Nov 26, 2004
I rode from La Cieba, Honduras to Somoto, Nicaragua yesterday and spent the night in Nicaragua. About 30 miles before the border, I came upon a rider parked alongside the road on a BMW GS1100. I pulled up and he knew who I was and where I was going. Mark is from Holland and had run into Patrick, the Quebecois, in Antigua. While crossing into Honduras, the customs and immigration people tried to charge him about
$100 in illegal fees. When he refused to pay them, they gave him a 7 hour pass to get through Honduras, and still charged him $48.
So he had to get to the border before it got dark, and had covered the distance from El Salvador in 2 hours. We got to the border, and it was getting dark, so the Hondurans rushed us through, then on the other side we found the Nicaraguans were out to dinner until 7:00, so we ended up driving 12 miles through Nicaragua in the dark, and came into Somoto.
The road was beautiful and the moon was full, so the ride went very smoothly. Across from the hotel, a rock band started playing around nine and continued until about 2 AM. The monkeys in the cage outside our window evidently didn´t like the music, because they were noisy all night long, and at about 4 AM something got hold of a cat on the roof and so there was screaming and howling and running across the roof. Other than that, it was pretty quiet until about 7 AM, when the local brass band started practicing in the public square, which was across the street from the hotel.
I bought three bananas from someone on the street for 1 cordoba, which is 16 to a dollar. They were perfectly ripe and tasted a little of citrus. Breakfast was beans, eggs, fried bananas, cheese and coffee for 30 cordobas.
The ride from La Cieba in Honduras to the border was one of the most spectacular I have been on yet, beginning in the jungle, and climbing into dense pine forests, then across a landscape like high desert before descending into hills like those in southern California, only a lot greener. This morning, there were places were the landscape looked like an Eyvind Earle painting of Santa Ynez. This is one of the most
beautiful and wide open places I have ever seen, and it really does look like California before everyone moved there. There are beautiful lakes, and the roads are excellent for the most part. There are a few things you have to be aware of before you drive in Honduras though.
If you mind sharing your lane with oncoming traffic, you are not going to like riding a motorcycle in Honduras. When sharing a lane, the part that is yours is a narrow strip of outside edge or maybe the shoulder.
If it bothers you to go into a corner and find a bus in your lane, you are really going to dislike driving in Honduras.
If a bus is full of passengers it will handle and go as fast as a Porsche, if the road has enough curves in it.
The best way to show the American on the motorcycle that you are a man is to keep up with him through several steep and twisting declines in your full gasoline truck after he passes you.
Cows and people can coexist peacefully on the highway.
If the guy in the truck in front of you suddenly slows down, it means he doesn´t have any brake lights and is about to do something stupid. whatever this stupid thing is will require that you take evasive action.
The best place for children to play is on the highway, especially at dusk. At night it is a good idea to get the entire family up on the road.
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