73. Border crossing from Nicaragua to El Salvador

Border crossing between Nicaragua and El Salvador

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- Once is not usual, I chose to tell in this article how to cross Honduras to go from the north of Nicaragua to the Somoto canyon in El Salvador. The blogs on this topic are rare and that is a good opportunity for me to share how to cross successfully the borders. Even if these borders are often nightmares of waiting, administrative formalities, scams... In short, let's cross this article together!
- Caption:
- In blue, the points of departure and arrival.
- In red, the stage cities.
- In brown, the police or border controls.
Departure at dawn

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- The waiting time at the borders often depends on the arrival time. It is better to be foreseeing and to leave early, because it is not one but two borders which awaited me that day! Around seven o'clock, I left the family house Casa Ricardo at the foot of the Somoto canyon to join the road to El Espino, the border town.
- 7h12: The bus arrived and for ten córdobas (twenty-five euro cents), it took me to El Espino in less than ten minutes.
Exit from Nicaragua

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- 7h22: A border guard asked me for my passport. Damn! I forgot to put my passport in an accessible pocket. Five minutes later, everything went through without a hitch: no need to worry. Goodbye dear Daniel Ortega, the president of Nicaragua, whose propaganda posters to celebrate his victory were everywhere.
Exit fees from Nicaragua

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- 7h35: Two dollars were needed to leave the country. I only had ten and twenty dollar bills. No solutions behind the counter, I didn't really want to lose my place in the queue to exchange change. So I showed my hundred and fifty córdobas bills. They asked me for seventy. I insisted on leaving them the hundred bill: to hell with the thirty córdobas that are worth less than one euro. I exchanged the fifty córdobas bill for thirty-five lempiras (the currency of Honduras), instead of thirty-eight: it's still honest.
- I advanced towards Honduras. A last check to validate that everything was in order and I left Nicaragua without an exit stamp. Normally I should get it back in Honduras, I was not too worried.
Honduras side

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- 7h44: I found myself in front of two lines to enter Honduras. In theory: one line for the arrivals, another for the departures. In reality: two lines for everybody, the border guard managed to determine who entered and who left.
- A quiquivied tyrant looked at us and wonders why there was a crowd of humans from here
- Twenty minutes later, the border guard grumbled "where are you going?" in Spanish. To Honduras, to El Salvador, what answer did he expect? I answered that I wam going to San Miguel, El Salvador, he will understand...
- He flipped through the pages of my passport. There were not many places left. Then he looked at me and asked me for the yellow fever vaccine. Wow! I didn't expect it, even though I had read on the France diplomacy website that we could be asked for it. I took out of the bottom of the bag my vaccination booklet from the Pasteur Institute (most of it was written in French) and handed it to him at the right page, crossing my fingers. He asked me for three more dollars and the prints of eight fingers, and finally stamped my passport: I received an entry visa but no exit visa from Nicaragua and I had only three days to cross the country.
On the way to Choluteca

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- 8h15: I noticed a family going to San Miguel, the big city of El Salvador located at fifty kilometers from the border. Perfect! I approached and informed them that we were going in the same direction. With a sorry look, they answered me that they were going by car. Too bad!
- I still found a minibus to San Marcos. It was already that of taken! We waited ten minutes, just to have four passengers on each bench of three, and here we go! Price: seventeen lempiras or sixty cents of euros.
- I didn't take out my cell phone in the bus. The hearsay did not reassure me on the safety of the country. And yet, the tourists I met never had any worries. So I contemplate the mountain landscapes.
- 8h40: As soon as I arrived in San Marcos, I embarked for Choluteca. The chicken bus was empty: only about fifteen people inside at the beginning. We were happy about small things sometimes... Thirty lempiras were asked to me, that was one euro.
- 9h13: the bus took back gasoline. Small break of three minutes. I examined the prices at the pump: diesel 0,69€/L, gasoline 0,84€/L. It was better not to compare with the prices in Europe. The green valleys were very nice and I immortalized as I can these moments, as everyone around me had his smartphone in my hand. I saw bling bling watches, an iPhone,... These were small details but it was reassuring.
Bus from Choluteca to the Amatillo border

