JTOG Day 30: Last Day in Mexico, Ready to Enter Guatemala!

Mexico City, golfing at the CC of Mexico City and the Golf Club of Mexico, the Turibus tour, and the 1968 Cultural and Sports Olympics certainly were the highlight of my time in Mexico. More specifically, the people I met that embraced me and the 'Journey to Olympic Golf' that shared a bit of their life were the fascinating part of my Mexican visit. Today I was positioning myself in Tapachula near the border with Guatemala to cross it early tomorrow morning and make my way to Guatemala City to meet Pepe Rolz. My day was a pleasant drive of about 250 miles on decent roads, mostly divided highway. After saying goodbye to Omar at the Hotel El Cruce and leaving Juchitan de Zargaza, Torch and I drove down a coastal plain with mountains on the left and the not-too-far-though-never-seen Pacific on the right. I stopped in an almost nothing little settlement for breakfast and met a wonderful charming lady that reminded of my Mom and was about the height of Lillian Zodikopf, our family friend. I love the people of Mexico! Today was a peaceful day with little frustration. I would hope the same for tomorrow and the border crossing into Guatemala. To prepare I drove past Tapachula, the town where I booked a room for the night before leaving Juchitan de Zargaza this morning and drove another 25 miles to check out the border crossing. I actually drove into the secured area because there was absolutely no one in front of me and right up to the final checkpoint before turning around. Of course now I had to go back through the Mexico Customs inspection. I did not cross over into Guatemala for three reasons—it was getting to be late in the day, I had already paid for the hotel room in Tapachula and I needed to turn in Torch's Mexico temporary vehicle registration permit and have her sticker removed to receive a credit of $200. Evidently, Mexico, or Mexican car dealerships, do not want Americans driving their cars over the border and selling or leaving them in Mexico. Before leaving the border crossing I did go in and find a nice young lady that spoke English to confirm that the place I needed to go to was not at the border but back north of Tapachula. I had learned this on the Drive the Americas website. Lots of good customs and border crossing information there, both ways north and south! Lesson learned for next road trip south, stop at the vehicle registration place on the way to the Guatemala border. I did get lost for a while coming out of the border at Hidalgo but somehow found the road back to Tapachula. My Garmin was good when she was good but useless when the satellite connection was not available. Amazingly I drove right up to No. 42 on 7th Avenue South and my bed for the night at the Hotel Suites Bremen. There were no suites and I was missing staying at the golf resorts back in Texas for sure tonight. It was a quiet Saturday night in my hotel room planning a big day of crossing into Guatemala and making it to Guatemala City to meet my new best friend Pepe Rolz. Not only did he have a friend Olaf that could repair Torch's brakes but I was hopeful to play the Mayan Golf Club with him. I had also made contact with golf course architect Perry Dye and was hopeful to visit the La Reunion Golf Resort & Residences. and play the spectacular Fuego Maya course that he and his father designed. I was excited to be heading for a third country on the 'Journey to Olympic Golf.' Life was exciting and I was tired. Early to bed and early to rise makes and man healthy, wealthy and wise. I was just hoping for a quiet Sunday border crossing into Guatemala and an easy trip to find Pepe. Neither of which is what happened to me the following day... There are some more stories in the pictures below this request to make a donation to The First Tee... please make a donation today. Much appreciated. I am looking for 100 new friends in the next 100 days to make a $100 donation (or any amount that you are able to make) to The First Tee. Each day I will be reliving the original “Journey to Olympic Golf” and hope to find a new friend in golf. Is that you? Please join me in giving back to the game we all love. CLICK here to make a donation to The First Tee. Please select ‘Andy Reistetter’s Journey to Olympic Golf’ on the drop-down menu for the question ‘What inspired you to make a gift today? This is for tracking purposes only, Andy does not receive any part of your donation or anything financially from The First Tee organization. There are interesting incentives for making your donation to the First Tee… PLEASE click here to make a donation to The First Tee.

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