November 21, 2009
La Union to the Honduras Border and into Esteli, Nicaragua

Well up early in the morning and headed for the Honduras border. Remember that I said that we wanted to cross Honduras in one day. Well the drive was only about 40 Km or 25 miles but then the fun started. We exited El Salvador with no problems just pay the exit fee of $3 each and show the customs papers for the RV and motorcycle.
Next Honduras and we had somehow managed to get a border helper even though I did not want one. These are at every border crossing and want a fee to stand in line and get your paperwork done for you. Well after saying no several times I still had a border assistant.
Well over the bridge and onto the Honduras side for immigration.
Honduras customs wanted not just the vehicle registration which has been fine everywhere else but also pink slips for both. Well guess what the pink slip from the DMV for the motorcycle never arrived before we left from CA, so we do not have it only the bill of sale and the temporary DMV slip.
Big problem but the border assistant said his brother is the mayor of the town and he would take care of this and just be quiet. Also asked about animals and we said no animals and the immigration officer saw Scruffy and we said no animals so he just walked out of the RV.
So we had to go back around and let the customs people look at the RV and the motorcycle again and then we could proceed until they filled out the paper work.
This has now been about 2 hours to this point and we are not thru but hopefully from what the border assistant has told me it is now just a matter of time until they get the forms filled out and the custom fees paid. So we wait patienttttttttttlllllly.
After this it is about 90 miles to drive to the Nicaragua border and I am told that this one is much easier. We shall see.
Well we made it thru that border crossing and into Honduras but not until my great helpers had helped themselves to about $200.00 more of my US dollars than was necessary. Well you live and you learn and at the Honduras-Nicaragua border I was much more observant and in the future I will be even more diligent and not let the scammers get to me again.
The roads in Honduras were better than expected and by that I mean the road surfaces were good. The first 60 miles were even somewhat flat (meaning no real large hills or mountains. Then came the last 25 miles in Honduras where you might say we had the “Rocky Mountain Highs “ because believe me these were reallllly big high mountains that the road seemed to go up forever. And, remember what goes up must come downnnnn the other side.
The border crossing into Nicaragua was really simple compared to the 2 1/2 hours we spent at the Honduran border. In just about 30 minutes we were passed out of Honduras and had our customs documents and passports stamped and we were passed into Nicaragua.
Now we just had to find a place to spend the night.
This is not as easy as it seems to find a secure place to stay as you do not have RV parks here but you need to find a hotel with a secure parking area. Meaning locked and with an armed guard. No towns to speak of but we finally found the town of Esteli. After two or three tries we are now in an enclosed parking area, safe for the night.