Central America overland: San Pedro Sula to Managua
Dec 11, 2008, 7:12 pm
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Mar 2001
Location: Austin, TX -- AA Life Platinum; QF Life Silver; UA Silver
Posts: 5,462
Central America overland: San Pedro Sula to Managua
Dec 5, 2008
Flight: San Antonio (SAT) to Houston (IAH), Continental, First
Flight: Houston (IAH) to San Pedro Sula, Honduras (SAP), Continental, First
Hotel: Hotel Teraza, San Pedro Sula, Honduras, $25
My friend S. was spending three weeks traveling through Central America, Guatemala to Costa Rica. When I found out I could get a few extra days off work I decided to join him for part of the trip, first flying into San Pedro Sula and meeting up in Copan Ruinas. We would then travel overland via El Salvador and back through Honduras to Nicaragua, where I would fly out of Managua 6 days later. This was a quickly planned trip, I literally booked the award tickets two days before I left.. wasnt able to get tickets out of Austin so had to settle for San Antonio.
I left work today about 2PM for the (hopefully) quick drive down to San Antonio to catch my flight to San Pedro Sula. Traffic in downtown Austin is always bad no matter the time of day, especially bad on Fridays but was able to make it through in short time. Only took a little over an hour to get to northern SA. I planned to park at my other travel buddy´s house, he could give me a lift to the airport.
Construction in and around the airport in SA is neverending it seems. We arrived and had to do a bitof a walk to get to the terminal as the normal dropoff point was torn up. There was no line at security, a nice change from when I flew out of San Antonio last May. I still had over an hour to wait for the flight, so grabbed a snack to wait.
The flight to Houston was a short 40 minutes. After arriving there I still had an hour wait before the flight to San Pedro departed. I was able to get into the Presidents Club in Terminal E as I had a first class award ticket, very nice but they don´t have their own internet terminals, they assume everyone has one. Huge TV room and bar area. I filled my Nalgene bottle with water from the bar here as I would be needing it in the coming days. The flight to San Pedro was only a little over 2 hrs.
I was one of the first ones off the plane, and immigration was easy. I only had my carryon so no waiting for luggage. A huge crowd outside was waiting even for so late at night, I wormed my way through to the waiting taxi stand. They said $15 into town which seemed a little pricy. There was a bank at the airport where I was able to get out some Lempiras, the local currency.
The drive into town was about 15 minutes, past all the American icons, Pizza Hut, TGIFridays, etc. The center of town was pretty dead and it was drizzling. I went to the Hotel Teraza, $25/night. A long slog up to the 4th floor to my room. It was basic, a small bed and shower but had a fan and TV. It was already 11 PM and I planned to catch an early bus the next morning to Copan Ruinas, so hit the sack. There was a noise like a generator firing up sporadically that kept me awake for awhile but was finally able to get to sleep.
Dec 6, 2008
Bus: San Pedro Sula to Copan Ruinas, 3hr, $5.82
Hotel: Hotel San Juan, Copan Ruinas, Honduras, $15
I woke up early this morning and caught a cab to the bus station in San Pedro Sula arriving at 6:45. Found out though the bus wasn´t departing until 8AM. The ticket counter wasn´t even open yet so spent awhile wandering around the bus station. It´s quite a large place and pretty new, it only opened earlier in 2008 I believe. Finally the ticket counter opened, 110L to Copan Ruins. I grabbed a bean quesadilla for breakfast then boarded the bus. It departed on time at 8AM but promptly parked and we sat until 8:30. Finally we got underway.
The bus was nice, but I had little legroom, I have long legs and always have problems with legroom on buses and planes. The landscape was very lush green, and very humid out. The ride seemed to take forever just getting to La Entrada, the turnoff to Copan Ruins, yet from there it was still another 1.5hrs to Copan. Arrived just before noon, and had a hotel tout attach himself to me. S. and I had a few hotels we planned to meet at, but ended up running into him on the street! He had just arrived too from Antigua, so that was excellent timing. The original hotel was full, so we ended up at another just down the block. Copan Ruins is a colonial style town, but restored well with lots of hotels and restaurants for the tourists that come here.
We wandered down into town, grabbed some lunch and stopped by an ATM so S. could get some Honduran money, then we walked the 1 mile or so east to the ruins. Copan is one of the great Mayan cities like Chitzen Itza and Tikal. I have visited Chitzen Itza and Tulum in Mexico previously. Entry was a bit steep, $15, then they wanted another $7 for the museum and $15 to enter some tunnels under the ruins.
The walk through the ruins is through jungle, passing a group of bright colored macaws. There are mounds to the left and right that hold still-unexcavated pyramids. The trail opened up into a huge courtyard, with stelae all around. There is a good sized pyramid in the middle and a ball court over to the right. Copan is known for its heiroglyphics, which are everywhere, on the stelae and on a huge staircase which is protected by a tent. .
We decided to not visit the tunnels or the sculpture museud, instead spending a few hrs wandering around the ruins before heading back into town. We ate dinner at Twisted Tanya which has a Backpacker special, 2-1 cocktails (HUGE) and bread, spaghetti and dessert for like $6.. good deal. We didn´t do much tonight as we planned to get up early to catch the 7AM bus to La Entrada, then two more bus changes to reach the town of Gracias.
Dec 7, 2008
Bus: Copan Ruins to La Entrada, Honduras; 1.5hr $2.90
Bus: La Entrada to Santa Rosa de Copan, 1hr ???
Bus: Santa Rosa de Copan to Gracias, 1.5hr ???
Hotel: Posada de Don Juan, Gracias, Honduras, $35
An early start this morning at 6AM to catch the 7AM bus. No time for breakfast today either, seems to be a trend with too many early morning starts. But I had brought along a supply of Cliff Bars to hold me over for the bus rides. The bus left pretty much on time for the 1.5hr ride back to the junction at La Entrada. When we arrived there we lucked out as a minibus was ready to depart to Santa Rosa de Copan, the next town where we would change buses to Gracias.
