Honduras in one day

We drove through Honduras in one day. We took the Pacific coastal route. We were surrounded by green rolling hills and small villages. There didn't seam to be a middle class in this area. The pore are extremely pore and the rich are considered wealthy. We didn't have time to explore this country but we would have loved to check out the Carribean coast. We have met many other travelers who raved about it.

The police are very corrupt in Honduras. We were stopped five times during our day trip. The first bribe in Honduras took place directly past the border crossing when the officier insisted that there was a toll for that particular road. We couldn't argue through so we paid the small bribe and left without a delay.

Dorian and I got a little tougher throughout the drive. We put on our game face when we got pulled over. Dorian would play the cop's buddy while I basically yelled at both of them in English and Spanish. We had extremely good luck with this routine. The officer usually would back off thinking "Crazy Gringa." They don't usually want to work that hard for their money.

When we made it to the Honduras/Nicaragua border crossing there wasn't a guide to hire, so Dorian and I were on our own. We noticed that the Nicaraguans, "Nicas", speak differently than in the other countries. It was nearly impossible to communicate with the people working at the immigration office. A nice lady physically had to direct us to the correct office. It was confusing since the office was in the garage of the building.

We registered the truck, got our Visa's stamped and had the dog inspected. The people in line were trying to help us although none of them spoke any English. We were beginning to realize how nice the locals are in Nicaragua.