Driving to Nicaragua & back

Hey fisken & family, Doug, dirt bag, and others, first let me say, enjoy your trip! I’m on the return leg of my third round trip, Philly - León. I drive alone, which I prefer cause I like to mingle with the natives. Also I take my sweet time. Cause I go as a tourist, my experiences won’t fit many here on NL. (I’m not interested in making any political statements by going, just observing.) My vehicle is a ‘96 Toyota pick-up (with camper cap) and southward it’s always loaded with junk to leave in León. It’s moderately high clearance for the record-breaking potholes and ubiquitous speed bumps. (After an extraordinarily high one in Guatemala, one guy sold exhaust trains, muffler & pipes complete. Despite my cursing, I admired the entrepreneur.) My Toyota is dependable, but more important, it can be repaired anywhere. (Mechanics, good ones, abound. If it bothers you that they’re working in the dirt, just turn your head.) Be sure you’ve got good tires. A flat can be readily & cheaply patched, but it’s dangerous cause most roads leave you no shoulder to pull over onto to change. Carry hazard triangles.

The border into Latin America is a chronosynclastic twilight zone. You don’t merely enter another culture, a different civilization, but a distinct time-space continuum. You’ll pass oxen-drawn carts on the road. ____ Think: “Time is life.” Forget: “Time is money.” _____ If ye can mind the poet Robbie Burnes, don’t make plans. Step your way along the map and look about. If you want to (or have to) stay an extra day or more somewhere, so let it be merrily done. (If you find yourself frustrated, look inward to your industrial, clockwise, computer-driven values. Then look outward and absorb what you can of the different conception of reality, life-based values. Ponder: Is anything worthwhile easy?)

Drive only during daylight, as all advise. I do, not just to see sights, but to avoid poorly marked road hazards and drunks and free-range cattle. I like to get a clean, comfortable room (generally U$20 or less) early so I can have several cold beers and a big dinner and just hang-out. (Mexican zocalos, central parks everywhere tend to be lovely, family-oriented, evening gathering places.) I don’t book ahead, and I’ve never had any trouble finding a decent hotel, tho let me add, I usually stay in a city.

Be Prepared: Much is obvious: car, tires, tools, maps, guidebooks, etc. The best map of Mexico I’ve found is Castrol’s Mini Atlas de Carreteras (given to me by a trucker). The other maps I have are topographical, purchased over the internet from some Canadian in Florida. You must have the vehicle title and all the usual, passport, license, registration, plus you’ll need like 10 photocopies of each of everything (group ‘em).

Money: Dollars (US, naturally) are good everywhere. Forget travelers’ checks, not accepted almost everywhere. Best way to travel: Get cash at an ATM (cajero automatico) with a debit card when you need it; you’ll get the best exchange rate. Credit cards are convenient, many of my $20 hotels accept MC, but the bank tacks on 3% and sometimes the business will add a fee. Ask. I had problems with fraud on my Visa card (never on MC) in latinamerica to the tune of several thousand dollars. (Thankfully I was never liable. Apparently the magnetic strip data was recorded on a hotel computer, sent to fagans in Spain or Italy, and a duplicate card was made and used once each time for an expensive art work. The Visa people were always very helpful, but faxing affidavits from Nicaragua was a pain, so I stopped using them.) I regularly check the charges against my credit card online, well before they’re Visa. I once worried about slick cyber cafes owners recording keystrokes, but banks have improved security with personal questions, plus I move around to various, small cybers whenever in one spot. No problema.

Ask Directions: With map & guidebook, pick a destination for that day’s drive. Forget road numbers. Know the name of the town, and some of those in between. Stop & ask, even if just to be sure you‘re on the right road. Just anybody walking or standing on the side of the road (where usually half the population is). Road signs often go missing (probably patching galvanized roofs). People everywhere I went in LAm were very friendly and anxious to help me. It seems to be a point of pride of place. Also latinos are remarkable patient folk, generally, when not crossed.