The driver was a speed demon, zooming ahead with a boy hanging out the side door announcing the destination. We kept packing in more people, at least 20 by my count before we reached Santa Rosa in a light drizzle. There was a bus waiting to go to Gracias at 9:20 but it looked very overcrowded and we hadn´t eaten yet. Found out the next one was in an hour so we had time to find a comedor and grab some chicken and rice. We wanted to go into town but decided against it due to the drizzle and we were lugging our packs around.
The next bus left at 10:15, much less crowded. Vendors come on the buses just before it departs, selling drinks, food, gum, etc. I´d hoped for a chicken bus, but alas, no chickens were to be seen. However, we did get a preacher raving away in Spanish for an hour standing next to us. The drive to Gracias was gorgeous, the landscape changed as we drove through pine forests. The drive was about an hour and a half, we arrived just before noon. We wandered about a bit looking for a hotel, there didn´t appear to be anyone in the first hotel we checked (hotel Erick), so we decided on Posada de Don Juan, the nicest hotel in town, and $35 for a double.. the most expensive place we had stayed so far! The room was quite nice with fan, TV and towels.
Gracias used to be the capital of Central America way back in the 1500s, not sure why as it is quite remote from anything. Antigua and Granada took over in importance so its been a backwater for some time. There is a national park nearby which is the reason most tourists come here. There are a few old buildings and a castillo high up on the hill overlooking the town.
We dumped our bags then walked around town a bit, going through the market and then up the hill to the castillo. Good views from here. We then walked down the hill to the hotel Guanascos which had a decent restaurant. This is the place in town to come for good info on activities in the area.
We then headed back to the hotel for a catnap before heading off to the nearby hotsprings. They´re a fair distance out of town, several hrs walk or you can hire a mototaxi (tuk-tuk) for 100L, we arranged for him to come back to pick us up in 2 hrs. The hotsprings (30L) are quite nice, separated into different rock pools of varying temperature. Very popular with locals, there were tons of people here when we arrived. The setting is beautiful, in a forest under the trees. Its seems quite the party place as it is open to 11PM! The waters were very relaxing after the day on the bus, this place is well worth a trip.
It was getting dark as we headed back to town. I guess it would have been possible to hitchhike back instead of hiring the taxi again. After a shower we headed out to dinner. The LP recommended the Rincon Graciano restaurant. We managed to find it after getting a little lost (how do you get lost in a town thats 6x7 blocks). The restaurant looked closed but we knocked on the door and they turned on the lights. The room was gorgeous, red walls and art hanging on the walls and tables. The menu looked delicious, it was hard to choose. I settled on the chicken in sauce with spinach, also trying the horchata(?) drink, made from corn and cacao. The owner makes everything from scratch, so it took awhile to prepare dinner, but it was well worth it. For an appetizer we had one of the best tamales I´ve ever eaten! The dinner itself was awesome, rich in flavor. Definitely a recommended place too! Dessert would have been awesome I´m sure but by this point we were stuffed. At $14 for two including wine it was also a great deal.
We headed back to the hotel to crash, again a very early start the next morning as we were going to try to make it to Perquin in El Salvador. This again would involve 3 bus connections, the first one to La Esperanza left at 5AM!
Dec 8, 2008
Bus: Gracias to La Esperanza, 2.5hr, ???
Taxi: La Esperanza to Marcala, 1.5hr, $35
Bus: Marcala to Perquin, El Salvador, 3.5hr, ???
Hotel: Hotel Perquin Real, $12
What a brutal travel day.. We woke up at 5AM today to catch our first bus to the town of La Esperanza. There was only one bus a day so we were there early to catch it.. but we could have slept in. The bus arrived at 5AM but didn't depart until after 5:30. The bus was a newer one, Japanese microbus and nice as I finally had enough legroom.
The road turned out to be good for most of the way as well; it is paved almost all the way to San Juan now and for a good distance to La Esperanza. There was evil fog as we climbed the hills east of Gracias but this soon burned off as the sun rose. Great scenery, lots of pine forests and medium sized hills. We arrived in La Esperanza in great time, around 8AM.
Our next step was to get to the town of Marcala, on the way to the El Salvador border. We got conflicting info about where the bus was to depart, the streets were torn up as they were replacing the sewers. Most people directed us to an empty lot near a hotel. The people at the hotel said it left from the bus terminal where we had arrived. After walking back and forth between the hotel and bus terminal a few times we found out the bus wasn't leaving until 11 anyway.. not giving us enough time to catch the bus in Marcala at noon.
Dillema.. we had seen some taxis back at the bus terminal, so we decided to see how much it would be to hire a taxi to Marcala, figuring if it was <$40 it would be a good deal. Turns out the driver only wanted $35 so soon we were off and on our way. The road here to Marcala was horrendous, dirt road all the way over the mountain. The car kept overheating, we had to stop occasionally to pour more water into the radiator. There were great views down into the valley along the road. The 36km drive took us about an hour and a half and we arrived at the town of Marcala around 10.
The bus to Perquin had just pulled up but wasn't leaving until 12. It didn't look promising when we saw the driver climb into the engine and start banging away at something. We schlepped about town with our bags a bit, checking out the plaza and tourist info. Marcala is one end of the Lenca Trail, a string of villages stretching to Santa Rosa de Copan and including Gracias and La Esperanza. Lots of local churches, handicrafts, etc. We grabbed some fried chicken for lunch at a local shop then headed to the bus.
