Preparations for Guatemala #1 - Covid-19 Antigen Test
May 17 2021 | Tagged: Guatemala
Covid-19 entry requirements for Guatemala
Present rules for entering Guatemala by land, state that the traveller requires an -ve ANTIGEN TEST.
In San Cristobal de las Casas, the best option for getting the Antigen test is at the Ahorro Farmacia. They charge 355MXN.
Fake PDFs are floating around. I have one. I just need to get my name, age and date of test altered.
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BTW I am not going to use it. I am a law-abiding mask-wearing citizen. A fake test is an illegal document, just like an altered flight ticket just to appease check-in staff and immigration officials. I have never used. An onward flight ticket where you later cancel or just ditch is not an illegal document.
I will go to the Ahorro and get my own test done.
Am curious anyway to see if I have antibodies.
If the test shows positive I am not aware of what the protocol is. A +ve result means you had Covid-19 at some point in the last x no. of weeks.
When I was in Albania, a serological test/blood test showed if you had Covid-19 in the last 7 weeks. Testing has changed a lot since then.
Would a +ve antigen test mean I'd need to go and get a PCR to prove I didn't have it now?
Word is that the Guatemalan border guys don't check anyway.
The plan is to get the test on Saturday afternoon. Assuming the test is -ve, I will then book a bus ticket on Sunday for the Monday night to Tapachula and cross on Tuesday morning. The Antigen test is good for 72 hours.
I don't like using Poipet style border crossings. Poipet is a mafia-run town on the Cambodian Thai border. The crossing here, at La Mesilla, is the main crossing point and used by the shuttle bus companies and the immigrants coming up from Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras all heading for a hopefully better life.
The border guards are long lost cousins of those who inbabit the Poipet crossing. Low Lifes. Not that I had problems at Poipet. Most do. I just find it tiresome dealing with the bullshit.
And as I go out of my way to avoid going the same way as everyone else, the border crossing to Guatemala at Ciudad Hildago/Tecun Uman is the one I am opting for.
What's the plan if my antigen test comes back +ve? Let's cross that border if it comes to that.