Honduras

Three Countries in One Day!!
The Honduran Border
Up and out the door before the sun was up, we were ready for anything. Before we reached the border the tramadores(supposed helpers) were already hassling us. Knowing that they wouldn’t give up and that it is a confusing border we decided to pick one early on so he could fend off the other vultures. Exiting El Salvador was quick and easy, it was paying off that we got an early start, because there were no lines. Off we went on to the dreaded Honduran side. Here our tramadore went to work, moving quick, stressing out, and getting little done. He kept telling us to relax but he was the one who needed a chill pill. The main office opened at 6:00am but the office dealing with tourist vehicles didn’t open till 8:00am, which left us hanging out with all of the border rats for the next two hours. Karen stood guard over the van while Pete waited patiently at the office door waiting for the grumpy border officials to come to work. We were almost on our way without any problems when our “friend” insisted he needed 15 dollars which he then handed over to a police officer who wasn’t even paying any attention to us, in fact he had his back to us and was reading the paper. Neither of us understood this fee and weren’t happy. Then 20feet up the road four more police officers stopped us and wanted $20 because we didn’t have a list of all our belongings (Pete made Karen throw our list out two days before). Pete had enough by this time and told the officers that he had all the time in the world and started a list on a pad of paper. After a few minutes they waved us through, Karen ripped the paper work out of the tramadore’s hand and gave him a measly $4 tip for his services not so well done. He should have quit while he was ahead.

Honduras
•Police check #1: “Hi, this will be really easy for you two if you give me enough money for a drink”
Bribe $1.00(probably got two drinks out of that, he was happy)
•Police Check #2: “Hi you’ve got a big problem. You don’t have any reflectors. All micro buses need reflectors, why don’t you have any? This ticket will cost you $200.00 at the bank and we’ll keep your licence or you can pay us $40.00 here.”
Bribe $5.00(with a bit of smooth talking)
•Police check #3: “Why are all the police officers asking for money at these check points?” He smiled and we were on our way.
Bribe $0 (Guilt trip: priceless)
•Police checks 4, 5, 6, 7 “Sorry we have no more money and yes we have our safety triangles and a fire extinguisher.” “Thanks have good day.”
Bribe $0 and a smile.

We decided to make a detour and try a smaller border crossing that was up in the mountains. This was great because it was five to ten degrees cooler and the border was very relaxed with no one bothering us. We arrived at noon which meant that it was closed for one hour for lunch. We used this time to unwind and have lunch ourselves. Once it opened we breezed through the border process and were in Nicaragua.