me I walked 8 minutes uphill to get cash out of the cajero. One of my travel rules is to never exchange money, especially with people on the street. I got the paper and took off!

8 mins up the road you can get cash out of an ATM here

It was about 2 more hours to get to Huehuetenango. Overall it was a nice ride with amazing views but also some amazingly profound potholes that I dodged left and right. I’ve been to Guatemala before but I arrived with a really fresh perspective. Everything seems a little poorer yet a little more expensive.

The roads are generally in much worse shape than Mexico. I had remembered from before that the chicken bus drivers are all turdheads and a couple tried to kill me on the road already. Guatemala also has way more other motorcyclists than Mexico so I’m checking my blind spots much more because often someone would creep up on me without me noticing. I’ve found so far that people are a little friendlier here than Chiapas and more interested in what I’m doing.