The bus to Perquin left on time at noon; as we left town we saw a sign saying 48 kms to Perquin, so we thought how bad could it be? What turned out was 3.5hrs of bumpy, dusty, twisty turny roads that seemed like it would never end. This road was the route used to supply the rebels during the El Salvador civil war. There was a former border dispute between El Salvador and Honduras in this region, for that reason there isn't an El Salvador border post; there is only one on the Honduran side. The bus kept overheating and must have had a leaky radiator as we stopped several times to load up with water.
Finally we arrived in Perquin around 3:30. Perquin is a former base of the FMLN rebels and is home to a museum about the war. We found a hotel here, but very basic. Just some bunk beds, toilets were in an outhouse with no lights and the shower was freezing. Well not bad for $6 a night, there wasn't much choice in this town.
We walked around town a bit, checking out some of the murals that were painted after the war. We walked up to the museum only to find out it was closing in a few minutes, we would have to come back the next day. My friend wasn't feeling too well, so he wasn't too hungry for dinner. I was famished though and had some pupusas, flat corn cakes filled with cheese and beans, then fried/grilled. Delicious!
continued..
Flight: San Antonio (SAT) to Houston (IAH), Continental, First
Flight: Houston (IAH) to San Pedro Sula, Honduras (SAP), Continental, First
Hotel: Hotel Teraza, San Pedro Sula, Honduras, $25
My friend S. was spending three weeks traveling through Central America, Guatemala to Costa Rica. When I found out I could get a few extra days off work I decided to join him for part of the trip, first flying into San Pedro Sula and meeting up in Copan Ruinas. We would then travel overland via El Salvador and back through Honduras to Nicaragua, where I would fly out of Managua 6 days later. This was a quickly planned trip, I literally booked the award tickets two days before I left.. wasnt able to get tickets out of Austin so had to settle for San Antonio.
I left work today about 2PM for the (hopefully) quick drive down to San Antonio to catch my flight to San Pedro Sula. Traffic in downtown Austin is always bad no matter the time of day, especially bad on Fridays but was able to make it through in short time. Only took a little over an hour to get to northern SA. I planned to park at my other travel buddy´s house, he could give me a lift to the airport.
Construction in and around the airport in SA is neverending it seems. We arrived and had to do a bitof a walk to get to the terminal as the normal dropoff point was torn up. There was no line at security, a nice change from when I flew out of San Antonio last May. I still had over an hour to wait for the flight, so grabbed a snack to wait.
The flight to Houston was a short 40 minutes. After arriving there I still had an hour wait before the flight to San Pedro departed. I was able to get into the Presidents Club in Terminal E as I had a first class award ticket, very nice but they don´t have their own internet terminals, they assume everyone has one. Huge TV room and bar area. I filled my Nalgene bottle with water from the bar here as I would be needing it in the coming days. The flight to San Pedro was only a little over 2 hrs.
I was one of the first ones off the plane, and immigration was easy. I only had my carryon so no waiting for luggage. A huge crowd outside was waiting even for so late at night, I wormed my way through to the waiting taxi stand. They said $15 into town which seemed a little pricy. There was a bank at the airport where I was able to get out some Lempiras, the local currency.
The drive into town was about 15 minutes, past all the American icons, Pizza Hut, TGIFridays, etc. The center of town was pretty dead and it was drizzling. I went to the Hotel Teraza, $25/night. A long slog up to the 4th floor to my room. It was basic, a small bed and shower but had a fan and TV. It was already 11 PM and I planned to catch an early bus the next morning to Copan Ruinas, so hit the sack. There was a noise like a generator firing up sporadically that kept me awake for awhile but was finally able to get to sleep.
Dec 6, 2008
Bus: San Pedro Sula to Copan Ruinas, 3hr, $5.82
Hotel: Hotel San Juan, Copan Ruinas, Honduras, $15
I woke up early this morning and caught a cab to the bus station in San Pedro Sula arriving at 6:45. Found out though the bus wasn´t departing until 8AM. The ticket counter wasn´t even open yet so spent awhile wandering around the bus station. It´s quite a large place and pretty new, it only opened earlier in 2008 I believe. Finally the ticket counter opened, 110L to Copan Ruins. I grabbed a bean quesadilla for breakfast then boarded the bus. It departed on time at 8AM but promptly parked and we sat until 8:30. Finally we got underway.
The bus was nice, but I had little legroom, I have long legs and always have problems with legroom on buses and planes. The landscape was very lush green, and very humid out. The ride seemed to take forever just getting to La Entrada, the turnoff to Copan Ruins, yet from there it was still another 1.5hrs to Copan. Arrived just before noon, and had a hotel tout attach himself to me. S. and I had a few hotels we planned to meet at, but ended up running into him on the street! He had just arrived too from Antigua, so that was excellent timing. The original hotel was full, so we ended up at another just down the block. Copan Ruins is a colonial style town, but restored well with lots of hotels and restaurants for the tourists that come here.
We wandered down into town, grabbed some lunch and stopped by an ATM so S. could get some Honduran money, then we walked the 1 mile or so east to the ruins. Copan is one of the great Mayan cities like Chitzen Itza and Tikal. I have visited Chitzen Itza and Tulum in Mexico previously. Entry was a bit steep, $15, then they wanted another $7 for the museum and $15 to enter some tunnels under the ruins.
The walk through the ruins is through jungle, passing a group of bright colored macaws. There are mounds to the left and right that hold still-unexcavated pyramids. The trail opened up into a huge courtyard, with stelae all around. There is a good sized pyramid in the middle and a ball court over to the right. Copan is known for its heiroglyphics, which are everywhere, on the stelae and on a huge staircase which is protected by a tent. .
