Honduras and the beginning of Nicaragua

(and also a night out)

Closing in on the Nicaraguan Border

It was hard to leave the Comfort Inn and El Salvador knowing I had to deal with three more border crossings in the next two days to be able to finally get into Costa Rica.

I stopped at a local gas station to fill up. The guys working spoke a little bit of English and wanted to know about my bike and where I was going. I gave them my card with my blogging site on it. Like most of the people I met in El Salvador, they were friendly, helpful, and curious. And in fairness most of the people I have met along the way have been too. I guess here we just had more ties, both in language and in a little more modern perspective.

As I passed more cattle on the road, I thought back to how early on in El Salvador I passed a couple of funerals. They basically consisted of the coffin placed in the back of a pick up truck with the immediate family, I assume standing around it. Followed by mourners walking behind the slow moving truck which was making its way along the highway to the cemetery. No hearses or long lines of cars here.

The hotel where I staid was not far from the Honduras border so it didn't take long to get there. This was going to be a repeat of the Guatemalan border with the handlers "taking care of it all for me" and it ending up costing me about $330 total. At one point I ran out of cash and we had to hire a driver to take us back to the next town and a bank to get more money. The banks ATM wouldn't take my debit card so I went inside. I wanted to cash some travelers checks and they wouldn't take those. They didn't take mastercard so I couldn't use either my debit card or my credit card. Luckily I had a visa card and I took out $500 from that, something I didn't want to do but had no choice. At this rate both my cards were going to get tapped out fast.

The Honduras Border, another place to just wait in the high heat

I paid the driver $20 for the trip, got back to the border and the handler said one official didn't like the copy of my title and if I paid him $40 he would over look it. More B.S. but again I was right in the middle of it all. At this point I had about $600 cash. By the time I got thru this border, the Nicaraguan and Costa Rica borders the next day, it would all just about be gone....

This whole crossing took about 3 hours, in high heat with throngs of people, trucks and cars all going thru the same process, hurry up and wait. There were also 3 wheeled cabs, which were basically motorcycles with three wheels turned into cabs. Two or three people could sit in a protected area behind the driver. Often they were well painted and with decorative emblems and some had political leaders faces on them.It was a dollar to get ferried from one customs to the other.

Honduras, climbing the mountain road to the Nicaraguan border.

With the whole distance across this part of Honduras to Nicaragua about 150 miles, I was hoping to make it to Nicaragua and cross that border by night fall. The roads were good in Honduras, and outside of having to ask directions a couple of times I didn't get lost, and I made good time. I also had one police check point that checked my papers and waved me on, and another one that a young kid was minding that gave me a little more trouble. In fact they were the first ones on the whole trip that asked me to open my bags.

Not far from the Nicaraguan border I came upon the police check point. There were two officers,an older one and a young kid that looked to be no more then 18 or 19. He seemed to have a bit of an attitude, not to mention a gun. They checked my papers, the young one looked at my map I had spread out on top of my tank bag closely perhaps to see if he could find an ulterior motive for me being there.

I unzipped all my bags, they looked at my clothes, toiletries and electronic stuff like my cell phone, headset, mp3 player etc. I was glad they didn't look at or find my laptop. There was a young kid also there watching it all and asked for my gloves, a mirror, my watch, anything I might want to give him. I just smiled and said no, and smiled at the younger officer. Not speaking Spanish I was not sure how he was taking that exchange with the kid, or when they were done checking everything they wanted. As suggested by others in these circumstances, be polite and cooperative, but not overly friendly. I did not like the younger cops attitude, but the older one thru gestures, told me I could leave.

A truck heads up the high mountain pass towards Nicaragua

I arrived at the Nicaraguan border as it was getting dark. Still in Honduras I had to fill up with gas using U.S. dollars, and was given change in dollars, which surprised me. Gas in all these Central American countries was running between 3 and 4 dollars a gallon, about double from what I was paying in Texas, and a third more then in Mexico. By the time I actually got thru all the paper work and into Nicaragua it was dark. While I didn't pay nearly what I had to get into Honduras (either this handler wasn't out to get me as bad, or I was getting smarter, or a little of both), I paid the guy $20 to pay a $3 fee and a $7 one, and that was it. One was for the stamp and maybe another one for copies, I don't remember, I just know he told me one thing was $3, and the other $7. He then asked for his money. I did the addition for him and said he still had $10 left over from what I gave him. He didn't argue and we were done. I am sure that that was just to leave Honduras. And then it was time to deal with the Nicaraguan side. I don't remember what exactly what was charged here (remember this is my 4th crossing of the day, leaving and entering wise) but I know its nothing like entering Guatemala or Honduras was. I am sure there was a handler charge for maybe $10, and a $20 charge for my permit to drive in Nicaragua, and that was it. So the whole process, leaving and entering two countries with two handlers was maybe $50, a far cry from the $300 or so I ended up losing at the other two borders. Still too much no doubt, but better.

So I was now one country away from Costa Rica, and it certainly looked like one way or the other I was going to make it. As I drove away from the border check point into a starry Nicaraguan night, narrowly missing a horse as I saw its behind on my left go by after it suddenly showed up in my headlights standing in the middle of the road, I thought here we go, more night driving. As usual the first town of any size and hotels are miles from the border and also as usual I found myself having to drive at night for awhile after getting thru a border. I seriously considered the possibility of driving all night just to get to the border of Costa Rica and be done with it, having been told its open 24 hours. But I must be getting older because common sense took over at some point, and I realized even if I was able to drive the 240 miles thru the Nicaragua at night, I would be in no shape to drive the next day after pulling an all nighter. It made no sense from any perspective that I looked at it from, but until I could find a town and a hotel, it was still going to be, a night out in Nicaragua.