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- 10h15: I didn't hang around and get into the chicken bus for Amatillo for a price of fifty-four lempiras (less than two euros).
- 10h25: We were still in the city. Why this bus turned all the directions in the heart of this city, which sucked a little?
- It was good: we were out! Among the elements of landscape, I discovered with pleasure windmills and solar panels. Moreover, the bus was comfortable.
- 10h55: Police control: the bus stopped on a kind of rest area of national road. A policeman entered the bus and asked me for my passport (only me, a choice not at all motivated by my skin color...) Everything was in order. Here we go again!
- The road was under construction: and it was still five minutes lost.
- 11h15: The bus took a break to let the street vendors do their business and get off.
- 11h25: We finally left. After the beggar who told the misadventures of his daughter, we had the children's picture seller, who harangued the passengers on the benefits of medicines for the stomach - find the report. The latter was interrupted by a clown, but he kindly asked him to leave.
- 11h55: An umpteenth stop. The road comprised not tarred portions, it was there that we appreciated fully the comfort of the bus. We advanced a little in Nacaome.
- 12h15: The inevitable five minutes gasoline broken.
- 12h50: We arrived finally! Two and a half interminable hours that were starting to worry me: will I arrive before nightfall at my Couchsurfing host's place, which was still a trot away from the border?
Exit from Honduras with Eddi

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- Two steps from the border, a passenger started talking to me. He told me that he was Nicaraguan and that he crossed the border in El Espino with me. I remained vigilant and gave him bits of information. I learnt that his name was Eddi and that he was a seasonal worker in the farms of El Salvador. It was a good opportunity for him to receive a Salvadoran salary, more important, during two or three months, before returning to the country. Little by little, I began to trust him.
The natural border

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- I exchanged my lempiras for dollars before lining up at immigration. I had to give back the four fingers of my right hand and bingo: a new stamp was added to the passport.
- 13h20: We crossed the border bridge between the countries.
Entry to El Salvador

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- 13h30: A new wait in the middle of the heat for the entry visa to add to this long day.
- 13h45: I passed the immigration easily by joking a little with the border guard of El Salvador. Cool! On the other hand, it was impossible to get an entry stamp for El Salvador at the land borders. Too bad, I would have liked a new stamp on my passport, not yet completely filled.
The hammocks of El Salvador

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- 13h50: Objective reached! The borders were behind me and I waited with Eddi for the bus to San Miguel (two dollars). The buses were punctual in El Salvador, so they could leave without being full. However, this bus was less comfortable than the previous one. A hammock seller arrived with his incredible stock of multicolored plastic hammocks from Honduras. The picture was too nice!
- We left ten minutes later. I noticed that there were a lot of seasonal Nicas in the same case as Eddi. The heat became suffocating, the driver turned up the sound of the Latin songs which followed one another. Always the same on the whole continent, two words come back in each song: "Corazón", heart and "Amor", love. What a romanticism! Or what a lack of singularity!
- Three minutes after the departure, we already stopped: again a control by a customs officer, who, this time, made the moral to a Nicaragayan crossed the border with his family, before letting him continue. Surprising!
- At each stop in town, I could see policemen with their weapons in plain sight. Wow. It reminded me of Chile...
- Will I make it in time for the last 16-hour bus to El Cuco?
- 14h32: The stop to get gas in Santa Rosa. The advantage was that this bus continues to San Miguel for a second dollar (one euro sixty).
- 15h40: Arrival in the terminal of San Miguel. I got informed that the bus left at 4:30 pm. The time passed... 4:00 pm, 4:30 pm,... We were five to wait patiently.
- 16h40: We were told that the bus will arrive at 17:30. One hour later, we really wondered.
- 17h50: It was dead! There was no hope anymore. We looked for alternatives. I thought of the nearest hotel, since the night falled and I did not want to test the night meetings of El Salvador.
A plan ready to fall into the water?

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- 17h53: Oh a bus! And it was ours! Phew! But how was I going to find Mauricio, my host in Chirilagua, a city I didn't know, in the middle of the night, and especially when my GPS didn't really spot me around Chirilagua. A Salvadorian lent me his phone: it was very nice!
- On my seat, a plastic water bottle. The opportunity for me to tell you that in Central America, it was a good alternative to the water bottle, using less plastic. After having pierced a corner, you just had to suck it up to drink the content. On the other hand, it remained less practical to close.
- On the road, we crossed many vehicles on the way back from the beach. I understood better the delay of the bus. The journey lasted one hour for one dollar.
- 18h50: The people of El Cuco went out whereas it is the terminal. My GPS did not locate me anymore. I was with a woman and the driver and I did not understand everything they said.
- 18h55: The driver dropped us off and I was told to follow her. Her name was Pali and she went in one direction. I had no choice but to follow her... She told me that she knowed Mauricio, my Couchsurfer, found on the internet, who will host me tonight. They worked for the town hall together. She called him and told me to wait for him at the church.
Finally!

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- Mauricio arrived and voila! 19h00: that made twelve hours of journey. He offered me the only dinner, still possible at this hour, in the city (chicken sandwich), invited me to settle in the town hall. He offered me water, wifi and we started to discuss.
- Later, he showed me the youth center where I would sleep, in my hammock. A center with a bathroom without water... where the water of a not maintained swimming pool was used for the flushing. There were hooks to hang my hammock. It was a safe place, it was the minimum I needed!
- What a day!

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