Here on this page we give some examples to help you understand our city and prepare for your arrival.

Personal Safety

The neighborhood around our ministry is very safe during daylight hours and somewhat safe after dark.  You can go out after dark but we ask you to be in by 9 pm. At least once a year, a store or a person will be robbed on our street. therefore we ask you to go out in groups of two or three.  We also ask those going out at night to use common sense, stay in well lit areas and around areas with people, the street is most dangerous when you are the only one there.  We can offer a safe place to store passports team money or other valuables.  While we do have security systems in place, our property has a fence around it and we are in a fairly safe neighborhood.  It is safe for two girls to walk around in daylight hours, but we would advise three or more after dark,  Every city has THAT part of town to avoid.  we will advise you upon arrival where to go and where not to go.

Health

You should bring mosquito spray, lots of it, while we generally don’t get the malaria mosquito’s, they are most likely to bring on a very mild case of Dengue Fever, more like a flu then Dengue.  Bring plenty of Imodium AD until your body adjust to the food here, may take a few days up to a week to adjust,  Avoid eating the good smelling street vendors food, it surely will make you very sick.  Don’t drink the water unless you are sure.  we have filters and chlorinate our tanks and we also provide bottled and filtered water.  As far as we know, many teams have used our water, showers and drink from our filters and no one has gotten sick from the water.   Within one kilometer (half mile) there are two hospitals.  The national free public health care hospital and a private, doctor owned hospital that does take some US medical insurance, but your bill may not go over your deductible.  Some insurances require you to pay with a credit card and reimburse you later.  find out how your insurance works before you come.  Some teams will purchase a travel insurance policy, but that is up to each team and not a requirement.

Travel

There are buses, mini buses, public taxis and private taxis here in our city.  All are safe to use in the daytime, but we would advise against them at night.  Public taxis can be used up to 9 pm, after that they are not safe and they will charge double. We often use the public transportation, mostly the public taxis,  If you use a private taxi, negotiate the price, they can be expensive.  Most of the time you can take a public taxi and just walk the last few blocks. Please be careful if you are walking, or riding a motor cycle.  Puerto Barrios is a two port city and the heavy truck traffic is pretty dangerous and they may not see you, don’t assume they do!  there are lots of traffic accidents most are minor, it is quite normal to bump cars here.

There are lots of local attractions for your off days, pools, river, mountain springs, bay beaches, resort type places, Mayan ruins and lots of good restaurants, please ask us for guidance. Allow time with you group to do some site seeing, it will be worth it.