exit fee

I have been on a Tica bus from Tapachula, Chiapas, Mexico headed towards Guatemala City since 7am this morning. It is currently 8:30 and I have experienced a lot so far. First was a debacle at the border. Mexico charges a fee to leave the country if you stay for more than 7 days. I arrived in Mexico the night of May 4th and left today, the morning of May 11th, and technically wasn’t even in Mexico for enough hours to equal 7 days, let alone more than 7, but I was forced to pay the fee. If was $390 MP. I had $211 GQ and a debit card, neither of which the immigration would take. 

So I had to go outside and find a cash exchanger, some random people on the street, to try to get to exchange  my money so I could pay the fee. The person exchanging didn’t want to give me enough for my fee. After trying to find someone else, he finally decided to give me $400MP – about $100MP less than its really worth. I paid the fee and then was surrounded my people trying to get me to hand them my passport and give them an entry fee into Guatemala, which I knew better and just ignored them. 
After finally getting back on the bus and heading into Guatemala we stopped for what I assumed was the normal traffic jam, but I am not so lucky. There is a group of farmers protesting the government and they have closed down the road and is not allowing us to pass. So now I am stuck on the bus, for what the drives says could be at least 5 more hours, before I can finish the other 4 hours of the bus ride to Guatemala City. 
At least the bus has wifi while it’s running… But it’s too weak to add pictures to the post. Will update later. 

UPDATE: We were finally allowed to pass after 6 hours for sitting still. 

Update 2: The bus made it to the bus station at 7:30. 12.5 hours after we left on what was supposed to be a 5.5 hour trip. 

I was able to end the day on a good note when I met up with new friends from Korea and was able to eat some Korean food.