As previously mentioned, I decided to save some time and energy and I booked a shuttle service from Leon (Nicaragua) and to Antigua (Guatemala). Except for this bit, I traveled by local buses only, but I didn’t have plans to see anything specific in either El Salvador or Honduras, and I decided to skip both before getting any ideas, time was short.
Day 6: shuttle from Nicaragua to Guatemala | 1040 / 2000 km - NOT done |
I woke up before 2 am on Sunday morning, day 6 (no alarm was needed 😆 but I’d better remember to set it up), made coffee, had a snack and I got ready and waiting for the shuttle to arrive 3:30-ish. A taxi stopped in front of the hostel at 3:10, they knew my name, and tried to make conversation with me in either Spanish or English, but I don’t have audiences at that time of the day - before 7-8 am it’s my silent me time - so this was pretty much a back and forward of “sorry, I didn’t catch that, could you please repeat?” (in Spanish). We picked up a couple and then another passenger, all Europeans, and they took us all to a gas station, to meet with the rest of passengers. There was another European already there, someone the couple knew and previously hanged out with, but there were 2 shuttles (vans), and he ended up in the other one. Everyone else was Nicaraguan.
We started heading towards the border before 4 am. At 6:30 am the fun began. We reached the border. There were several buses and shuttles waiting there already, and more arrived soon after we did. It was messy, no apparent order, people were getting in and out of the checking bags area, scanning them was clearly done just to satisfy a rule that was hardly respected by anyone (no one cared whether we would put them through the scanner or not or even that we left most of the bags in the van). I had a very sweet 8 cordobas coffee with my last Nicaraguan money (it was discounted, the others paid 10, but the lady asked how much I had and said it’s fine 8 for her 🤷♀️ OK, definitely more sugar than coffee, but I got rid of my coins and drank a warm beverage). We were waiting in line, then in a circle, then back on the floor in the luggage checking area, where there was air conditioning, because it was getting hot outside. They told us to fill up a form online (after we already filled some paperwork 2 h before that), and that we will be passing through soon after that. 3 hours into this we were very bored and getting hungry. Yet still no progress. They called us all with a list, then they separated the Nicaraguans from the foreigners, and took them somewhere else, while the 5 of us were sitting down on the side of the road smoking (like easily recognizable Europeans) half cigarettes and throwing the other half because it took too long to smoke them and we just wanted back to the AC (I said I won’t smoke anymore, but the wait was irritating, and they were smoking, so whatever, I could quit again later). Small cars were passing through easily, and more buses were gathering and waiting. We had no idea how long this will take, but after 4 hours of waiting, we were all invited to get back in the bus and told that they paid the exit fees for all of us ($5 pp, but we saw no receipts and didn’t really understand if it’s $5 for us, foreigners, or for Nicaraguans, or both - contradicting info on this from the bus drivers), and that no passport checks were needed anymore for us. OK, let’s get breakfast.
Uhm, not yet. First we need to enter Honduras too, the first 4.5 h were just about exiting Nicaragua. At this point, we found out that this border is not open 24/7, it was opening at 6:30 am, and it has been messy lately, with long waiting times - for the buses, we would’ve been long gone if we would’ve passed by foot (bus to border, walk, bus after the border). It took 2,5 more hours of frustration and almost snapping at people with guns to go through the entering Honduras process: long waiting lines, unclear on which we were supposed to be (obviously we waited 15 min at the wrong one first), people cutting the line, guardians sending us to wait in line outside, in the sun, at 41 degrees Celsius, and a lot of stretched nerves. The European assigned to the other van gave me a tiny bag of chips to calm my hanger (wherever you are, thank you, sir, and bless your soul), after I loudly protested the 20 additional people who shamelessly got in line in front of us, while the armed guard kept saying no one is cutting the line (“bruh, just look at them doing it right now, can you please stop this? It’s 20 people and that fellow you’re talking to is distracting you, while he’s sending his passengers in front”; he intervened). We received $3 in coins from the bus driver to pay the entry fee, it was not clear why he wanted us to pay with that instead of our own money, but one of the others said those coins are no longer being used in the US. I had questions about the logic in that, but whatever, they took our money and sent us on our merry way around 12:30 😒 We waited 30 more minutes outside, for another passenger who was initially rejected to get in.
