Driving through El Salvador and Honduras

We crossed into El Salvador on the Central America Carraterra 2. This border was relatively mellow but the El Salvadorian border town immediately following is definitely a little sketch.

I had a 14 year old kid in rags handle our crossing paperwork and by the time we finished crossing night had already fallen.

We stuck to our guidelines and decided that there would be no driving at night in El Salvador. There really isn´t anything at the border and the road from the border is deserted for miles.

This left only one option, my little border boy.... I´m going to let Brad take it from here...


... Hey folks, this is where it gets a little weird, so try and stick it out with me.
Like Jana said driving in El Salvador at night is not an option; the gangs control the streets, not the cops.
It was dark by the time we finished up at the border and we asked our border boy if he knew of a place close by that was safe. He literally walked us another 50 feet past the border and got us a room with gated parking for the truck.
Well this hotel wasn't really a hotel, I think it is safe to say that one day this was a working hotel. However, nowadays it is more of an orphanage for kids who don't have a place to call home, or for kids from out of town that are working the border.
This place did not even have keys for the rooms. The toilets did not work, and the shower just barely trickled water. I would have avoided the shower all together, but I was as ripe as a banana ready for cooking. There was blood on one wall and fairy tales written on all the walls in Spanish.I think they were there to keep us safe.
Neither of us slept well, but come dawn the next morning we were off again with Honduras on the mind.
El Salvador was beautiful and rich with coast line. I wish we had time to stay and surf, but we had a time frame to stick to so we just kept on trucking.
Now for Honduras, this will be short and sweet as we both would be happy if we never had to drive through or spend any time in Honduras again.
I have never seen a country that is so corrupt. This country has many problems right now and poverty is a very big issue along with hunger and of course theft. With that said, the govt officials are the ones to watch out for. I am thankful I brought some nudie magazines along strictly to pay off the corrupt officials. I had 2 policia threaten to cut up my drivers license if I did not give them $20. After I explained that we spent all of our money to get into the country, I was able to pass them a few mags and get back on the road.
Sorry there are no photos from this leg of the trip, all of our electronic equipment was hidden in deep in the truck, with hopes that we would have it when we left the country.
If you ever find yourself in this country at bight and don't know where to stay, let me know and I will set you up, but for now I don't want to think about this day.

Till next time.

Guatemala to El Salvador

Debra, Gary, and choosing caravan partners ---

Due to the chaos surrounding the vehicle exit requirements, and the ensuing wild goose chase through Tapachula, we quickly found ourselves in this border town at dusk (which I have coined the "witching hour") and ducked into a legitimate, incognito hotel with secure parking before the vampires came out to suck gringo blood.


The next morning we pulled up to the Banjercito office (see previous blog) behind a black 2004 Mustang with Nevada plates. What a couple of tools, right?

Enter Debra and Gary, whose names and vehicle descriptions have been changed to protect their conspicuously fugitive identites.

Gary: Hey there! Where you headed to? Costa Rica? Let me guess, English teachers, right?

Brad: Uh, no, just travelling.

Gary: Yeah, I'm headed down to teach English with my wife, we're totally sick of the states. Yeah, she just couldn't live without her Mustang.

Debra: She's my high maintenance girlfriend. The roads have been a real bitch on her though... They're going to get better in Costa Rica, though.

At this point I'm thinking, what planet is this woman from, has she never seen the Volkswagon bug size potholes seeping throughout the Costa Rican roadways? And a Mustang? Please. We've designed our vehicle and packing job to be as low profile as possible which makes what is about to happen next all the more asinine.

Gary: So, you want to caravan down?

Brad: Uh, yeah, that'd be great.

I agreed as well and in hindsight I think I did so just to see what would happen next.

We later learned that the Mustang was recently purchased, that Gary was making payments on it and it didn't even have plates yet. Debra just had that Nevada plate on hand and threw it on so the federalis wouldn't think it was so bizarre that she's driving a $40,000 car without plates in southern Mexico... because that's totally normal, right? I mean I've got plates in the back of our truck from 5 states and 2 South American countries...


