Horizons Unlimited - The HUBB - Finding Freedom...World Wide Ride

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Two Borders One Day

Sadly we had to leave El Salvador because we had to head south again Fernandita.

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Screen Shot 2013-02-18 at 8.50.49 PM by Worldwide Ride.ca, on Flickr

We left early for the border, but the lure of “the new road” led us off track for an epic ride thru the hills and left us 90 min behind schedule on our dual border day.

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ride to the border with Mario 2 by Worldwide Ride.ca, on Flickr

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ride to the border with Mario 7 by Worldwide Ride.ca, on Flickr

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ride to the border with Mario 8 by Worldwide Ride.ca, on Flickr

I have been dreading the Honduras crossing for the last few months. We had heard it was the “worst crossing in the world” and a bureaucratic nightmare. Ride reports are full of stories of how people are stopped by police every 20 km of the 150 plus crossing to pay trumped up fines costing hundreds of dollars. Mario did say that the police problem had been cleared up in the last year. We did here that it was easier at the customs on Sundays as that eliminated travel to the bank to pay fees that you can then just pay at the border.

We started our day from San Salvador at 730 on a sunny, but very windy day.. Reaching the first check to exit El Salvador and cancel the vehicle import at 1135 we were directed by a nice policeman where to park.

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leaving El Salvador 3 by Worldwide Ride.ca, on Flickr

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leaving El Salvador 2 by Worldwide Ride.ca, on Flickr

“Helpers” then mobbed us. The policeman came over and very slowly in Spanish explained exactly where to go and where and how many copies we needed to get. That got rid of our offers for “help”.

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leaving El Salvador 1 by Worldwide Ride.ca, on Flickr

He also told us to drive 3.5 km to the border, and not to stop at the dome building before that that looks like it is the border. Daniel had printed off detailed and very accurate instructions from the net at Border Crossings | Life Remotely

Getting our El Salvador exit stamp.

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leaving El Salvador 6 by Worldwide Ride.ca, on Flickr

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leaving El Salvador 5 by Worldwide Ride.ca, on Flickr

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leaving El Salvador 7 by Worldwide Ride.ca, on Flickr

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leaving El Salvador 9 by Worldwide Ride.ca, on Flickr

The helpers may also tell you that you need to change money with them, because you cannot get any local currency and they do not take US dollars in Nicaragua. There is an ATM at the Nicaraguan aduana that dispenses Cordoba and USD. Plus everyone takes USD in Nicaragua.

Crossing the bridge into Honduras you are stopped by an official who asks for your passport and directs you to park at the customs building.

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border Honduras 1 by Worldwide Ride.ca, on Flickr

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border Honduras 4 by Worldwide Ride.ca, on Flickr

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border Honduras 6 by Worldwide Ride.ca, on Flickr

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border Honduras 8 by Worldwide Ride.ca, on Flickr

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border Honduras 11 by Worldwide Ride.ca, on Flickr

The guys then headed to immigration while customs was at lunch.

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border Honduras 23 by Worldwide Ride.ca, on Flickr

They also made several trips to get copies.

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border Honduras 15 by Worldwide Ride.ca, on Flickr

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border Honduras 12 by Worldwide Ride.ca, on Flickr

My job as usual was to stay in the shade and watch the bikes.

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border Honduras 21 by Worldwide Ride.ca, on Flickr

There is such a lot of bureaucracy here, but just grin and bear it and maybe have some Flora.

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border Honduras 25 by Worldwide Ride.ca, on Flickr

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border Honduras 18 by Worldwide Ride.ca, on Flickr

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border Honduras 16 by Worldwide Ride.ca, on Flickr

This is the pile of paper they make with your 5 copies of everything.

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border Honduras 22 by Worldwide Ride.ca, on Flickr

Checking the VIN numbers as there have been stories of getting charged a lot of $ on exiting the country if the VIN on your import is “incorrect”.

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border Honduras 29 by Worldwide Ride.ca, on Flickr

Finally the transit import permit!

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border Honduras 28 by Worldwide Ride.ca, on Flickr

We left the Honduras crossing at 230 despite having arrived there at lunch when they are closed and that the wind had knocked out the power so everything was done by hand.