Mexico, land of the mini-Super At immigration, a tourist visa cost me $20; at customs, the permit for the car was $30. I asked for & got 6-months for both. Against the car, they hold $300 in escrow, more for newer. (They take credit cards without charging against it til the 6 months are up.) Gas was $2.44/gal everywhere in Mexico (5 months ago), the cheapest of the trip. (I never had any engine troubles with regular gas anywhere.) I drove along the Gulf coast, more or less, crossed the isthmus, then aimed for Tapachula. It’s a straight shoot, mostly desert, until you cross the Tropic of Cancer, then, it seems to me, there was a lot more worth visiting. I avoided toll (cuota) roads in Mexico cause they’re too costly. On the West Coast, between Mazatlan (disco scene bummed me out) & Puerta Vallarta (nice, European), is a little fishing village, San Blas, that I highly recommend. Heard good things about Puerto Escondido too. The center of Mexico City is beautiful, I love the place, but I wouldn’t drive in. Trains in & out and the Metro system are too good & cheap. (Spent three separate weeks in the City, there is so, so much to see; had an excellent $20 hotel room too, downtown.) I would avoid Acapulco. Oaxaca is well worth visiting, but check local news first. At La Ventosa I usually just go East to Tapachula (another personal favorite, get downtown, center city to Hotel Fenix) and chill with some excellent food & beer. You want to be in a good frame of mind when you enter Guatemala. Be sure to fill your tank before leaving Mexico.

Guatemala, a country divided by two cultures, two major languages From Tapachula cars must cross at Talisman bridge due East; the (newer, better) crossing some 30 km south is strictly for cargo trucks. As you drive down into the river valley, you’ll see a long line of cars with junk vehicles in tow (from USA; their repair & sales is a major Guatemalan industry), just pass ‘em by. Then a plague of ‘helpers’ (tramitadores) will swarm around you as you enter the most congested crossing of your travels. Ignore them til you get near the bridge, study their faces and pick one, only one, you think you can trust (but don’t). Ask him how much he’ll charge you (legally he can’t charge but only accept a tip). It clears the air, lets him know that you know he’ll get paid. (I tell them I’ll only give $2, then end up paying $5. They can get mean when it‘s all done; nice guys lose.) And you’ll need his services, cause the customs officials are sometimes impossible to locate, but he’ll know where to find them. Many government officials don’t like dealing with gringos who don’t know their way around, and they can make your life intensely, albeit temporarily, miserable. (They know misery.) First pass through immigration - quick, easy, small fee. You are entering the CA-4 countries. My tourist visa is for 90 days and before it expires I must leave for Mexico or Costa Rica. Then stay with your ‘helper’ as he takes your passport to get the newly stamped visa page photocopied. Then, unless you’re packing quetzals, you’ll have to deal with the moneychangers. Expect to lose. Know the current rate (now 7.7 Qs per U$, so 150 Qs for $20 is an acceptable loss.) But ask several, and beware of counterfeit bills. (Your helper should help; he wants to get good money & he knows the crooks.) You will have to pay the bank at the border your fees in quetzals; they don’t accept dollars, nor do they exchange. The line at the bank is ridiculously long; mostly townspeople doing nickel-dime transactions, I’d guess. A good helper has a buddy in line he can pass your papers to. Expect to spend two hours getting your vehicle through. That goes for all CA-4 border crossings. Plus, entering & leaving CA-4 your car must be fumigated (exterior) which you’ll pay $2-3 for. And be sure all your papers & ID s are in order when you leave, because the police will likely be checking everything down the road.

