The first leg of the trip went from Flores to the Guatemalan border in Bethel. My guidebook had warned me that, while technically free, border officials often try to charge tourists a charge of 20 quetzales to leave the country. So I wasn't surprised by the fact that they demanded money in exchange for the exit stamp - only by the amount they wanted: with 40 quetzales they expected me to pay twice of what my one-year old guidebook had predicted. The strangeness started when I didn't have 40 quetzales left: they were satisfied with the 29 I was able to give them, and they didn't even ask for dollars or any other currency. This led me to think that the fee wasn't an actual government-imposed fee, but rather some kind of pocket money for the border officals.
After I had obtained my exit stamp, the journey continued by boat, about twenty minutes down the river Usumacinta.
On the other side, Mexican immigration was painless and fast. However, after driving about ten minutes in the bus to Palenque, the bus stopped and some kind of official asked all foreigners on the bus to pay 15 Mexican pesos as a fee for entering the national park the border crossing is located in. As I didn't have any pesos yet, so I offered to pay a US dollar instead (which is worth about 14 pesos, close enough I thought). Strangely enough, they didn't want my dollar, saying it wouldn't add up. So instead, after a bit of discussion, they let us drive on without paying. Another case of pocket money for shady officials?
A couple of hours and about three luggage checks by Mexican military later, we arrived in Palenque without further problems. To my delight, I discovered that my hostel was only a three minute walk from the bus station - I wouldn't have wanted to walk any further in the heat, but didn't have any money to pay for bus or taxi.
Later, I walked around town for a bit to get money and food, and found this nice church sitting on one side of the main square:
