After
enjoying the dives and beaches in Honduras, we were planning to visit volcanoes
and colonial cities in Nicaragua. We were pretty excited to go to Nicaragua: we
were told that people are extremely friendly, it is super cheap, there are lots
of adventurous activities and it is the safest country in Central America.
Sounded like a perfect destination to spend a few weeks!
The trip from
Roatan (Honduras) to Leon (northern Nicaragua) takes very long. Normally,
travelers have to make an overnight stop in either Tegucigalpa or San Pedro
Sula, two cities in Honduras famous for their high murder- and crime rates. As
we really didn’t want to stay in either, we took a shuttle from La Ceiba (the
city where the ferry from Roatan goes) to Leon, which takes around 15 hours. The
first ferry from Roatan left at 7am and arrived at 8.30am, when our driver was
already waiting for us with other passengers.
The
beginning of journey was smooth, with a total of 20 people in the group – this
is more than usual so the organizer arranged for 2 extra cars next to the
minivan. We sat with 5 people in 1 car. We knew this was going to be anything
but comfortable, but we were really happy we could get there in 1 day. So we
thought…
We stopped
a few times at gas stations and overall had a very good trip. Around 9pm, we
arrived at the ‘Guasaule’ border between Honduras and Nicaragua. First the Honduras
side: just get a stamp, very easy. The borders in Central America are full with
people (unfortunately often kids) that offer money exchange – as soon as you
get out your car or bus, many kids are around you waving with money so you can
get rid of the other currency. Next to that there are people selling food which
looks like it could really upset your stomach for a few days, and there are always
street dogs walking around (they don’t have to get a stamp apparently). Not the
nicest place to spend your time but you don’t really have a choice.
After the
Honduran side we had to cross a bridge to go to the Nicaraguan entry point.
This must be the most depressing border ever: ugly concrete buildings, dirty and
totally unclear where to go. Our drivers took very good care of us, but we
heard this is a chaotic nightmare for travelers during daytime. We were told
that stamping all the passports in Nicaragua would take about one hour, maybe longer.
Efficiency has yet to be introduced in this part of the world.
We already
knew that borders in Central America are not familiar with the Hong Kong
passport that Kendy holds. Every time we crossed a border, it took a bit more
time than European or American passports. Usually they flip through the passport,
try to see if it is fake and ask their colleagues for the procedures for this
“rare” passport. The same happened in Nicaragua. But they examined the passport
much longer than usual… at one point they asked our driver / guide to go into their
room, and about 10 minutes later he asked us to go into the room as well. The
immigration officer told us that Kendy’s visa is not valid for Nicaragua... Which
we extensively researched before the trip: the visa requirement for Hong Kong
passports is a CA-4 visa to enter Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador and Nicaragua. Kendy got the CA-4 visa
from Guatemala in the Netherlands and we had no problems in Guatemala and Honduras
using this visa. However, the immigration officer said the CA-4 visa does not
apply to this case (but he didn’t explain why). He did tell us that Nicaragua
is trying to improve their relationship with China, so visitors from Hong Kong
and Taiwan cannot get into Nicaragua without a visa issued by Nicaragua (how strange
can it get). After talking to him forever, even showing internet sites which
state that the CA-4 visa is sufficient for a Hong Kong resident to enter
Nicaragua, he kept shaking his head and denied entry for us. It was around 11pm
by now and we were angry and disappointed, but there was absolutely nothing to
do. So there we were, being sent back to one of the worlds most dangerous countries
right before midnight with no idea where to go.
Despite everything, some luck
was with us: the driver could send the other tourists towards Nicaragua and
drive us back to Honduras with one car, so we weren't left to sleep on the street. On top of that, his parents had a house
in Tegucigalpa (in a safe area), where he offered to drive us (3 hours!) so that
we could figure out what to do the next day.
We first
had to get back into Honduras, which could be interesting: you cannot enter
Honduras within 72 hours after exiting! Luckily their border was more flexible,
they even saw it coming - around 2 weeks ago, a group of Hong Kong visitors got
rejected while some were even holding a visa issued by Nicaragua. We got back
into Honduras and arrived in Tegucigalpa around 3am… Exhausted.
We were very
lucky that our guide stayed with us for the whole time and was willing to drive
us back to Tegucigalpa. His
parents were very friendly and cooked breakfast for us the next morning. We
called the consulate of Nicaragua in Honduras, who told us that it takes 2 months to
process a visa (which could be done in one hour at the embassy of Guatemala in
the Netherlands) with no guarantees. So we decided to skip Nicaragua and find a
flight ticket to Costa Rica on the same day. So we are in Costa Rica now!
Nicaragua never again, we will forget about this bad experience and enjoy the
beauty in Costa Rica and Panama!
At least we saw the most beautiful place in Nicaragua.. from the plane :)
