Border Crossings - Central America
Crossing Borders in Latin America
August 2004 - by Vladimir Soto
8.31. Tuesday, Honduras. Corinto.
Much to my disappointment, all the research done on border crossing seems to be quite accurate when it comes to Honduras. Up to now all borders had been quick and quite pleasant affairs.
I'm writing this sitting down at a crappy 'comedor' (food shack) waiting to have some food and kill some time while 'the' customs agent finishes his lunch. When that'll be no one knows. Hopefully the sticky, odorous heat will do as much for his appetite as it's done for mine. Good thing tables don't require reservations around corinto.
To get into Mexico we crossed in tecate to be welcomed by cheerful agents smiling waving us to keep going & to have fun while riding safe. It wasn't until we were all the way down on southern Baja that we had to stop for 15 minutes to process the necessary papers for the bikes. The customs office lies exactly at the border between northern and southern Baja, California.
We left Mexico via Chetumal and before leaving the Mexican side I had to 'arrange' for pepe to get an exit stamp since he had overstayed the allotted 60 days. The deal was quick and at $25USD not too troublesome. Pleasantries and smiles were exchanged along with the pesos and permits.
Going into Belize we realized there are actually two steps to trying to enter a country with the bikes, and so far it seems Central American immigration posts don't feel it's necessary to clarify or facilitate the order of the needed steps. One, gotta get yourself checked in and get your passport stamped; Two, gotta get your bike checked in, passport stamped with bike details so you won't try to leave the country without it, and place a temporary vehicle import sticker on the bike's windshield. In Belize, a couple of agents played a nice volley with me sending me from side to side insisting I had to do the other procedure first. However, they were pleasant and even apologetic for the confusion.
Guatemala was a breeze both in and out, spending around 8UDS total. Trying to exit Guatemala through Puerto barrios took about 45 minutes while the agent radioed the office at our point of entry since the connection wasn't very clear, but he was again quite pleasant and his son was delighted to have his photo taken on top of my bike.
That again brings us to Corinto, Honduras where my wallet now feels as it's gone on an ultra rapid south beach diet, reaching half its usual travel weight and being the skinniest since it started crossing borders with me. 2USD to enter, 35USD for the bike and since the customs agents don't have the benefit of a typewriter in-house, I had to pay a customs broker to fill out the needed from and take two photocopies for another 15USD. Alas 50USD and three and a half hours later, I was clear, legal and on my way to Tegucigalpa to see dear friends.
From the Corinto border, on the north I made my way further up, to Omoa and then started coming down towards San Pedro Sula finally getting to the Yojoa lake district around 6:30pm, which was time to call it quits, get a motel and some rest before heading out towards the capital the morning after. Yojoa is a gorgeous lake. Definitely worth a visit. All along there seem to be little resorts and places to stay of varying degrees of luxury, from little haciendas to tiny cabanas.
9.01 Wednesday
Got into Tegus today, Wednesday. The ride was very, very nice, although be very careful when you ride in the country. Yesterday, I had the closest call I've had in my life. Honduras counts with gorgeous mountain landscapes and terrible drivers which make a lethal combination for motorcycle riders. As I was cruising through a curve, all of the sudden and out of nowhere I see a truck heading into me, in my lane! The bastard was taking over another car right smack in the middle of a curve. Dumbstruck is an understatement for my reaction. I felt my mouth open wide, my eyes wider and just stared at the truck, incapable of letting go of the throttle. As my mind began to wonder what kind of noise the impact of my helmet would make against the truck's front. The bastard veered hard to his left and I swooshed past the back of the truck only two feet away. I actually had to stop the bike and get off to let the knees stop shaking and let the brave bladder, which didn't let go while we were still on the bike's seat, have a bit of relief...
Costs traveling into (without Carnet de Passage or Libreta)
August 2000 - by Erwin Thoma
Erwin travelled from March to August 2000 with a BMW R1100GS through Central America (from Mexico to Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Panama and than to Columbia) without a Carnet de Passage. The bike was registered in Germany and he is a German citizen
Guatemala
2.60 US$ at the immigration
4.40 US$ at the custom
Sometimes you have to pay 2.2 US$ for disinfecting of the bike.
Honduras
21 US$ at the custom (they charged me 11US$ extra for a form. I asked for a receipt and just got an arrogant smile as an answer. Finally the officer told me, that if I will not pay, I would not be allowed to pass the border - I paid) Leaving the country was 2 US$.
