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We left our
beach paradise in El Salvador early on Sunday.
We figured Sunday would be a good day to cross the border, especially
early before the holiday vacationers were up (Friday was Mother’s day). We had
heard that Honduras could be tricky, that the border was a mess and that once
across it we would be playing stop and pay with the police. The border was actually straight forward, it
was long and there was a lot of back and forth between buildings (and a 2
kilometer stretch of no man’s land) but it was quicker than Guatemala and
Mexico. .jpg)
We went
through 3 police road blocks, where we signaled over and asked for our
papers. I am not sure if it is our age,
our truck or the fact that I use these police check points to make sure that we
are going the right way, which completely confuses the policeman as now he has
to think, look at my map and confirm my directions, but we didn’t have to show
our triangles (which we bought in El Salvador) or our fire extinguishers, and
Fritz was really upset that I told him to wear shoes. Every police officer we
met was friendly and helpful and not one bribe or fine asked for!.jpg)
The
Nicaraguan border was longer and more complicated mostly because of the dogs
which meant another office to visit and more fees to pay but after 3 hours we
were done and on our way. Finding hotel
however proved more difficult. The plan
was to drive to Esteli, but after 9 hours in the car (ok 4 hours driving and 5
at borders) I was done, get me a beer and a pool and preferably some air
conditioning. The first 4 hotels we
stopped at said no to the dogs or were full, but the 5th hotel was
blissfully empty, would take the doggies and had a pool, wifi and AIR! Score!
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At the crack
of 8 we were on our way to Esteli, a quick 2 hour drive on good roads and 1
hour on 8 miles of bad road. The
Sustainable Tourism Hotel was great, we played with the cows, went for a hike
and swam (ok waded) in the waterfall pool.
All and all a great stop that I would recommend to anyone in
Nicaragua. After cooling off in the
mountains it was off to Granada…
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Hi Patricia!
ReplyDeleteI just tried to comment but am not sure if it went through or not. My apologies if this is a duplicate. My husband and I are driving from Guatemala to Honduras with our two dogs on Saturday and were wondering what paperwork you needed or thought you need or had prepared to take your pups into Honduras. Do you mind sharing? I was excited to see other overlanders traveling with two dogs and would love to pick your brain. We're curious about the paperwork (as the dogs are really the only part of the borders that stress us) and also about your plans for crossing the Darien.
Thanks in advance if you have time to respond!
Brianna
brianna@vangabonds.com
Hi Brianna,
ReplyDeleteI emailed you as well. The Honduras border was not a problem with the dogs, just another office to visit and another copy of their shots record. I am fairly stressed about the Darien, we are going to fly (we brought the crates from home), but I still don't know how that will look for us (and them), but I am sure it will be better than 4 days on a boat!
Let us know if you have anyother questions.
Trisha