Here is my somewhat delayed report of our trip:
The night before crossing the border at El Ceibo we stayed in Tenosique. Next time we would go from Palenque but I'll get to that in a moment. There is a gas station at the turn-off from 186 to Tenosique then no gas the next 46 miles to the town itself. Tenosique has several gas stations. A bit confusing getting to the road to the border from town. Ask directions at the police kiosk as you get to town. About 40 miles and one hour driving to the border. Border crossing is new--just 6 or 7 years old. Mexican side quite fancy, Guatemalan side, not so much. Be sure to check out of Mexico before crossing the border. They ignored us, we went on by and had to return. The border is virtually empty. Best part is that it is closed off to commerce---no hawkers, money changers, etc. Took an hour. Guatemala charged $200 Quetzales for spraying and paperwork. Twelve miles across the border is a new gas station at the crossroads. Another gas station 43 miles down the road in San Diego, then again in La Libertad and Flores. Gas is no problem. I advise asking directions frequently. Neither my GPS nor the Guia Roji were much help. Took about 3 hours from the border to Flores, 108 miles.A real tope nightmare and none of them are signed or painted. Lots of dogs and pigs and chickens and people. From Flores/San Benito to Tikal is 16 miles and took us 25 minutes. We didn't go to Tikal but continued on another 20 miles to the turn-off to Yaxha. There was a new gas station between Tikal and the turn-off. The road was in really great shape, the best of our time in Guatemala. Five years ago it was broken pavement and difficult. I'm assuming the condition of the road would continue on to the Belize border. From Yaxha turn-off to the border is, I think, less than 30 miles.
When we returned we took the same route through Tenosique and drove about 15 miles across the Usumacinta river to the town of Arena de Hidalgo where we turned left toward Gregorio Mendez. In less than an hour and 17 miles (we got lost in Chacala and then stopped for vegies so probably quite a bit less than an hour) we reached the crossroads of highway 307 from Palenque to Benemerito de las Americas.Just 26 miles later we were at Mayabell. This route is much easier and faster and we'll do this next time.
Hope this helps. I took pretty good notes so if you have any more questions on the route let me know.