Northwest of Huehuetenango I crossed the border at La Mesilla once. Comparatively it was a breeze, no trouble at all. And the mountains there are among the most spectacular in the world. But roads sometimes get gone with monster rivers, and detours are poorly marked, so travel can be precarious. On the Mexican side I visited San Cristobal de las Casas, perhaps THE most beautiful city in Mexico, and when I drove through the mountains of Chiapas above the clouds I felt I was on the top of the world. Always asking directions, never did I have any trouble. But the drive across the plains of Tabasco took me longer than I’d estimated, leaving me driving in the dark (which I dread) approaching Villahermosa, which I skirted, gliding into Mexico’s city of wide boulevards, Coatzacoalcos (a special, 1930s-kind-of-classy place, with a nice beach).

In Guatemala, much as I love to visit Quezaltenango, Lago Atitlan & Antigua, I take the quicker route past Retalhuleu and spend the night in Esquintla, looping around to stay on the southeast side. It’s a nightmare driving through Esquintla cause the streets are so narrow and congested with people, cars & carts. The turnoff of the PanAm goes to Puerto Quetzal, but I turn back into the city at an unmarked exit (learned the hard way and almost impossible to describe without photos). Hotel Texas there is my $20 spot with cable TV, A/C & pool. The place next to it is twice the price, but isn’t falling apart. I avoid Guatemala City. Drove through it once, Sunday morning, when all the drug addicts, gang-bangers & pistoleros were sleeping. Got lost several times, even with topographical maps, but the people on the street at that time were very helpful. (Saw very few police. Sleeping too?) I stayed in Chiquimula which I very much enjoyed (a clean pool in a place for $10 (shared bathroom)). Entered Honduras on that trip at the spectacular Copan ruins, which was a delightfully easy border crossing. That was before I had a Nica woman. Since then I take the quicker, safer route to Nicaragua to be with her, through El Salvador, entering at La Hachadura.

Though it still takes 2 hours, entering El Salvador is the most pleasant border crossing. No fees and you don’t need a ‘helper’ because all procedures are clearly & patiently explained. There’s no one pestering you, no groveling beggars like those that abound at Talisman. And northern El Salvador’s Pacific coast highway is the most beautiful, well-maintained road I drove along on the whole trip. It reminded me of US 1 along California’s Big Sur coast, with its cliff top views of the seemingly limitless Pacific. You past through some 5 or 6 tunnels. There are several resorts worth stopping at, though some are rather pricey. It’s all dollars there; gas was $3.60/gal (5 months ago). I liked La Libertad and found some real good deals on the beach there. I’ve never visited San Salvador. No particular reason except that it‘s off-route and by this time the e-mails with my less distant wife are torridly anticipatory. Once I got lost and found myself climbing into mountains, cool & well-wooded, apparently on some road to San Salvador. Further along the coastal PanAm I always seem to pass through Usulutan on market day, at a crawl. Ahead, turning left at the sight of the great volcano by San Miguel, then a right once you pass the volcano to sidestep La Union and zip up to the Honduran border at Amatillo.

To enter Honduras with a car it costs me nearly $50 and it aggravates me cause I could drive from there into Nicaragua in 2 hours, but to reenter Honduras I’d have to cough up another $49. The CA-4 terms are good for residents, not tourists. So I dally in HO, usually eating shrimp in San Lorenzo, drinking cold Barenas (all bars seem to have the -4 C refrigerators now), while my wife waits patiently. Actually she met me at the border town of El Espino past Somoto-Esteli which was a little tricky coordinating cause I don’t have a cell phone. She’s a typical Nicaraguan who, before I came along, had never traveled out of the country. Most don’t stray far from where they were born. So she was scared, but valiantly making the trip alone to meet me. (Not counting the guys on the bus hitting on her, offering assistance.) We both toured Honduras together by car which was a real enjoyable treat. No sweat driving in & out of Tegucigalpa.

As of three days ago, regular gas in Nicaragua cost 20.68 cords per liter, which I calculate to be $4.14/gal. A month ago, regular in Costa Rica (where most everyone is a millionaire, in colones at least) was 565 colones per liter, which is some $4.30/gal. I’m now in Choluteca, Honduras where regular gas is 65.17 limps per gal, or $3.45/gal.