World Tour - Europe, Asia, North and South America - Entries for: Honduras
34° | sunny / rainy | km 589
In and out
on 2017-09-23 in Honduras
If one believes the German Department of Foreign Affairs, Honduras is supposedly the second most dangerous country in Central America. Right behind El Salvador. We on the other hand did not really trust their judgment because it had turned out to be quite exaggerated in the past. We had no plan for Honduras on the other hand and so we decided to spend our first night right after crossing the border.
We were pretty used to the weather at this point, at least once a day we were going to get wet. But instead of normal rain it was usually raining buckets. Within seconds we were soaked to our underwear. Our shoes had not been dry for days. To wait for the rain to stop was no real option because it usually rained for quite a while in one spot. The only thing that worked was to ride through it. What made the rain even worse was the fact that as soon as it started the roads turned crazy slippery. Any sudden movement led to a slipping rear wheel or little slide. An evasive maneuver was unthinkable... But after a while we got used to these new miserable conditions, so we pulled up our jackets, closed our eyes and went on.
We had planned to leave Honduras on our second day already but because we did not manage to get as far as we had hoped for we had to spend another night in a small village near the border to El Salvador. As it turned out it was one of the most relaxing nights since we started riding through Central America. We had a small house to ourselves for a good price. We relaxed on the porch in front and enjoyed our stay there very much. Once again we experienced only good things in a country where we were warned about before. The people were forthcoming and friendly and we had never a bad feeling. We will remember Honduras as a friendly country.
The border to Nicaragua on the other hand managed to get a place in our top three of worst border crossings. We had to wait in a huge line. People from the border cut in front and were allowed to skip the line for paying customers... The layout was chaotic to say the least and there was no real concept on where to go to. One of the officials mentioned to us that just before us 6 other bikers from Germany had crossed this border and if we were part of their group. On the Nicaraguan side of the border we ran into this group. At first we had a short superficial conversation with them because our nerves were strained from the long wait at the border. Also we have made the experience that groups like this, especially from Germany can be a little weird to say the least... But the 5 man and one woman made an immediate sympathetic impression on us so be decided to set an unbinding meeting point in our city of destination - León.
We were pretty used to the weather at this point, at least once a day we were going to get wet. But instead of normal rain it was usually raining buckets. Within seconds we were soaked to our underwear. Our shoes had not been dry for days. To wait for the rain to stop was no real option because it usually rained for quite a while in one spot. The only thing that worked was to ride through it. What made the rain even worse was the fact that as soon as it started the roads turned crazy slippery. Any sudden movement led to a slipping rear wheel or little slide. An evasive maneuver was unthinkable... But after a while we got used to these new miserable conditions, so we pulled up our jackets, closed our eyes and went on.
We had planned to leave Honduras on our second day already but because we did not manage to get as far as we had hoped for we had to spend another night in a small village near the border to El Salvador. As it turned out it was one of the most relaxing nights since we started riding through Central America. We had a small house to ourselves for a good price. We relaxed on the porch in front and enjoyed our stay there very much. Once again we experienced only good things in a country where we were warned about before. The people were forthcoming and friendly and we had never a bad feeling. We will remember Honduras as a friendly country.
The border to Nicaragua on the other hand managed to get a place in our top three of worst border crossings. We had to wait in a huge line. People from the border cut in front and were allowed to skip the line for paying customers... The layout was chaotic to say the least and there was no real concept on where to go to. One of the officials mentioned to us that just before us 6 other bikers from Germany had crossed this border and if we were part of their group. On the Nicaraguan side of the border we ran into this group. At first we had a short superficial conversation with them because our nerves were strained from the long wait at the border. Also we have made the experience that groups like this, especially from Germany can be a little weird to say the least... But the 5 man and one woman made an immediate sympathetic impression on us so be decided to set an unbinding meeting point in our city of destination - León.