Honduras

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We left the hotel / hostel in San Miguel which was hard to do as it was very chill. We were aiming to cross into Honduras before the day was out and we were unsure how long the crossing would take. 

En route we saw lots of evidence of the start of Holy Week / Semana Santa in the form of creations made from palms.

For most of the way, the road was busy and in terrible condition. We bumped along being passed by a stream of trucks. However, when we got to the final town before the border things changed. The traffic vanished and the road became super smooth. It even had a bike lane.

The process of crossing was easy. We got stamped out of El Salvador, walked across the bridge dividing the two counties and into Honduras. The immigration into Honduras took a little longer but the building was air conditioned so we didn't mind. 

We were once again glad that we were travelling by bike. We are able to ride to the front of all the queuing traffic at border crossings and we don't have to go through any customs that would be necessary for bringing a vehicle into each country.

We were in our seventh country of the trip. It is simply too hot to make the idea of camping enticing so we were looking for a hotel. Option one was the one within 1km of the border. Option two was another 30km away. We took option one even though it was only 14.00. Once in our room we got the A/C going and had a lovely nap.

There are few routes through Honduras. The bit we are riding is a narrow southern segment. There is a huge amount of the country north of us but the landscape means that the only roads head north/south and don't join up. We are sad that we won't get to explore much of the country and that it feels a bit like something to be ridden through in order to get to Nicaragua.

We spent most of our first day in Honduras on the Pan-American highway which meant we were riding on the shoulder. With depressing predictably we picked up lots of bits of metal wire that had shredded off truck tyres. We got enough punctures to test my patience and make me glad we were carrying plenty of spares.

In Mexico, all service stations had toilets but you had to pay to use them. In El Salvador and Honduras they are free. The service stations are also air conditioned. The combination of these means that we often stop in them and get food / drink while we cool down. Not the ideal culinary experience but one that serves a purpose. Perhaps Rachel's expression sums up how we feel about this.

On the other hand, her expression below reveals just how great it was to stop and demolish an entire watermelon between us at a roadside stall!

Second night in Honduras was in Choluteca.

One of the limited number of highlights of the town is the suspension bridge you have to cross to get into town.

We have taken to waking at 5 in order to get riding at 6ish to do some riding before the fiercest heat of the day. As we rode out of town we were treated to the sight of the sun rising over a range of mountains. 

The road was quiet so we stayed off the shoulder as much as possible. Dropping off the road or climbing off the shoulder required negotiating quite a step in the tarmac. I think the long wheelbase of the tandem made it a little easier than it would be on a solo bike. 

About 8km from the border we came upon the line of trucks waiting to cross the border. We stopped to talk to Elder who told us he had arrived in the queue at 16.00 the day before (it was 10.00 while we were chatting to him). He had been on the road for 7 days driving a truck load of Pampers nappies to Nicaragua. He expected to be waiting for at least 36 hours. 

After a border crossing which involved the fumigation of our wheels, a health check, visiting two desks in the immigration office (one for the passport check, the other to get the receipt for our $13 entry fee), and finally an X-ray of (most) of our bike bags we were in Nicaragua. 

Honduras - been there, done that. All within 2 days. 

Finally, we have been seeing signs like this for some time. For info, the most obvious translation is "For sale: 1 apple". We had been wondering why anyone would go to the trouble of creating such an elaborate sign just to sell an apple. Of course there is more to it than that. It turns out manzana also is a unit of area.

Google photos https://photos.app.goo.gl/p8J9ERd7iN2bGiZy9

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