Lago de Yojoa to the Nicaragua border:
Again, this ride was uneventful, just good roads and beautiful scenery. It felt like we could have been riding through the foothills of the Rocky Mountains in the US. Tons of pine trees, which are the national tree of Honduras, roads cut through granite rock and streams flowing alongside. Everything felt so familiar, maybe because we have come to feel at home in Honduras, maybe it’s the scenery, not sure what it was but it sure felt good.
We are staged just miles from the Nicaragua border. With luck the border crossing will go smooth.
Stay tuned, much more to come……
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Last day in Honduras:
We were staged just miles from the Nicaraguan border ready to cross early the next morning. Again, Heidi has been feeling sick for the last few days and it seems to be getting worse. Nothing made sense because we were both drinking and eating the same things. My only guess was that she never got over her bought from drinking all that tainted ice in El Progreso. She has been back on the antibiotic Cipro for a few days but it hasn’t seemed to help. I’m thinking in the back of my mind she has some type of parasites. I don’t like this, crossing a border is stressful enough and Heidi hasn’t been able to eat anything in days, she has to be weak. I take a hard stance and demand we stay in El Pariso Honduras at least one more day to see if the antibiotic will bring her back to life. Heidi wanted to go now but she had to agree, staying put another day makes since.
We have a nice little hotel in El Pariso, $11 a night with secure parking and cable TV. I supply Heidi with lots of water and yogurt before I take off to explore the town. I walk into an internet café and check my emails. I received a note from an advRider inmate who lives in Veracruz Mexico. He read my report about Heidi getting sick on the tainted ice. He told me what he and his wife take in Mexico for stomach bacterial problems and parasites. Wow, it was like an email from God. When we lived in the Dominican Republic we took medicine for parasites but I wasn’t sure how to get the correct medication here or what it was called. Anyway, my advRider friend suggested Cipro for Bacteria and Amoebriz for parasites. He said he and his wife take Amoebriz periodically thorough the year as a precautionary measure against parasites. After thanking him with an email and doing some of my own research on line I practically leaped out of my chair and ran to the nearest pharmacy and picked up 2 doses of Amoebriz, one for Heidi and one for me. In my mind I was doing cartwheels through the courtyard of our hotel. I exclaimed through the hotel window to Heidi that I have her cure in hand. One day later she was almost back to her old self and could eat again, thank God! I have said it before but I have to say it again, the help we have been getting through the internet and advRider has been super, people writing helpful suggestions, offering to bring us parts or mail us stuff. This is so great. I can’t thank everyone enough.
Nicaragua Border Crossing:
OK! We are on the road by 6:30 AM shooting for Nicaragua. It’s only 5 miles away. We pull up to the Honduras Aduana (Customs) office to undeclare the motorcycle from Honduras. It took all of about 2 or 3 minutes and we were done, no exit stamps required on our passports for Honduras. Next we ride to and cross the border gate into Nicaragua.
There were no people running out after us demanding us to stop. We ride up to the Nicaragua immigration / customs office. One guy with a tablet in his hands walks up to sell us the mandatory liability vehicle insurance. This guy was laid back and mellow. He wrote 400.00 in the upper left hand corner of the insurance form, the part that gets torn away and said this is what I have to pay him, about $21.00 US. I look the form over and point to the spot on the bottom of the form that says $12.00. I say “doce dolares?” He says “Si” I walk over to the bike and get 12 one dollar bills and hand them to him. All is cool. He next walks me over to the customs office where I wait in line behind about 6 truckers. I wait for about 30 minutes before a bus pulls up with 8 customs office workers. I get inside the office 5 minutes later. There a woman hammers out my motorcycle customs form on an old typewriter. A few questions and about 5 minutes later we are done. I was ready with 2 copies of every document but I didn’t need any, sweeeet. Next the insurance guy says that I have to go to the police. He walks me over to the police station. The police officer looks at my papers, gives them a couple of stamps and says I’m done. Unreal! I hand the insurance guy 6 dollars worth of Limperas, he thanks me and Heidi and I go rolling into Nicaragua with big smiles.
I decided to stop and look at the map. The first city we had highlighted was really close and we didn’t feel like stopping quite yet. We push on, riding deeper into Nicaragua………..
Esteli. This is a nice city in the heart of a big agricultural area that has good hiking and several scenic spots to check out. We cruise through town to check out a few hotels that are recommended in our guide book. We park the bike at the central park. I go off on foot to check out the hotels. The hotels were either no longer hotels or didn’t have parking. On the way back to the bike I walk in and check out another hotel that has parking. $16 a night, I pay for two nights, we are set.
