Crossing the Americas: HONDURAS

The Honduras border crossings are known for being the worst, and Pat and Debora were already expecting it.

As soon as they arrived at the Guatemala/Honduras border they were eagerly followed by random men trying to help with the paperwork in exchange of some bucks. That didn't alarm the travelers because the same thing had happened previously at the other border crossings. Although this border has certainly been the slowest, most complicated and disorganized of all, the only surprise was that Debora, being brazilian, needed to get a visa to enter because the law has recently changed.

After all the bureaucracy they went on the road towards Tegucigalpa where they were stopped by cops multiple times. At one checkpoint the cops created an infraction trying to get a bribe. The alleged infraction was a lack of mud flaps on the car's front wheel-wells. It was such nonsense that Debora caught their lie right away and denied paying anything. The corrupt cops gave up.

A considerable amount of time was wasted at the border and with the police inspections, so they only reached the town of Pespire just after dark and spent the night in a hotel. Their intention was to get to the north shore the following afternoon, but there were so many road construction zones that they only made it to El Progresso. Before getting there, they stopped for lunch on Lake Yojoa, which was nice but swampy. El Progresso is a town substantially developed with no apparent crime or extreme poverty.

The following day the couple arrived at La Ceiba to take the ferry to Utila island. There is an ample parking lot at the ferry terminal where they could leave the car for US$ 6.00 a day.

Visiting the island had been the plan for a while for Pat to take his open water dive course. As soon as they arrived they were approached by many dive center representatives selling their services. Most of them offered rudimentary stay with their courses. They stayed on the island for a week during which Pat became a certified scuba diver, and Debora got her wreck specialty course done plus some day and night dives.

After the island the only plan was to leave the country, but, in order to not drive at night, they stopped in Siguatepeque, a town also well developed.

Unfortunately, the next day there was a troublesome detour on their way to Tegucigalpa and the Nicaraguan border. All vehicles were directed off the main highway and onto a narrow dirt road with collapsed edges, completely unsuitable for the many large commercial trucks trying to squeeze by one another. This deviation caused a colossal traffic jam costing them over 2 hours to move less than a mile, and no doubt this was the worst part of the entire trip so far.

Instead of reaching Nicaragua that day, the travelers had to spend the night in Danli, a pleasant town where they walked around at night and ice cream before sleeping at an economic hotel.

It is amazing how immigration officials lie straight faced when it comes to stealing tourist's money. Even after guaranteeing that a receipt would be delivered the immigration agent from Honduras charged a nonexistent exit fee of US$ 3.00 per person and did not give them a receipt. After doing the paperwork to enter Nicaragua (US$ 12.00 p.p.) and still without a receipt from the Honduran side, Debora returned to talk to the agent asking one more time for a receipt. The lady gave her the entrance fee paper (the one that is TAKEN FROM the passport by the same agent when you leave the country) assuring Debora that it was the cost and receipt for exiting also. Obviously, prepared for the lack of honesty with these agents, Debora insisted for a reimbursement. After being stubborn about it, letting all in line know about the woman's lie and asking to talk to her manager, the agent felt intimidated and gave the money back, pretending to have thought the couple was entering Honduras.