We were up early to get started on yet another border crossing.
Lots of women carrying there loads on there heads. Never see Men doing this? Have seem many men hauling wood and other heavy loads with a strap around there forehead.
And as we head off….. Animals in the road.
All along Central America are Volcanos jutting up around you. El Salvador is no exception
El Amatillo Border crossing into Honduras. Had read ride reports and knew what to expect. It is a circus of insanity as you start rolling up to the border with “Helpers” runinng and waying for you to stop and they will help you. Actually we stopped for gas jsut at the junction before the border and “William” came running….. He would help with crossing just $5.00 he would meet us there. I said “No Gracias” he was pushy…. but finally got the message. Then a ton of trucks all lined up. We rode right through the trucks and thanks to Lars and Harriettes posts knew to lokk for the first custom building.
Then a few more showed up, waving etc. This guy Rene….stuck with us and really was helpful in telling us what was next. …. I said No Gracias. We would be OK without.
Got the initial El Salvador Paperwork done, but we needed Copies, then back to have them Signed off. Rene…. was helping all along but really nice…. Then we geared up and he ran ahead to a Tuk Tuk to get the 3 KM to the border….
He was clearing a path for us to get by.
Sherri and I were looking at each other and laughing about all the help…..
We get stamped out of El Salvador which was fairly easy. Other than all the money changers, and people wanting to watch our bikes, that we had pulled right up near the counter per Rene’s Advice.
Ok. Now we are over the river on the Honduras side. Rene now has Osmin his Honduras helper with him and one other guy. they direct us to park, and we are just ……. So he walks in with me to the Aduana Office to meet Idas, and start filling out the Bike customs stuff. It is $35 USD for each bike. Idus is great. She asks if I speak spanish as I am doing the paperwork while Sherri watches the bikes (she did yesterdays paperwork). I say Un Pocito…. She say “por Que?” and I tell her in spanish I am learning Spanish slowly as I am old. She laughs…
Here is the friendly Idas!! She was great!! the other guy is doing Sherri’s paperwork, and it is around lunch time. Osmin now is in charge of helping us. We had not agreed to having him help either but he was helpful.
Took all my copies and filled out paperwork to the Passport Customs window with Osmin at my side. Paid 3 dollars each (but Osmin had already collected $3 from Sherri which i did not know). watched the guy put a wad of cash in his pocket but we did get a receipt…..not sure if that is his commission or? Get that stamped right away.
Then Osmin says, look you need copies of the passports (with the stamped pages), licenses, passports etc. $2 and I will do it all. Ok i walk with him.
Then he says we can have lunch in the air conditioned Pollo place while he finishes all the paperwork and gets us out of here before everyone takes lunch. Sherri is over heated as it is 90+ degrees. We move the bikes to right in front of the chicken place, and order lunch and watching our bikes.
Osmin comes back. Says All paperwork is done. Let’s go get you out of here. Osmin, Rene and one other guy were in the Tuk Tuk….
Heading out of the border.
Here is Rene and Osmin with Sherri.
we ended up giving them 10 bucks each….. They spent the whole 2 hour crossing with us….. They said they had to pay the police for not checking our bikes and etc. We felt good about what they had done. We certainly could have done it on our own, but it took less time in the heat of the day and got us riding into Honduras earlier. Everybody has to decide what they want to do as I have not paid any other money for the other crossing helpers other than $1 in Belize when the guys watched my bike.
As I was told, Honduras has some really big potholes….. some were almost a foot deep….. had to really pay attention. And the trucks swerve to avoid then and end of in your lane all the time.
Then there is the sugar cane stocks in the road
Just a few police checkpoints but they never stopped us…..
Got to Choluteca, Honduras and were looking for a hotel. This nice traffic Cop, was really helpful and got us on the right track. The hotel he suggested was $60+ USD. so we used Lonely Planet and found one in town for $38 USD for a double. But we needed to rest after the hot border crossing.
We eat at a local place. The woman was really kind. Food was great! Just a couple Dollars.
and to end a little Christmas funny video……