Our Amazing Race: Challenge Buying a Van in Guatemala

Our five day car search finally came to an end!!! The first day we walked all around town like chickens with our heads cut off. We collect and call numbers out of the newspaper classifieds, searched the main street where for sale cars are parked and asked tons of locals where to buy a vehicle. And at the end of the day we got no where. Day two started off as a disappointment as well; walking up and down the streets and calling classifieds again. After about 3 hours of that we were on our way back to the hostel for a break via the main road. Our eyes were wondering back and forth, car to car hoping for something new to pop up. Then one block and a corner from hostel we saw two ladies park a “minibus” van for sale. All three of us quickly scurried across the street, dodging on coming traffic. By the time we got to the van the two ladies were out of sight. Vanished!! They could not have gone far; probably in one of the several shops roundabout. We waited for a few minutes then Craig went into the shop where the van was parked in front of to ask if she knew who the van belonged to. She said, “Yes, the family across the street behind the large wooden door” (like most the mysterious doors around here with who knows what behind them). Anyways so we rang the bell and solved the mystery. There was a long drive way that lead to several car ports, a furniture shop and a large communal house where we later found out a family of 3 brothers, 1 sister, children, spouses, and grandparents all lived. Like a typical Latin American family. The sister and her husband were selling the van. They both spoke English which was a dream come true to us at this point. Ryan looked over the entire van and went for a test drive. Since they were asking a little more than our original budget we had to sleep on it. Later that afternoon after rolling it around in heads we decided to go for it. The van is in good condition, clean engine and even better we have space to pick up other travelers in our hostels. The next morning, day three, we went back and agreed on a lower price, the easy part. Now to the nitty-gritty. 1. Ryan had to get a foreign identify number for Guatemala. 2. Pay Antigua residency tax ($3) 3. Go to the ladies’ lawyer to release her liability 4. Make double copies of everything 5. Take over her insurance, which is good for the next 5 months 6. Find someone to take all that paperwork to Guatemala City to get a title transfer. Day three was a lot more productive than day one and two. Today, day four, we went shopping for the van: ice chest, extra fuses, a jack, some tools, etc. We checked out of the Yellow House (Casa Amarillo) hostel and are waiting for the title to come back from Guatemala City, then its up the road to Lake Atitlán…… Bummer!! So the language barrier finally caught up to us in this round about adventure. The guy we sent to Guatemala City only got part of the paper work needed for the title transfer and did not actually do the transfer. Now we have no hostel to sleep in tonight and still have to go to Guatemala City tomorrow. Guess this is Night One of sleeping in the van.

Ryan and Craig in Chiquimula

Ryan & Debb with Chiquimula

Ryan and the Van

Our Amazing Race: Challenge Buying a Van in Guatemala

Antigua Guatemala, Guatemala