You can pay $45 to take a toursit shuttle from Antigua. Or, you can do it yourself on local transit for about $15...
We left our accommodation in Guatemala City and got an Uber to Centra Norte to catch the Rutas Orientales bus to Chiquimula. We went to the wrong bus stall, and stood there until we realized our mistake (and by realized I do mean a random man alerted us to it). We then decided to use the baño before our lengthy ride. At this time I put the wrong coins into the slot and jammed the bathroom entrance gate. After these errors, we eventually found our bus. We reserved tickets on WhatsApp in advance, but the bus was nearly empty. We sat next to a lady with three massive cakes. Although it was 49 Fahrenheit out, the AC was blasting and my legs went numb. Our driver viewed numerous Tik Toks, sent WhatsApp messages, and watched a few videos as we drove at a high speed.
After about 3 hours we got off in Chiquimula, a city in northern Guatemala. Of course, we were the only foreign people there. We fended off hopeful taxi/tuk-tuk/bus drivers and set off to explore the city, our backpacks in tow. No one seemed too interested in us, although a man did attempt to sell us some curtains.
We made our way to the park, the central market, and eventually to eat. At this time the restaurant proprietor asked if we also needed a hotel room to stay in. Because apparently he also had a hotel room. No, gracias.
We headed back towards the bus station and almost got run over by a car. We also spotted a prison/hand sanitizer van. As we approached the station, though, we saw a van that said El Florido– our destination at the border!
The van attendant directed us to the two “seats” upfront. We climbed over the barrier and settled in next to the driver. The bus became crowded and my bag at some point disappeared. Unconcerned, I assumed it was in the trunk. Until the bus driver said something to the effect of: “Where is your bag? That man [who just exited the bus] said it was his.” For about 10 minutes I considered my bag was stolen, but when we got to Jocotan (and were suddenly kicked off the bus), it materialized from…the trunk!
We were directed to another bus and continued towards the border. We got off about .2 miles from immigration. It was basically deserted except for a few people from our bus, none of whom entered the customs buildings for some reason that was not clear. Sarah and I did in fact enter the customs buildings.
A lady at the sanitation station asked us if we had our covid vaccines, did not ask for proof, and waved us on. We stamped out of Guatemala and headed to the Honduras line. At this time, the customs agent scrutinized my passport for an extremely long time. She gave it to 2 other agents who also scrutinized it. They conversed about unknown things in Spanish. I assumed she was questioning why this was my 5th border crossing in Honduras in the past 6 months (which is, coincidentally, a good question…). She made faces, conversed some more, wrote something in a booklet, and eventually let me pass.
On the other side, we walked into Honduras! There were zero people, guards or personnel; we literally could have walked in without going through customs (although this would have been problematic when we tried to leave and is likely illegal).
Across the border was a van, which just so happened to be heading to our destination! We crawled inside and our backpacks were once again thrown on the roof. It was crowded so Sarah sat on the floor.
All in all, a successful, and decidedly not dangerous, overland border crossing from Guatemala to Honduras at El Florido.