We decided to not visit the tunnels or the sculpture museud, instead spending a few hrs wandering around the ruins before heading back into town. We ate dinner at Twisted Tanya which has a Backpacker special, 2-1 cocktails (HUGE) and bread, spaghetti and dessert for like $6.. good deal. We didn´t do much tonight as we planned to get up early to catch the 7AM bus to La Entrada, then two more bus changes to reach the town of Gracias.
Dec 7, 2008
Bus: Copan Ruins to La Entrada, Honduras; 1.5hr $2.90
Bus: La Entrada to Santa Rosa de Copan, 1hr ???
Bus: Santa Rosa de Copan to Gracias, 1.5hr ???
Hotel: Posada de Don Juan, Gracias, Honduras, $35
An early start this morning at 6AM to catch the 7AM bus. No time for breakfast today either, seems to be a trend with too many early morning starts. But I had brought along a supply of Cliff Bars to hold me over for the bus rides. The bus left pretty much on time for the 1.5hr ride back to the junction at La Entrada. When we arrived there we lucked out as a minibus was ready to depart to Santa Rosa de Copan, the next town where we would change buses to Gracias.
The driver was a speed demon, zooming ahead with a boy hanging out the side door announcing the destination. We kept packing in more people, at least 20 by my count before we reached Santa Rosa in a light drizzle. There was a bus waiting to go to Gracias at 9:20 but it looked very overcrowded and we hadn´t eaten yet. Found out the next one was in an hour so we had time to find a comedor and grab some chicken and rice. We wanted to go into town but decided against it due to the drizzle and we were lugging our packs around.
The next bus left at 10:15, much less crowded. Vendors come on the buses just before it departs, selling drinks, food, gum, etc. I´d hoped for a chicken bus, but alas, no chickens were to be seen. However, we did get a preacher raving away in Spanish for an hour standing next to us. The drive to Gracias was gorgeous, the landscape changed as we drove through pine forests. The drive was about an hour and a half, we arrived just before noon. We wandered about a bit looking for a hotel, there didn´t appear to be anyone in the first hotel we checked (hotel Erick), so we decided on Posada de Don Juan, the nicest hotel in town, and $35 for a double.. the most expensive place we had stayed so far! The room was quite nice with fan, TV and towels.
Gracias used to be the capital of Central America way back in the 1500s, not sure why as it is quite remote from anything. Antigua and Granada took over in importance so its been a backwater for some time. There is a national park nearby which is the reason most tourists come here. There are a few old buildings and a castillo high up on the hill overlooking the town.
We dumped our bags then walked around town a bit, going through the market and then up the hill to the castillo. Good views from here. We then walked down the hill to the hotel Guanascos which had a decent restaurant. This is the place in town to come for good info on activities in the area.
We then headed back to the hotel for a catnap before heading off to the nearby hotsprings. They´re a fair distance out of town, several hrs walk or you can hire a mototaxi (tuk-tuk) for 100L, we arranged for him to come back to pick us up in 2 hrs. The hotsprings (30L) are quite nice, separated into different rock pools of varying temperature. Very popular with locals, there were tons of people here when we arrived. The setting is beautiful, in a forest under the trees. Its seems quite the party place as it is open to 11PM! The waters were very relaxing after the day on the bus, this place is well worth a trip.
It was getting dark as we headed back to town. I guess it would have been possible to hitchhike back instead of hiring the taxi again. After a shower we headed out to dinner. The LP recommended the Rincon Graciano restaurant. We managed to find it after getting a little lost (how do you get lost in a town thats 6x7 blocks). The restaurant looked closed but we knocked on the door and they turned on the lights. The room was gorgeous, red walls and art hanging on the walls and tables. The menu looked delicious, it was hard to choose. I settled on the chicken in sauce with spinach, also trying the horchata(?) drink, made from corn and cacao. The owner makes everything from scratch, so it took awhile to prepare dinner, but it was well worth it. For an appetizer we had one of the best tamales I´ve ever eaten! The dinner itself was awesome, rich in flavor. Definitely a recommended place too! Dessert would have been awesome I´m sure but by this point we were stuffed. At $14 for two including wine it was also a great deal.
We headed back to the hotel to crash, again a very early start the next morning as we were going to try to make it to Perquin in El Salvador. This again would involve 3 bus connections, the first one to La Esperanza left at 5AM!
Dec 8, 2008
Bus: Gracias to La Esperanza, 2.5hr, ???
Taxi: La Esperanza to Marcala, 1.5hr, $35
Bus: Marcala to Perquin, El Salvador, 3.5hr, ???
Hotel: Hotel Perquin Real, $12
What a brutal travel day.. We woke up at 5AM today to catch our first bus to the town of La Esperanza. There was only one bus a day so we were there early to catch it.. but we could have slept in. The bus arrived at 5AM but didn't depart until after 5:30. The bus was a newer one, Japanese microbus and nice as I finally had enough legroom.
The road turned out to be good for most of the way as well; it is paved almost all the way to San Juan now and for a good distance to La Esperanza. There was evil fog as we climbed the hills east of Gracias but this soon burned off as the sun rose. Great scenery, lots of pine forests and medium sized hills. We arrived in La Esperanza in great time, around 8AM.
Our next step was to get to the town of Marcala, on the way to the El Salvador border. We got conflicting info about where the bus was to depart, the streets were torn up as they were replacing the sewers. Most people directed us to an empty lot near a hotel. The people at the hotel said it left from the bus terminal where we had arrived. After walking back and forth between the hotel and bus terminal a few times we found out the bus wasn't leaving until 11 anyway.. not giving us enough time to catch the bus in Marcala at noon.
Dillema.. we had seen some taxis back at the bus terminal, so we decided to see how much it would be to hire a taxi to Marcala, figuring if it was <$40 it would be a good deal. Turns out the driver only wanted $35 so soon we were off and on our way. The road here to Marcala was horrendous, dirt road all the way over the mountain. The car kept overheating, we had to stop occasionally to pour more water into the radiator. There were great views down into the valley along the road. The 36km drive took us about an hour and a half and we arrived at the town of Marcala around 10.
