New Regs for Central American Travel
This was all the buzz with the expats in Antigua. It seems that Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, and El salvador have got together on tourist visas. Starting June 1, 2006, when you enter one of these countries, you get a 90 day visa that is good for a combined 90 days in the four countries. For instance, I just left GT for Honduras. I did not get a fresh 90 days for honduras, I am legal for 90 days minus what I already spent in GT. Guatemala stamped me out in my passport, but Honduras would not stamp me in, even though I asked repeatedly. They said there is no border control between the four countries, GT just stamped me out because I got stamped in from Mexico, a non agreement country. Of course, my Spanish sucks, so this is my fuzzy interpretation of what I was told at the border. So now I am in Honduras with no entry stamp in my passport. We´ll see if it is a problem when I exit to Nicaragua in a few days. I did have to cancel my GT bike permit and get a new one for Honduras. Confused? I am.
Also, if you have a ATM card with a 6 digit PIN, it won´t work in many ATM´s in Guatemala and Honduras, they only accept 4 digit pins. I forget the brand, but the red machines will take 6 digit PIN´s, the blue and yellow ones will not.
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