Somotillo, Nicaragua to Amatillo, Honduras: A country in a day


Statistics for today
Distance 145.51 kms 90.72 miles
Climbed 858 meters 2,815 feet
Ride time (hours) 7.60 -
Avg speed 19.1 kph -
Avg climb 2% -
Max grade 7% -
Statistics for trip to date
Distance 18,048.19 kms 11,214.50 miles
Climbed 204,749 meters 671,749 feet
Ride time (hours) 1,354.20 -
On this page

Thursday, November 7th, 2013

It was a 5 kilometer ride from Somotillo to the border where they charged me 2 dollars to get out of Nicaragua and 3 dollars to get into Honduras. I was able to pay for both in Nicaraguan córdobas, then I changed what I had left into Honduran lempiras with one of the money changers at the border.

On the Honduras side I ran into a bunch of people in the first 50 kilometer who were pretending to fix potholes in the road for tips. They really don't have the system down well - I could see them sitting in the shade well before they noticed me and jumped up to pretend to be working. I just blew past them, I would prefer that they just leave the road alone as the potholes serve to slow down traffic. It was another hot one, I just banged out the kilometers determined to get as far as I could. I wasn't sure if I could make the El Salvador border before sun set but in the end I made it with about 30 minutes to spare. I decided to leave the border crossing for the morning so I got a sleazy hotel about 200 meters from the immigration checkpoint. I went out for Chinese food later where I order Kumpao chicken for two. The waitress looked at me sceptically but I downed it all no problem. It took about 20 minutes of concerted chewing...

I crossed a whole country in a day! So much for tourism in Honduras...

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People will make a business out of anything.
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Honduras, not much has changed from Nicaragua.
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At first I though it was a Wanted poster but upon closer inspection they are running for office.
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A 5 kilometer-long line of trucks waiting to get into El Salvador.