The bus to Perquin had just pulled up but wasn't leaving until 12. It didn't look promising when we saw the driver climb into the engine and start banging away at something. We schlepped about town with our bags a bit, checking out the plaza and tourist info. Marcala is one end of the Lenca Trail, a string of villages stretching to Santa Rosa de Copan and including Gracias and La Esperanza. Lots of local churches, handicrafts, etc. We grabbed some fried chicken for lunch at a local shop then headed to the bus.
The bus to Perquin left on time at noon; as we left town we saw a sign saying 48 kms to Perquin, so we thought how bad could it be? What turned out was 3.5hrs of bumpy, dusty, twisty turny roads that seemed like it would never end. This road was the route used to supply the rebels during the El Salvador civil war. There was a former border dispute between El Salvador and Honduras in this region, for that reason there isn't an El Salvador border post; there is only one on the Honduran side. The bus kept overheating and must have had a leaky radiator as we stopped several times to load up with water.
Finally we arrived in Perquin around 3:30. Perquin is a former base of the FMLN rebels and is home to a museum about the war. We found a hotel here, but very basic. Just some bunk beds, toilets were in an outhouse with no lights and the shower was freezing. Well not bad for $6 a night, there wasn't much choice in this town.
We walked around town a bit, checking out some of the murals that were painted after the war. We walked up to the museum only to find out it was closing in a few minutes, we would have to come back the next day. My friend wasn't feeling too well, so he wasn't too hungry for dinner. I was famished though and had some pupusas, flat corn cakes filled with cheese and beans, then fried/grilled. Delicious!
continued..
Dec 17, 2008, 11:02 am
#4
Original Poster
Join Date: Mar 2001
Location: Austin, TX -- AA Life Platinum; QF Life Silver; UA Silver
Posts: 5,462
Dec 9, 2008
Bus: Perquin to Km18
Bus: Km18 to Santa Rosa de Lima, El Salvador, $0.90
Bus: Santa Rosa de Lima to El Amatillo (El Salvador/Honduras border), $0.90
Minivan: El Amatillo to Guasasule (Honduras/Nicaraguan border), 2h, $5
Bus: Guasasule to Leon, Nicaragua, 2h
Hotel: Lazybones Hostel, $19/double
Another long travel day today.
We planned on visiting the Perquin museum this morning, then catching the bus towards the El Salvador/Honduras border. Our plan was to make Leon in Nicaragua today, but would be fine with just making it to the Nicaraguan border.
The museum opened at 8AM, admission was $1.25. Our guide, Jose was a veteran of the civil war. He walked with a limp due to his fake leg he'd received from the Red Cross. The museum has 5 different rooms, showing the causes of the civil war, also showing photos of people who had been assassinated. Another room displays Solidarity posters from the US (Stop Bombing El Salvador), Germany and other countries. One room has lots of different weapons used during the conflict. One Chinese gun had been used in Vietnam, then Nicaragua, then finally El Salvador. It was quite a sobering place. Other rooms showed the communications equipment used by the rebels. Outside the museum was the remains of a government helicopter bombed by the guerillas.
The tour took about an hour. There is a hill outside the museum you can climb for a view out over the valley, the walk is about 15 minutes. We thought the bus was leaving at 9:50 so decided not to go to the mirador. We should have asked the bus times before as we found out it was leaving at 11! That would possibly pose a problem for getting to Leon the same day.
The bus to San Miguel left on time though and the road was paved all the way so we made good time to Km18, the junction of the road from Perquin and the road to the border. Just as we got off the bus from Perquin, a bus was arriving headed to Santa Rosa de Lima. When we arrived in Santa Rosa, there was a bus waiting to go to the border!
With those excellent connections we arrived at the border at 1:45 where we were mobbed by moto taxi drivers. For $1 each they offered to take us across the border into Honduras. Seemed like a good deal. We were a bit worried about getting out of El Salvador since we didn't have an entry stamp. We said we'd come in at Perquin and they seemed ok with it. I think the new CA-4 regs as long as you have an entry stamp in one of the countries it counts for the others. We had to re-pay the $3 Honduran tax though.
The bridge to the Honduran side was quite long so we were glad we'd hired the moto. It dropped us off at the minibus depot. There were minivans that went directly to the Nicaraguan border in 2 hrs ($5). It was getting late in the day so we had to wait around 45 minutes before one filled up and piled high with imports. We set off finally at 2:30 zipping across the flat, dry Pacific coastal region of Honduras.
We arrived at the border about 4:30 and were swarmed, this time by pedicabs. They said there was a direct bus to Leon leaving at 5:00.. we thought we could make it. However immigration was just processing a busload of passports, then the officer left for a break, so it was after 5 by the time we arrived at the bus station. There was a bus going to Leon at 6.. so either there hadn't been one at 5, or it had already left. So that gave an hour to kill sitting around and taking a few pictures.
The bus to Leon was another schoolbus. Its odd to think that maybe one of these buses that I'm riding on may have been one I rode on nearly 25 yrs ago.. It was already dark as we set off for the 2 hr ride but we made good time, the land here again was flat and the road a straight line. When we arrived in Leon we caught a cab to the Lazybones hostel. This was a great place, neat rooms with mosquito nets ($19/nt for a double), free internet and a swiming pool! They also offered breakfast. I had a shower to wash off the road grime then hit the sack.
Dec 10, 2008
Bus: Leon to Managua
Hotel: Managua Backpacker Inn, $28/double
Today was finally a relatively laid back day. Our only plans were to check out Leon then head to Managua in the afternoon. I still woke up around 5:30 AM, used to early starts I guess. My laundry was getting stinky so I washed some clothes out and hung them to dry; I'd hoped to have some clean clothes for the trip back home tomorrow.