Nicaragua
Road tax of 7 US$
Leaving the country was 2 US$, plus a regional fee of 1 US$.
Costa Rica
10 US$ road tax for 1 month, 20 US$ for 2 months.
Panama
1 US$ at the immigration.
4 US$ at the customs.
Central America border crossings (with 4x4's)
Easter 2000 - by Steve
"All border crossings were absolutely terrible. The offices are hot (as hot as 100 degrees), dirty, inefficient, packed with people and corrupt. In relative terms, the crossings in El Salvador and Guatemala are efficient compared to those in Honduras, Nicaragua and Costa Rica. The basic ritual was similar at each crossing: fill out a standardized entry/exit form and fill out documents for your vehicle. Non-Central Americans (I and 2 of my sons were travelling with US passports) may have to fill out additional paperwork and pay additional "taxes".
Honduras
Our first crossing was at Amatillo between El Salvador and Honduras last Saturday. The road to Amatillo is bumpy but paved all the way from San Salvador & ok for dual sport bikes with long travel suspensions. The Salvadoran immigration offices worked reasonably well (about 20 minutes).
The Honduran side was one of the worst during the trip. There were about 200 people standing in line in the morning sun waiting to present their passports. It would have taken us about 5 hours to stand in that line. The facilities were decrepit, filthy & dusty.
Upon seeing our relatively new 4x4's, several "helpers" immediately jumped toward us to facilitate our passage. After sizing up the line, we selected the most official looking helper who had a border ID. These guys work directly with the immigration officers and also "reserve" advanced spots in the line that stretched the equivalent of a few blocks. All claim to have good connections but not all actually do so you need to make a quick pick based on a few questions-- if the helper doesn't convince you shortly thereafter it's time to pick another one. At this first crossing we initially made a poor pick (a duo from El Salvador that didn't have connections on the Honduran side) and immediately switched to another who did a good job of shepherding our documents. Even so, the process took about 1.5 hours to clear our passports and the vehicle papers under a scorching sun.
At this crossing we were introduced to another border business--photocopies. Interestingly enough, the borders that require photocopies only have one place that offers them. The charge wasn't excessive, but you have to wonder how the photocopy profits are divvied up. For 12 persons travelling in 3 vehicles, we wound up paying around $60 for official and non-official charges. The officials charges were slightly less than half that total, but wasting another 4 hours in line with the kids in the sun was not an option.
One final lesson learned at this crossing-- many of these borders close at noon-- and not necessarily all the offices close at the same time. You also need to be mindful of the closing hour for the borders. Amatillo closes at 5pm. Others closed as late as 10pm.
In Honduras we rushed to the Guasaule border with Nicaragua (about 130kms). We arrived at noon. There were much less people there than Amatillo. The Honduran side was uneventful-- the crossing took around 1 hour and 15 minutes.
Nicaragua
On the Nicaraguan side, the facilities were better, but the processing was less efficient. There was practically no one entering Nicaragua with us.
At this crossing you're required to stop at a small booth with immigration officers to fill out your personal and vehicle forms. All crossings require you to fill out a standard immigration form which you must request from one of the immigration officers who receives and processes the filled out forms.
This means every person that arrives needs to interrupt the line, wait for the officer to recognize him and to provide him with the number of forms he may need. We got our forms, filled them out & handed them in. No go--the non central Americans in the group needed to go to the main building and pay $7 per passport. Furthermore, we couldn't clear the cars until the passports cleared. At this point we sought out a "helper". It also turned out that photocopies were required too. All in all this took about 1 hour and 15 minutes. This crossing has several duty free shops that are air conditioned-- probably the best place to wait for others if you're finished or for your travel companions to hang out while you do the paperwork. The highlight of the stop was when an immigration officer ceremoniously announced we'd have to take our vehicle papers to the department of transit after she finished handling them. When we asked where that might be, she simply pointed the officer standing next to her!