The ride did not go smooth from there on.
Around 4 pm we were 8h behind schedule (that’s an 8h delay in 12h since we started a 17h ride).
We have been stopped 5 times by police for various documents checks - several people were told that the info they provided doesn’t match their declared intentions at immigrations, and they shouldn’t be in the country, yet somehow after additional talks around several corners, they were returning to the bus - and we have also been turned around to pay some road tax that should’ve been paid. Also, because I tend to rely on the side restaurants where buses stop on long rides, and I didn’t have were to carry more stuff, I didn’t have any food with me, just water (at least at first, thank goodness for that, lol), and I wasn’t in the mood to each chips, I needed something warm, but the restaurant was in El Salvador, and we were still in Honduras. As I was complaining about all this to my friend, the bus broke down: time to get a headache from rolling my eyes too much! Ridiculous, frustrating, sh!t service, why did I ever decide to pay more for this shuttle, when we’re making so little progress?! I looked for the hidden camera, to confirm this was a joke, but I didn’t find it. 25 minutes later we’re starting again. And I am not amused… 😒
Meanwhile, we reach Choluteca (city in Honduras where you would turn right if you’d go to the capital - we were not, we were sliding left there to go to El Salvador). This is where my new Irish friend was leaving us, heading towards the capital. We’ve had an interesting all day long conversation, so at this point I am very much invested in making sure they get where they want to go, and because they don’t speak Spanish, I get off the bus with them, and translate a conversation with the people around that bus stop, and find out when and where they can get a bus from there to the capital. They had a lot of luggage and the locals recommend not to take the first bus that will come in less that an hour, because there are already too many people waiting for that bus, but rather a later one, in 2-3 hours. My friend asks about a taxi and we find out about a private driver who happens to be near by and available, they make a deal for $80, after an awkward moment when we realize that the people from the shuttle forgot to charge them for the joy ride Leon - Choluteca and address it, they leave towards their destination.
Also, I am in constant communication with the hostel in Antigua. I have initially announced them I will be arriving at 8-8:30 pm (which was the latest hour the booking company informed me about when I booked this). I messaged them to let them know it might be after midnight, they were very sweet and said someone will be there, waiting for my arrival, not to worry. I was worried and edgy regardless.
At 5:30 pm we reached the border between Honduras and El Salvador.
Leaving Honduras was a very fast process. The lady who previously was told she shouldn’t be in Honduras waited in the van instead of passing through immigrations, so we had less delays there. For the entering El Salvador part, the immigration officer was getting in the bus, we didn’t go to any office, but something weird happened. He entered the bus, looked directly and me, said my name and asked me to get off the bus to talk, then he asked a significant number of questions about my journey, including how much money I have for tourism and where I go and for how long I am staying, and if I have residency in any American country. What residency, I’m a backpacker, tourist, tourist… I answered all his questions tense, but politely. I was the only one invited out and asked so many questions, and he kept my passport for a bit (wrong side of Europe again 🙄). If you read the previous posts about this journey, you might remember that they took several pictures of my passport when I entered Nicaragua and kept me longer, asking questions and forwarding those pictures and answers to someone else. I was tired and getting pretty stressed out about this, and I still don’t understand why I was being treated differently - it felt I was being targeted for something mysterious, that I wasn’t aware of and couldn’t figure out.
At 6:30 pm we stopped where we were supposed to have lunch that day if not for all the delays. The restaurant was closed, but there was a small grocery store there. I bought water, iced tea, sweetened yogurt with fruits, oats crackers and peanuts ($4.95, and they would only let you pay by card starting at $5) and I was informed that we are NOT going to make it to Guatemala that day, we will stop in El Tunco! 😬 (I was the only foreigner going all the way to Antigua, the final destination for other 3 left was El Tunco.)