Even better, we actually had time for breakfast this morning. The hostel offered a breakfast of pancakes, fruit and juice.. quite yummy. We set off and spent a few hours wandering around town. There are a few good churches in town; specifically the Cathedral in the main square is the largest in Central America. There are also several murals around town. Leon is still a pro-Sandanista town, we saw FSLN signs and flags.
The town still seemed kind of run down, there had been street-to-street fighting here during the war. We had trouble finding an ATM at first, turns out all the banks in town are on one corner. We also visited the old jail and Calvary church then back to the hostel to checkout.
We decided to head on to Managua; get there early, maybe have lunch and checkout the town. I spotted a flyer for the Managua Backpacker Inn at the hostel, looked like a good place to stay. Most of the other hotels listed in the LP were in the dodgy area around the bus station. I needed to be closer to the airport as my flight back to the US was in the morning.
We managed to make the noon bus; it was a little over an hour to Managua. Caught a cab to the hostel and had to wait a bit for the owner to get back so that we could checkin. The hostel is in a good location near the Metrocenter mall and near lots of restaurants. Settled in a bit then caught a cab downtown to get some pictures of the old ruined cathedral and national palace, the Area Monumental. Most of the downtown area was abandoned after the earthquake here in 1972. Some of the area is supposed to be dangerous, definitely after dark.
The cathedral was still closed, it had suffered damage during the earthquake and you could see all the cracks in the structure. There was a huge Christmas tree of lights strung from the pole in front of the palace. Nearby is a statue to the revolutionary workers; holding aloft an AK47 with a Sandanista flag wrapped around it. Across the street is the Peace Park where hundreds of AK47s and other weapons were buried in the cement.
We headed back to the hostel a bit before grabbing dinner. There was a Mexican restaurant nearby that had a big dance area setup behind it, a live band was playing when we arrived. The food was kinda meh, but then again we're spoiled living in Texas. I had to wake up at 4AM tomorrow for the shuttle to the airport so we called it an early night.
Dec 11, 2008
Bus: Managua to Granada, 1hr
Bus: Granada to Managua, 1hr
Hotel: Managua Backpacker Inn, $18/single
Well today turned out to be quite interesting. I had pre-arranged a taxi to the airport early this morning; my flight back to the US left at 7:30 AM. I carefully packed my bag and searched the bed to make sure I'd left nothing behind. The taxi showed up right on time at 5AM. I said goodbye to my friend (he was continuing onto Costa Rica). It was about a 20 minute ride to the airport, already there was quite a long line for checkin; the agents hadn't yet arrived. I had checked in online but didn't have a printer, so I only needed to collect my boarding pass.
Suddenly when searching through my bag I realized I didn't have my passport!!! I knew I'd had it this morning when I put it in my daypack, but the zipper was open. The daypack had been in my big bag the whole time though, so likely the only place it could have fallen out was back at the hostel. It was only 5:30 by this time, I still had 2hrs left. I found an ATM, which only gave me $50's (who has change for these), or a 500 Cordoba note (who has change for those, either?) then ran outside and caught a cab back to the hotel. I told him I'd forgotten my passport so he drove like a maniac, through red lights, etc. Only 15 minutes back to the hostel.
I knocked on the door and surprised my friend that I was back again. I found the passport/money belt under a pillow on my bed! I must have put the pillow over it when searching the bed earlier, because I remembered lifting up the pillows before. Ugh... I've never forgotten my passport before. I jumped back into the taxi and raced back to the airport. In a half hour the queue had moved.. 10 feet.
I got in the pre-checkin line, maybe 10 people in front of me. The line kept moving painfully slowly; they were taking 5-10 minutes to checkin each passenger. Over an hour in line and still there were 5 people in line in front of me! The departure time was rapidly approaching, there was no way it was going to depart on time; the main checkin line still had 40 or more people. Finally I get up near the end of the line and hear people saying the flight had been cancelled due to snow in Houston!!
The manager there was saying come back tomorrow at 4AM for the return flight. They weren't offering hotel accommodations since they said it was due to weather. I went back in the office with a few other people who wanted to see if they could be rebooked on another airline. To no luck, all other flights out on American and Delta direct to the US were full today. I knew there was a Copa flight via Panama City that might be possible; though by the time I was able to get on the phone it was within 20 minutes of departure and the phone agent said it was too late. I was on an award ticket and Continental would not endorse my ticket over to another airline.
So back to the hostel again... already an expensive day as each taxi ride (this was my 4th..) was $15 each way. Surprised my friend yet again.. he wasn't expecting to see me again for sure! Ww went and had breakfast, then decided to make the most of the day and go on a day trip to Granada. He was planning on heading south to Costa Rica, so would take his backpack along then head off from Granada. I would need another night in the hostel. I had to change rooms as there was already someone booked in my room for tonight.
We caught a cab to the bus station, then found a minibus ready to leave for Granada. At last, one with air conditioning.. that felt great for the 1hr ride. When we arrived, we found a local hotel that could watch his backpack while we wandered around town for a few hrs. Scott had been to Nicaragua back in the early 90's, no tourists then and he said that the restaurants were still playing Russian music back then.
Granada was much improved since his visit, the buildings were all repaired and brightly painted. It's the tourist gem of Nicaragua so it's kept pretty clean. Most of the central core has been bought up by expats and turned into hotels, restaurants, cafes, etc. We walked down to the lakeshore; there are several restaurants and discos here but they were pretty dead during the middle of the day. After catching a cab back into town then grabbing pizza for lunch, we walked around a bit more, then we said our goodbyes as my friend headed off to catch the bus south to Rivas.