...After a couple of nights in Montelimar we headed for the border with Costa Rica at Penas Blancas. The Nicaraguan facilities were the most modern of the entire trip-- they seemed brand new. Here we were required to get photocopies after standing in line for some time. The photocopy place was about 100 yards away-- not usually much but temps around 100 degrees lend a new dimension to the 200 yard round trip trot. After getting the copies we returned to a wooden annex to the new facilities in which an officer typed up, in triplicate with carbon paper, a document for each vehicle. With this document you're then instructed to find the inspector who is supposed to take a look at your vehicle (he doesn't). The only problem is that you have no way of identifying the inspector so here again a "helper" comes in handy to track the inspector down. After getting the inspector's signature, we headed back into the wooden annex where we interrupted a young officer who was reading the day's news who subsequently informed us we needed another copy (another 200 yard trot in 102 degree weather). After providing the copy that was it-- off to the Costa Rican side after another 1.5 hours of questionable bureaucracy.
Costa Rica
The Costa Rican stop was probably the greatest shock of the trip in terms of border crossings. Costa Rica has built a solid reputation in terms of promoting tourism, being democratically advanced and having some of the best institutions in this part of the world. The border crossing, however, was the worst, on par with the Honduran crossing at Amatillo. The facilities were abysmal, and to boot there was no electricity. Fortunately we'd contracted a "helper" with a bicycle. He reviewed our documents and indicated we'd need several copies. Here I ran into the Japanese traveler I mentioned (luckily for him), and we sent off the helper with our documents (and his) back to the Nicaraguan side to get photocopied (since there was no local electricity)-- about a 2 km trek. We could not have taken the papers ourselves in our vehicles because we'd already cleared immigration on the Nicaraguan side-- we were literally stuck. It also happened to be lunch time, so the officers weren't processing anything until 12:30 PM, and the place filled up with everyone who filed in (and had little hope of getting photocopies made).
By the time 12:30 P.M. came 'round, we had our copies in hand and within 30 minutes we made it to the window at the front of the line with our Japanese acquaintance. The Japanese biker was right in front of me-- he handed over his papers and they were all in Kanji!! The look on the immigration officer's face was priceless when she saw the page filled with Japanese characters. After her initial puzzlement, she informed him in Spanish (he spoke none) that she'd need to input his info into the computer & there was no electricity so he couldn't. I intervened & at least got her to agree to take care of the rider once the power got back & by the time we were finished it did return. My intervention did not please the officer though, who seemed content to speak in Spanish to someone she knew didn't understand a word she said. When my turn came round she happily informed me she needed one more photocopy of my passport because I was a resident of El Salvador (seemed like a bogus request as any US citizen can enter Costa Rica) -- this meant sending the cyclist back to Nicaragua. As I left the line to seek our helper I reviewed the copies & found that by chance the residence permit was stamped in a page that had been copied & she neglected to recognize-- I was barely able to avoid what would have been another 45 minute delay.
After asking around it seems the Costa Ricans have intentionally let these border facilities deteriorate along with the service they offer. Costa Rica is being flooded with immigrants from Nicaragua and from some countries further north such as Guatemala and El Salvador and a complicated and unfriendly border crossing is deemed to be appropriate to discourage this flow. Costa Rican paranoia regarding the rising immigration is evident in the kilometers immediately after the border where there are several checkpoints that require passports and vehicle papers.
In terms of insurance, the only country south of Mexico (in Central America) requiring it is Costa Rica, regardless of where your bike is registered.
At the Costa Rican border I happened to run into a Japanese world biker. He was travelling with a Japanese license plate & was not asked for any insurance in Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador nor Belize. In Costa Rica, however, you must purchase insurance at the border. It was $20 for 30 days, and his bike paid the same as my 4x4. My 4x4 has insurance valid throughout Central America, but it seems that Costa Rica gets additional revenues from travelers by charging for this insurance. He also mentioned that he only purchased 30 days' insurance for Mexico & wound up staying far longer yet no one asked him for his insurance there & he had no problems exiting with expired insurance.
A final note regarding these crossings-- aside from the Costa Rican checkpoints outside the border, no one checked our passports in terms of having cleared immigration-- we were only asked for vehicle papers at each crossing's exit. We could have been transporting 10 people just as easily as 6.
On the return trip today the number of people we found at each border crossing varied from the first time around, but the procedures were the same. We found the longest line entering Honduras (about 2 blocks), but managed to find a well connected helper who got our passports stamped in about 15 minutes. We also set our record for a border crossing-- we spent 50 minutes to clear the Honduran/Salvadoran border right before lunch time (we were the last to get through)-- a crossing that had taken over twice that going south.
In short--travelling south of here requires patience, being prepared for the heat (maybe a Camelback) and being wide awake at the immigration offices to clear as quickly as possible.
Regards, Steve"
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