05/15/24 San Salvador

May 15, 2024

My plan had been to take the bus to Tegucigalpa today and Guatemala City tomorrow, avoiding El Salvador and another border crossing. But as I was doing planning last night I discovered that there isn’t a direct bus from Tegucigalpa to Guatemala City, you have to go via San Salvador. So I took the 1am bus and here I am, comfortably ensconced in a hotel near the bus station and unsure of what time zone my body’s in with all these ungodly start times.

The bus to Guatemala City leaves at 6:30, a slightly better time and there’s only a short layover before the bus to Tapachula, Mexico. As I write this I’m thinking I’ll just immediately continue onto San Cristobal on a red eye.

No problem loading my bike on the bus, but the driver was worried I was going to have trouble with Nicaraguan exit customs. He warned me he’d only wait 15 minutes and then I’d be on my own

We got to the border before sunrise and had to wait over an hour before we could proceed. No idea why. Everything had to come off the bus and go through a scanner. The driver motioned me to park the bike out of view of the customs inspector and then reloaded it unexamined after she left. So it’s not as serious as it looks at the border. Ok with me, it’s such a hassle to do the scans

No interest in inspecting bags on the other side. They use a random search method there

Honduran immigration was covered with stickers from all the branded influencers who have passed through

Power went out causing a collective groan from everyone waiting to get processed through. Fortunately it was brief

Two hours later and we were at the border of El Salvador. No inspection there either

Honduras on the left, El Salvador on the right

Made it into San Salvador just before rush hour. I’m at a hotel a block from the bus station, no plans to go anywhere or do anything other than go to bed early

I’ve been doing route planning for the ride from San Cristobal to Villahermosa. It remains to be seen if I actually ride it

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