I spent another hr or so wandering around; there is a neat old church here that used to be a fortress. It now has a very Armenian style to it. The bus ride back to Managua was uneventful. It felt odd with my friend gone, the hostel too was very quiet that night and I only met three other people staying there. One couple managed to lock themselves out of their room late that night! I'd pre-arranged another taxi to the airport for 3:30 the next morning; our new departure time was 6:30AM. After checking flightstats, it appeared this was a special flight; the normal flight was still departing at 7:30 AM.
Bus: Perquin to Km18
Bus: Km18 to Santa Rosa de Lima, El Salvador, $0.90
Bus: Santa Rosa de Lima to El Amatillo (El Salvador/Honduras border), $0.90
Minivan: El Amatillo to Guasasule (Honduras/Nicaraguan border), 2h, $5
Bus: Guasasule to Leon, Nicaragua, 2h
Hotel: Lazybones Hostel, $19/double
Another long travel day today.
We planned on visiting the Perquin museum this morning, then catching the bus towards the El Salvador/Honduras border. Our plan was to make Leon in Nicaragua today, but would be fine with just making it to the Nicaraguan border.
The museum opened at 8AM, admission was $1.25. Our guide, Jose was a veteran of the civil war. He walked with a limp due to his fake leg he'd received from the Red Cross. The museum has 5 different rooms, showing the causes of the civil war, also showing photos of people who had been assassinated. Another room displays Solidarity posters from the US (Stop Bombing El Salvador), Germany and other countries. One room has lots of different weapons used during the conflict. One Chinese gun had been used in Vietnam, then Nicaragua, then finally El Salvador. It was quite a sobering place. Other rooms showed the communications equipment used by the rebels. Outside the museum was the remains of a government helicopter bombed by the guerillas.
The tour took about an hour. There is a hill outside the museum you can climb for a view out over the valley, the walk is about 15 minutes. We thought the bus was leaving at 9:50 so decided not to go to the mirador. We should have asked the bus times before as we found out it was leaving at 11! That would possibly pose a problem for getting to Leon the same day.
The bus to San Miguel left on time though and the road was paved all the way so we made good time to Km18, the junction of the road from Perquin and the road to the border. Just as we got off the bus from Perquin, a bus was arriving headed to Santa Rosa de Lima. When we arrived in Santa Rosa, there was a bus waiting to go to the border!
With those excellent connections we arrived at the border at 1:45 where we were mobbed by moto taxi drivers. For $1 each they offered to take us across the border into Honduras. Seemed like a good deal. We were a bit worried about getting out of El Salvador since we didn't have an entry stamp. We said we'd come in at Perquin and they seemed ok with it. I think the new CA-4 regs as long as you have an entry stamp in one of the countries it counts for the others. We had to re-pay the $3 Honduran tax though.
The bridge to the Honduran side was quite long so we were glad we'd hired the moto. It dropped us off at the minibus depot. There were minivans that went directly to the Nicaraguan border in 2 hrs ($5). It was getting late in the day so we had to wait around 45 minutes before one filled up and piled high with imports. We set off finally at 2:30 zipping across the flat, dry Pacific coastal region of Honduras.
We arrived at the border about 4:30 and were swarmed, this time by pedicabs. They said there was a direct bus to Leon leaving at 5:00.. we thought we could make it. However immigration was just processing a busload of passports, then the officer left for a break, so it was after 5 by the time we arrived at the bus station. There was a bus going to Leon at 6.. so either there hadn't been one at 5, or it had already left. So that gave an hour to kill sitting around and taking a few pictures.
The bus to Leon was another schoolbus. Its odd to think that maybe one of these buses that I'm riding on may have been one I rode on nearly 25 yrs ago.. It was already dark as we set off for the 2 hr ride but we made good time, the land here again was flat and the road a straight line. When we arrived in Leon we caught a cab to the Lazybones hostel. This was a great place, neat rooms with mosquito nets ($19/nt for a double), free internet and a swiming pool! They also offered breakfast. I had a shower to wash off the road grime then hit the sack.
Dec 10, 2008
Bus: Leon to Managua
Hotel: Managua Backpacker Inn, $28/double
Today was finally a relatively laid back day. Our only plans were to check out Leon then head to Managua in the afternoon. I still woke up around 5:30 AM, used to early starts I guess. My laundry was getting stinky so I washed some clothes out and hung them to dry; I'd hoped to have some clean clothes for the trip back home tomorrow.
Even better, we actually had time for breakfast this morning. The hostel offered a breakfast of pancakes, fruit and juice.. quite yummy. We set off and spent a few hours wandering around town. There are a few good churches in town; specifically the Cathedral in the main square is the largest in Central America. There are also several murals around town. Leon is still a pro-Sandanista town, we saw FSLN signs and flags.
The town still seemed kind of run down, there had been street-to-street fighting here during the war. We had trouble finding an ATM at first, turns out all the banks in town are on one corner. We also visited the old jail and Calvary church then back to the hostel to checkout.
We decided to head on to Managua; get there early, maybe have lunch and checkout the town. I spotted a flyer for the Managua Backpacker Inn at the hostel, looked like a good place to stay. Most of the other hotels listed in the LP were in the dodgy area around the bus station. I needed to be closer to the airport as my flight back to the US was in the morning.
We managed to make the noon bus; it was a little over an hour to Managua. Caught a cab to the hostel and had to wait a bit for the owner to get back so that we could checkin. The hostel is in a good location near the Metrocenter mall and near lots of restaurants. Settled in a bit then caught a cab downtown to get some pictures of the old ruined cathedral and national palace, the Area Monumental. Most of the downtown area was abandoned after the earthquake here in 1972. Some of the area is supposed to be dangerous, definitely after dark.