I would’ve lost it if not for my friend, being the amazing badass that she is, and talking me through all my dark thoughts about how unfit for this world I am that came up. The exhaustion, the low blood sugar, the PMS symptoms, the being targeted by immigrations, the unprocessed pain from having all my things thrown away by my mother while I was away from Europe, and the maddening heartbreak the most recent disappearance of my husband to be caused, all came up and made my voice tremble while I was asking the shuttle people where are we going to sleep tonight,
when I already booked something in Antigua and all the available accommodations in El Tunco were 10 time more above my desired accommodation budget (that’s $5-7, in a dorm). The bus driver/business owner said he will pay for the more expensive accommodation, either the one in Antigua or the one in El Tunco, since I couldn’t cancel so late, and we weren’t supposed to be in El Tunco. I was spiraling less after drinking the sweet iced tea, but all this was scary. Just imagine being stuck in the wrong freaking country for the night… 🙈 And to think I was only going by shuttle to make things easier. That really did not go well.
If you think this is bad, brace yourself: it gets worse. Around 9:20 pm, somewhere close to the coast, under the moonlight, with warm but not too hot temperature in the bus, chill music in the background, and slow rain outside, the driver fell asleep. Yes, while he was driving. First of all, we were fine! We didn’t crash, but he lost it. We were all asleep, and the bus was slowly going sideways. We felt the wrong movement of the car, we began to wake up and come to our senses one by one, like from a sleep spell, and people started screaming “hey, hey, hey” while clapping together to wake him up. He didn’t wake up instantly. It took too many seconds for him to react and for us to feel that the van was no longer drifting away. I froze. I was realizing the car was moving at high speed with no conscious person holding the wheel. I had enough time to know I don’t want to die like that. My life didn’t flash before my eyes like in the movies, but I instantly thought about all my unresolved issues and all that came up earlier that day, triggered by the rest of this “fun” ride, and I was not ready to let that go and move on to whatever is next. Hell, no, not like that! Yet I had enough time to see it was out of my control, and an irresponsible and overconfident driver might kill me just like that 🤷♀️ (a driver, lol 😏 I see the cosmic joke in it now and I feel like asking GOD “is this all a joke to you? Or are you trying to spell it out for me because I wouldn’t see it otherwise? Must you be so dramatic about it? 🤣🤣🤣” - this will only make sense to the ones who happen to know some intimate details about my life, which I’m not willing to share here, but the spirit in which this is said should be clear. Moving on). I was sad about it. You spend your life struggling to make it through all the bullshit randomly thrown at you, and there’s no fairness or poetic justice in it. You might end up dying accidentally, never achieving that potential people like to talk about, while someone else makes a mistake that costs you everything. But all in all, I’m glad I didn’t die.
Nothing like your bus driver falling asleep at the wheel to make you understand that you do not want to die.
He woke up, drove a few more meters, pulled over, then left the driver’s seat, and another one took over for the last 90 km. We swallowed our fears, our pride, and our outrage, and no one fell asleep anymore until we made it to a safe place. It was 10 pm when we arrived in El Tunco. The business owner (there were 2 drivers and him “shuttle-ing” with us) arranged for “cheap group accommodation” at a low cost resort in El Tunco. It was shared accommodation or a small windowless cabin in my case, $15/night, with half paid by him (my accommodation in Antigua was $7-8 for that night). I paid the $15 there, and I gave him $30 more for the rest of the journey (I paid $10/$60 when booking the shuttle, so $5 discount for the trouble).
Total for day 1 of this fun ride: $59.95.
Day 6: Leon, Nicaragua to El Tunco, El Salvador | 805 / 2000 - done |
At 10:30 pm I went to sleep. Knowing we leave between 7 and 8 next morning, I planned waking up with the sunrise, to walk around a bit, get coffee and breakfast, and then return for the second part of the journey. The plan worked well, and here are some pictures from my short and unplanned stay in El Tunco:
