After our journey to Nicaragua, we decided that rather than returning by the same route we had taken to go to Nicaragua, we would venture into Honduras for a few days (that turned out to be seven days but that is another blog entry).

The border crossing from Nicaragua was a breeze. I have done this some many times now that it is routine. Basically line up to pay your money to leave and then line up again to get into Honduras and you are set. Even at the busiest time it has only taken me 30 minutes tops.

Like the other Central American countries there are police everywhere doing roadside checks. Never really figured out what they are checking for but they ask for vehicle info and driver’s license etc. Honduras is a different situation. They are everywhere. In fact, they even build little buildings for the police to wait in. No standing or sitting in the sun for these guys. They sit in their chairs at the checkpoints and wait for vehicles to come along.

Anyway, in the first 3 hours we had 3 checks. Two where routine and took less than 2 minutes but one (with a rather large building at the side of the road) they pulled us off and wanted everyone out of the vehicle, wanted to see passports etc and then searched the vehicle. When they were satisfied that we weren’t one the most wanted list they let us continue. The next vehicle to come in as we wre leaving was a big highway cruiser bus. I would hate to have been on that bus. It must have taken over an hour for them to check everyone’s ID and then search the bus.

The drive from the border to Tegucigalpa took us about 6 hours and it was dark when we arrived. I hate driving in the dark here as most vehicles don’t have proper (or any) lights and the number of animals (cows, dogs, horses etc) on the road is amazing. I swear that somehow ‘herd of cattle’ and ‘roadblock’ mean the same the same thing. Anyway, the drive that day was long and we arrived to Tegucigalpa in the dark. We stopped for gas and directions to a good hotel and the people working at the gas station couldn’t help us.

We decided that the best plan of action would be to head to the city centre as most cities will have some sort of accomodation available there and all towns in Central America have a central park where business is greared to tourists. Well in the dark we couldn’t find anything and we were all getting tired and patience was getting rather thin.

We saw a police vehicle parked in gas station with the officers standing around so we stopped to ask directions. We must have found the nicest cop in the country or maybe the most bored as he offered to take us to ‘good’ hotel not that far away but he had to get his tire fixed first. OK that sounded good so we waited for the repairs to be complete. He even gave us a choice of two different hotels. one not so good and the better one. Of course we picked the better one.

When his truck was fixed he motioned for us to follow him. Well he hit the lights and siren and guided us thru the downtown core. When we arrived, his partner jumped out of their truck and stopped traffic so we could back into the parking garage. Talk about royal treatment!

We get the truck parked and go into the lobby of this ‘hotel’. Well to give you some idea the cost for three people for the night was $38 US. I would hate to see what the second choice was! The room was on the 2nd floor and the elevator sounded and felt like it really wasn’t going to make it but it did. The room smelt terrible and we had to open the windows to try and get some air into the room. The hotel was next to the local market and the small form the market was better than the smell in the room – just to give you some idea.

That night we decided to find a better hotel for the next night and spend some time exploring this city. Well, the city is a nightmare to drive in. Like most Central American cities there are no street signs and there were loads of one way streets that made getting around very difficult. I think that the city has some very interesting sights and would be worth a day or two just to explore.

The next night was at the Marriott Hotel. Now this is a nice hotel! The room had the standard items plus a free mini bar and wired internet access from the room. When I wanted to work from pool side it was possible via wifi with a code that was provided when I first logged in. Room service was excellent- fast and friendly. I would definitely recommend this hotel to anyone looking for a good night’s sleep and a little pampering.

The next day we were off to the Copan Ruins in the north western part of the country. My next post will be about the journey and the little treasures that we found along the way.