The cathedral was still closed, it had suffered damage during the earthquake and you could see all the cracks in the structure. There was a huge Christmas tree of lights strung from the pole in front of the palace. Nearby is a statue to the revolutionary workers; holding aloft an AK47 with a Sandanista flag wrapped around it. Across the street is the Peace Park where hundreds of AK47s and other weapons were buried in the cement.
We headed back to the hostel a bit before grabbing dinner. There was a Mexican restaurant nearby that had a big dance area setup behind it, a live band was playing when we arrived. The food was kinda meh, but then again we're spoiled living in Texas. I had to wake up at 4AM tomorrow for the shuttle to the airport so we called it an early night.
Dec 11, 2008
Bus: Managua to Granada, 1hr
Bus: Granada to Managua, 1hr
Hotel: Managua Backpacker Inn, $18/single
Well today turned out to be quite interesting. I had pre-arranged a taxi to the airport early this morning; my flight back to the US left at 7:30 AM. I carefully packed my bag and searched the bed to make sure I'd left nothing behind. The taxi showed up right on time at 5AM. I said goodbye to my friend (he was continuing onto Costa Rica). It was about a 20 minute ride to the airport, already there was quite a long line for checkin; the agents hadn't yet arrived. I had checked in online but didn't have a printer, so I only needed to collect my boarding pass.
Suddenly when searching through my bag I realized I didn't have my passport!!! I knew I'd had it this morning when I put it in my daypack, but the zipper was open. The daypack had been in my big bag the whole time though, so likely the only place it could have fallen out was back at the hostel. It was only 5:30 by this time, I still had 2hrs left. I found an ATM, which only gave me $50's (who has change for these), or a 500 Cordoba note (who has change for those, either?) then ran outside and caught a cab back to the hotel. I told him I'd forgotten my passport so he drove like a maniac, through red lights, etc. Only 15 minutes back to the hostel.
I knocked on the door and surprised my friend that I was back again. I found the passport/money belt under a pillow on my bed! I must have put the pillow over it when searching the bed earlier, because I remembered lifting up the pillows before. Ugh... I've never forgotten my passport before. I jumped back into the taxi and raced back to the airport. In a half hour the queue had moved.. 10 feet.
I got in the pre-checkin line, maybe 10 people in front of me. The line kept moving painfully slowly; they were taking 5-10 minutes to checkin each passenger. Over an hour in line and still there were 5 people in line in front of me! The departure time was rapidly approaching, there was no way it was going to depart on time; the main checkin line still had 40 or more people. Finally I get up near the end of the line and hear people saying the flight had been cancelled due to snow in Houston!!
The manager there was saying come back tomorrow at 4AM for the return flight. They weren't offering hotel accommodations since they said it was due to weather. I went back in the office with a few other people who wanted to see if they could be rebooked on another airline. To no luck, all other flights out on American and Delta direct to the US were full today. I knew there was a Copa flight via Panama City that might be possible; though by the time I was able to get on the phone it was within 20 minutes of departure and the phone agent said it was too late. I was on an award ticket and Continental would not endorse my ticket over to another airline.
So back to the hostel again... already an expensive day as each taxi ride (this was my 4th..) was $15 each way. Surprised my friend yet again.. he wasn't expecting to see me again for sure! Ww went and had breakfast, then decided to make the most of the day and go on a day trip to Granada. He was planning on heading south to Costa Rica, so would take his backpack along then head off from Granada. I would need another night in the hostel. I had to change rooms as there was already someone booked in my room for tonight.
We caught a cab to the bus station, then found a minibus ready to leave for Granada. At last, one with air conditioning.. that felt great for the 1hr ride. When we arrived, we found a local hotel that could watch his backpack while we wandered around town for a few hrs. Scott had been to Nicaragua back in the early 90's, no tourists then and he said that the restaurants were still playing Russian music back then.
Granada was much improved since his visit, the buildings were all repaired and brightly painted. It's the tourist gem of Nicaragua so it's kept pretty clean. Most of the central core has been bought up by expats and turned into hotels, restaurants, cafes, etc. We walked down to the lakeshore; there are several restaurants and discos here but they were pretty dead during the middle of the day. After catching a cab back into town then grabbing pizza for lunch, we walked around a bit more, then we said our goodbyes as my friend headed off to catch the bus south to Rivas.
I spent another hr or so wandering around; there is a neat old church here that used to be a fortress. It now has a very Armenian style to it. The bus ride back to Managua was uneventful. It felt odd with my friend gone, the hostel too was very quiet that night and I only met three other people staying there. One couple managed to lock themselves out of their room late that night! I'd pre-arranged another taxi to the airport for 3:30 the next morning; our new departure time was 6:30AM. After checking flightstats, it appeared this was a special flight; the normal flight was still departing at 7:30 AM.
Dec 16, 2011, 2:25 pm
#5
Join Date: Jul 2005
Location: Chicago, IL
Programs: AA EP; WN CP;UA SILVER; MARRIOTT TITANIUM; HH DIAMOND; IHG PLAT; RADISSON PLAT; HYATT GLOBAL
Posts: 1,938
GREAT TRIP REPORT.
I am from tegucigalpa, so have done many times what you did back in 2008. On a student budget, all those buses and hotels were the standard for me. I did get soft and sentimental, nostalgic reading your reports.
You have to return once more to go to Roatan and Utila in the bay islands. Back when I first went in 1994, it was still a hippy laid back place, now it is overrun by the cruise tourist, but it is still beautifu!
I am from tegucigalpa, so have done many times what you did back in 2008. On a student budget, all those buses and hotels were the standard for me. I did get soft and sentimental, nostalgic reading your reports.
You have to return once more to go to Roatan and Utila in the bay islands. Back when I first went in 1994, it was still a hippy laid back place, now it is overrun by the cruise tourist, but it is still beautifu!