Entering Honduras...

[dstehouwer]

Today my wife and I crossed into Honduras, from Guatemala @ Copan.
Took us 5 hours, and we paid 42USD each :-S

The officer managed to keep us busy (or mainly waiting) with stupid questions, even discussions about the color of the bikes and other stupid stuff, and then, at 11:25AM managed to tell us the bank would close at 11:30AM wouldn't open until monday. We could only proceed, if we would pay 42USD each, to him. No receipts, nothing, but he would then arrange the payment on monday. Only then, our info would be processed 'in the system' to have us legally driving in Honduras.
We do have the import doc, and various stamps in our passports etc.
What we do not have, is any proof of payment, to the guy nor to the bank. The receipt for that 'is not important', but we can pick it up on monday. Yeah right, guess he'll keep us waiting again...

What I wonder:
- Is this payment 'normal' , how much does it normally cost?
- Do I need this 'registration in the system' to be able to leave Honduras without issues?
- Do I need the receipt for the payment at the bank when I leave?

[John Downs]

Copan crossing was pretty mellow when I was there in 2010. Cost was 625 lempiras for me and the bike. About 34 dollars US at the time. It may have gone up since last year. Who knows? It is more expensive than the other Central American countries. I'm so sorry to hear of your troubles. It took me about 15 minutes mostly for riding back to the border to get two copies of everything. But I ride a small bike and look poor, so maybe get fleeced a little less. I don't know really.

It sounds like you got off fairly easy. Although it sounds like the border dude was jerking your chain. Maybe overpaid a tad. Not bad in my book though. I remember that the C-4 countries of Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua and El Salvador had common aduana papers. Checking my passport, I see that Honduras stamped my passport with a honkin square stamp for the bike at aduana with the details of the bike written in. Color-Verde, Placa-License number, tipo-moto, Marca-Kawasaki. That sort of stuff. If you have that stamp in your passport and still have your C-4 bike papers from Guatemala, you are good to go. Your passport stamp gets cancelled at the border when you leave the country. It wouldn't hurt to head back to the border on Monday for a receipt since you're in the area. I probably wouldn't bother. But the border is not far from Copan Ruinas if that is where you are staying tonight.

El Amatillo is way worse border crossing into Honduras. Lots of corruption stories from the busy Pan-Am crossing with the many "helpers". Don't let those border crossings get you down. And stick to the backroads in Honduras where the cops aren't.

Cheers,
John Downs

[dstehouwer]

Thanks for your reaction!

Maybe the guy just put a few of these dollars in his pocket, who knows. He was for sure slowing down the process, and making a lot of mistakes. We have demanded a second bike-entry stamp as the first one contained 3 huge errors. (even the colour!) Hopefully that will be okay; any advice on the easiest crossing out of the country? ;-)

I think we'll drive back monday, only 10km's...

[John Downs]

I assume you are heading south. Getting out of Honduras is easier at Los Manos or El Espino. I posted the info about getting into Nicaragua from Honduras on another post:

http://www.horizonsunlimited.com/hub...icaragua-45361

Some borders are easier than others depending on the phase of the moon and the mood of the day.

Best luck,
John Downs

[Scrabblebiker]

The amount sounds about right. When I crossed in 2010 I paid USD35 for the bike and a bit more for myself ...can't remember exactly how muc. h.

I was not asked for any proof of payment upon exiting into Nicaragua and again at Copan Ruinas but it's probably best to try and get the receipt if you can. I just had to surrender the import document.

The money possibly ended up in his pockets but it doesn't sound like you paid more than you should have.

Enjoy Honduras and make sure you visit the D&D Brewpub by Lago Yojoa.


...Michelle
www.scrabblebiker.com

[BruceP]

Originally Posted by dstehouwer

Today my wife and I crossed into Honduras, from Guatemala @ Copan.
Took us 5 hours, and we paid 42USD each :-S

The officer managed to keep us busy (or mainly waiting) with stupid questions, even discussions about the color of the bikes and other stupid stuff, and then, at 11:25AM managed to tell us the bank would close at 11:30AM wouldn't open until monday. We could only proceed, if we would pay 42USD each, to him. No receipts, nothing, but he would then arrange the payment on monday. Only then, our info would be processed 'in the system' to have us legally driving in Honduras.
We do have the import doc, and various stamps in our passports etc.
What we do not have, is any proof of payment, to the guy nor to the bank. The receipt for that 'is not important', but we can pick it up on monday. Yeah right, guess he'll keep us waiting again...

What I wonder:
- Is this payment 'normal' , how much does it normally cost?
- Do I need this 'registration in the system' to be able to leave Honduras without issues?
- Do I need the receipt for the payment at the bank when I leave?

A1 - No, not to the Aduana. It was 35USD last December. You pay at the bank and when you produce the receipt you get the import docs. IIRC the only stamp in the passport was for ourselves, not the bikes.

A2 - No, you just hand in the paper work.

A3 - No.

Do you actually have the Temporary Import Visa for the bikes ?

[dstehouwer]

yeah, we have:
-Stamps and signatures on our visa's
-Stamp with signature and extra stamp in passport with bike details
-CA9 (if I remember correctly) document, with stamps and everything.

[dstehouwer]

okay, today we went back to the border, to get the receipt.....

clap

Everything was okay, got our dollars back and paid as normal at the bank. (630 Lempiras for each bike)

So the customs-guy was honest, and only added 17 USD to the total costs!
(we now paid the normal price, which was about 67 USD and got our 84 back, and got all copies etc. of the proof-of-payment)

So in the end, it was all okay and honest, he only kept us busy for a few hours to make a few bucks... Which he didn't make now, and that feels pretty good I have to admit!

So for the records:
Bank is open between 8:30 -12:00 and 13:00 and 16:00, and saturdays only until 11:30. Sundays closed.
Total costs:
3 USD for visa stamps each person
630 Lempiras (about 33,50 USD) each bike

[Jordan]

Daan,
Glad everything worked out, we're planning on crossing at the same location on Saturday or Sunday, so thanks for the warning. We'll try and get there early.
Jordan