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crossing Honduras 4 by Worldwide Ride.ca, on Flickr

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imgres by Worldwide Ride.ca, on Flickr

Crossing this country is a bit like driving a Mad Max wasteland. The last 50 km of highway is a mess with huge deep holes all over.

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crossing Honduras 1 by Worldwide Ride.ca, on Flickr

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crossing Honduras 5 by Worldwide Ride.ca, on Flickr

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crossing Honduras 7 by Worldwide Ride.ca, on Flickr

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IMG_8449 by Worldwide Ride.ca, on Flickr

That said we had no real issues at the border and though we were stopped briefly at 3 police checks in Honduras, they asked politely to see our documents for the bikes and then shook our hands and welcomed us to their country. One of them even told me I should put sunscreen on since my cheeks were burnt.

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crossing Honduras 3 by Worldwide Ride.ca, on Flickr

Entering Nicaragua was easy especially if you are on a bike.

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Nicaraguan Border 6 by Worldwide Ride.ca, on Flickr

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Nicaraguan Border 7 by Worldwide Ride.ca, on Flickr

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Nicaraguan Border 4 by Worldwide Ride.ca, on Flickr

After a quick spray down of the bikes with some toxic substance we headed tot the air-conditioned aduana (Ah back to civilization).

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Nicaraguan Border 5 by Worldwide Ride.ca, on Flickr

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Nicaraguan Border 9 by Worldwide Ride.ca, on Flickr

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Nicaraguan Border 10 by Worldwide Ride.ca, on Flickr

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Nicaraguan Border 14 by Worldwide Ride.ca, on Flickr

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Nicaraguan Border 18 by Worldwide Ride.ca, on Flickr

They are more efficient here and the official checked all three VIN numbers at once.

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Nicaraguan Border 15 by Worldwide Ride.ca, on Flickr

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Nicaraguan Border 16 by Worldwide Ride.ca, on Flickr

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Nicaraguan Border 19 by Worldwide Ride.ca, on Flickr

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Nicaraguan Border 20 by Worldwide Ride.ca, on Flickr

We finally left the Nicaragua crossing at 530.

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imgres-1 by Worldwide Ride.ca, on Flickr

This meant that the sun did set on us, but luckily we arrived at Chinandega just at dark.

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Nicaraguan Border 22 by Worldwide Ride.ca, on Flickr

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Nicaraguan Border 23 by Worldwide Ride.ca, on Flickr

That meant it was time for Tona and Tostones con queso frito!

Finding Freedom...World Wide Ride

Looks great
Amazing pictures.
How bad are the roads there?

Quote:

Originally Posted by globalklr650 (Post 413030)

Looks great
Amazing pictures.
How bad are the roads there?

In general not too bad. Even a small hole or bump in the dark can be a nightmare. That said the road in Honduras near the Nicaraguan border is awful.

Sara

Finding Freedom...World Wide Ride

Ok thanks.
Just with a super overweight KLR with 2 people we are always concerned about the road south to Argentina.

Make sure you have a good bash plate to deal with the tope hell that is Mexico. Tope are "speed bumps", but can be all shapes and sizes. Some are very high. I scrape over about 20%. The triangle shaped pointed ones are the worst. There can be hundreds in a day....AHHHHHHH

Sara:scooter:

Sara always look forward to your updates

Another stella installment ,Noel:D

Hey Noel thanks!!

SP

When are you guys planning to get to Columbia? We are probably 3 weeks away?
Gino & Fiona
www.ginoontour.blogspot.com

Yes, but not till the end of August/ beg Sept. We are going home to work for 3 months at the end of May ish . The problem is where to leave the bikes for that long and still get to ride in the country we leave them. We can leave them in the Canal zone that long, so we are sort of dragging out feet as we have some time to kill, but CA not a bad place to do that.

We may meet on this side of the Darien then??

Great Blog reports by the way!!

Sara

Quote:

Originally Posted by saralou (Post 413200)

Thanks, ok we will be in CA by April sometime, keep up the border reports, very useful!
Gino & Fiona

Great we will see you then!
re borders check out this great web site!!

Border Crossings | Life Remotely

Sara

Exploring Northeastern Nicaragua