Finding our way to the border
Trip Start
Jan 01, 2007
1
46
141
Trip End
Ongoing
San Salvador,
El Salvador
Saturday, March 24, 2007
The village of Copan Ruinas in Honduras was a really cute little village, with several good cafes and restaurants and a pleasant central park. It was tempting to stay for a few more days, but we decided to move on because the activities (other than visiting the ruins) were not of any interest to us: Butterfly Center, Flower Farms, expensive visits to nearby Finca´s that screamed Tourist Trap!. Also, the people of Honduras were not very friendly nor welcoming. After deciding to leave, we asked several tour agencies and hotels what the best way to get to El Salvador is. Looking at our map, El Salvador seemed less than 50 kilometers away as a crow flies. But the buses don´t go that way, they all head back towards the west coast and San Pedro Sula. One tour agency said they might have a direct shuttle over the weekend, but made no promises (nor effort to give more information). So we decided to do what we do best -Wing It!
We woke up on Friday morning and walked the one block to the bus station and simply said "La Entrada o Santa Rosa". The workers directed us to a Chicken Bus that was leaving right then. Almost two bumpy hours later, we got off in La Entrada, one of the major crossroads in that area of Honduras. As soon as we stepped off the bus and said "El Poy" (which is the border town), another bus worker quickly escorted us to a bus that was leaving immediately. We hopped on the Chicken Bus headed to Santa Ana. From there, we immediately caught a bus going to Octopeteque. It was a nice comfy bus with big cushioned seats - like a Greyhound from the 70's. A couple hours later we arrived in Octopeteque, another major crossroads close to both the El Salvador and Guatemala borders. From there, we caught a shared taxi for the few remaining kilometers to El Poy.
El Poy is a typical border town - lined with tiendas and stalls for a few blocks before the border. What was strange is that it was nearly abandoned. It was around noon when we arrived, yet all the shops were closed and boarded up. We went to the empty office with an Immigration sign out front. A man walked up and told us that we needed to keep walking - that there is another Immigration office further up. So we kept a walkin and crossed the border (identified by a raised lever). No immigration? This is strange. We asked an official looking person nearby who told us that the Honduran Immigration process is actually conducted by the El Salvadorian Immigration. Okey dokey. So we cautiously walked across the frontier and into El Salvador. Soon we came upon a very large office structure, with several official looking signs indicating Immigration. We walked up to one office and they told us to keep walking - that we should pass the office, keep walking a few more meters and speak to some officials standing in the middle of the road. Okey Dokey! After stopping to use their bano (bathroom - 25 cents per use), we continued up to the middle of the road where 2 officials stood. We handed one of them our passports. He questioned us about how long we were travelling, where we were going, etc, etc. Then he waved us through. That was it! No fee, no stamps, nada. Very easy!
While that may not seem too strange for some, espcially since El Salvador, Nicaragua, Guatemala, and Honduras all belong to the CA-4 (a treaty amongst the 4 countries). It was strange to us, because we expected some difficulties. There was a different border we had looked into crossing at, called Sabanetas in Honduras. According to our book, you can leave Honduras there, but it is illegal to enter El Salvador there because the two countries are having a land border dispute. According to Lonely Planet, if you cross there and later try to exit El Salvador, you will be fined and not allowed to exit the country. Considering we did not get any stamps and they made no record (neither electronic nor on paper) of our border crossing in El Poy, how would they ever know if you crossed at Sabanetas? Very strange... But I digress....
Once across the border, we caught another Chicken bus headed towards the capital. We intended to get off in a village called La Palma, in the heart of the pine tree-covered mountains. According to Lonely Planet, it was over an hour away from the border. So we got comfortable on the bus and started reading our books. Twenty minutes later, the bus attendant stops by and asks me why we are still on the bus. I said because we were going to La Palma, remember? He tells me we passed it 5 minutes ago! Oh no! Since it was already in the afternoon, we decided not to risk it by backtracking and instead pick another destination on the route. Consulting the map, I identified two possibilities. Both required transferring buses at a crossroads town called Las Aguilares, one hour before the capital. There, we got off the bus and asked the locals where to catch the bus to Santa Ana. According to my Lonely Planet book (soon to be renamed Lying Planet), there was a straight and major road there. The locals gently laughed and explained that no buses traverse that road because it is very very rural. Shoot! The other option was to go to a colonial village called Suchitoto. The buses for that town were several blocks away and Frank thought the road headed that way was too small. So we decided to head to San Salvador, the capital, on the next bus. 2 minutes later we were on another Chicken Bus headed into the city.
Total transportation: 5 buses and 1 taxi. What a day!
San Salvador is huge and very very polluted. The air is terrible and you immediately feel the difference when you step out of the bus. We caught a taxi across town to a hostel recommended by our Lying Planet book. Another misleading entry. Readers: avoid Ximena´s Guest House if you can. Dirty, dingy and cramped. The beds and rooms are scary. The linens are circa 1963 (without laundering ever!).
The hostel is located very close to a huge shopping mall, the MetroCentro. It was massive and California-style with indoor and outdoor sections. They had a Sony store, Radioshack, Adidas store, Puma store, many electronic stores, a large department store advertising Christian Dior. It was a beautiful mall (I cannot believe I just described a mall as beautiful...). They also have a really nice movie theatre with comfy stadium seating. We saw The Pursuit of Happyness staring Will Smith. A bargain at only $3.50 per person. A popcorn and soda combo for another $2.50. After the movie, we caught a taxi for home (about 4 blocks) just to be safe because it was dark.
San Salvador is supposed to have some interesting sites, including art museums and nearby ruins. But wanting to spare our lungs, the next morning we packed our bags and caught a bus to the main bus terminal. Next stop: the pretty little town of Juayua (pronounced Why-You-Uh).
Cheers,
Kay
