Border Guat, Honduras & Nicaragua
 

Can anyone advise re these borders over the next few weeks if they are good choice.

Cuidad Cuauhtemoc to El Florido - Guat to Honduras

Choluteca to El Espino - Honduras to Nicaragua

Cheers
Jules

just got ripperd of at the border at Copan Ruins, Guatemala to Honduras.
Bank closes at 11:30am on saturday, closed on sunday. They managed to slow down the process enough so we had to pay....42USD each.
Took 5 hours in total

Mex-guatemala was 1 hour, no issues.

I think you mean El Florido/Copan border crossing. (Ciudad Cuauhtemoc is the Mexican city near La Mesilla.) I found El Florido/Copan crossing mellow going from Guatemala to Honduras. The above riders didn't. Compared to other border crossings from Guatemala to Honduras it is much better. Entering Honduras is expensive and more of a hassle than leaving in my experience. It cost 625 lempiras last year or about 34.00 US. That is four times as expensive as getting into Guatemala. I enjoyed Honduras, although it is a bit corrupt I suppose.

Leaving Honduras at Choluteca was relatively easy last year. There is much less to do getting out of Honduras than getting in. Just fill out the exit form hand it over at the Saliendo (exit) window at migracion along with your passport, get stamped out, and then go to aduana to get the bike stamped out. Pay a 2.00 exit fee and you are ready to head into Nicaragua.

El Espino, Nicaragua actually sprays your bike and charges you a 1.00 and then it is over to the entrada window at migracion for the form to fill out before getting your passport stamped. And then to the line to pay the 150 Cordoba (7.50) entrance fee. They require insurance. But there are ladies with clipboards wandering around. Just ask for the person selling mandatory insurance (seguros obligatorio). I need insurance is "necesita seguros obligatorio" in Spanish. It costs 12.00. Then it is over to aduana to hand in your stamped passport, bike title, license and insurance to get the bike stamped into Nicaragua. I went through Las Manos on the way south into Nicaragua and came back north through El Espino. Both were easy places to cross.

Best luck,
John Downs

Strange story, usually it is pretty easy and yes if the bank is closed, it is closed, but obvious, it was open otherwise you couldn't have paid the $42,00 in Lempiras and probably you added the immigration fees of the 2 countries, photo copies and that is more or less the fee to get into Honduras and yes it takes time on both sides, but that is part of the fun in Central America!
Actually they upgraded all the facilities on the Honduran side and it looks pretty efficient now compared with years ago and immigration is open 24 hours
I crossed at least 100 times @ that border and doesn't take me more as 5 minutes, but then i have Honduran plates!! and a little longer if I passes with USA plates. I thought it was the easiest border crossing of whole Central America