This sort of behavior appeared to be totally normal to Debra and Gary. In fact, Gary heartily informed us that he wasn't planning on actually paying for the car anyway. These sort of bizarre comments arose virtually every time we stopped the vehicles.

At one point, Gary asked if we wanted to share a hotel room with him because he was just too cheap to pair for one on their own. Then he did the unthinkable and actually stopped a ¨police officer¨for directions.



When we got to the El Salvador border at dusk. I was pissed. If I hadn´t been on the fence about sticking with these two, we would have been in a hotel by now safely watching telenovelas. When he said he didn´t want to pay for a border guide to get him into Nicaragua, we split, we were through the border as night fell and onto our next problem of finding a safe place to stay pronto. For all I know, Debra and Gary could still be at the Nicaraguan border.



The lesson here is to choose your caravan partners wisely. Just because someone speaks the same native language as you and is also driving south does not mean that you will be safer driving with them. Safety in numbers only applies to intelligent people.



The upside of Debra and Gary is that I might actually get to call someone in on America´s Most Wanted one day.

Barra de la cruz to the Guatemalan Border

From Barra de la Cruz we continued south towards Guatemala, spending a night in Tanola, Chiapas and unother unfortunate night in Tapachula at the Mexican-Guatamlan border.

Remember that vehicle permit sticker that we told you about back at the U.S.-Mexico border? It's the sticker you must have if you travel more than 22 miles into Mexico in every state other than Baja California... well, if you don't have this sticker removed by a Mexican offical and recieve vehicle exit paperwork, you run the risk of finding yourself in a world of hurt the next time you travel through Mexico with or without said vehicle.

One would think that this vehicle exit process could be handled at the border. It can't. So all of you travellers driving vehicles thorugh the Tapachula, Guatemalan border, I urge you to make the following mental notes.

A. Your vehicle permit must be removed at the Banjercito office located at the Mexican Immigration and Customs office on Mex Hwy 1. This office will be on the left hand side of the hwy as you enter Tapachula.

B. You must pay an exit tax before reaching the border. This can be done at almost any bank. The accepted banks are listed on the back of your aduanas form issued at point of entry. This fee can not be paid legally at the border. It can be paid illegally at the border through the use of a "guia."

We learned all of this over a 10 hour period after reaching the border, being turned around by a hoard of guias, and racing through Tapachula at 3 in the afternoon trying to get to a mystery office by 4pm. As anyone who had driven in Mexico or Central America already knows, there are next to no road signs or addresses. On top of that no one we spoke to, store owners, teachers, policia, etc. had ever heard of the office we were looking for.

And so our stay in Tapachula began...

Barra de la Who?

Mexico has a way of sinking its claws into you. We left Puerto Escondido on a Thursday and stopped driving only 2 hours later at a point break recently added to the list of "world class point breaks." In a perfect world, this is how our entire trip would have gone. Instead we powered through 4 countries in 4 days... but that's another blog.

Because this break is definitely no longer a secret on anybodys list, after much debate we'll let the cat out of the bag... It's Barra de la Cruz. It's a beautiful right point break that is heavily localized and rightfully so.


If you're into a little local action and you find yourself in this stretch of Mexico bring $2 US/per person to get through the beach gate, located approximately 1 km from the beach. If you're into staying the night and can dig a no frills atmosphere, we definitely recommend Pepe's Cabana's at only $6 US per night per person. The restaurant on the premises is equally economical and open for brekkie, lunch and dinner. The bonus of camping out at Pepe's is that your $6 fee includes your entrance to the beach.

Day 3: Gulf Coast to the Pacific Coast

After breakfast and emails we were back in the car for another long day of driving. It would prove to be another hot day in the 3 digit zone. It was nice to share the road with our new friend Glenn. If anything were to go wrong anytime, anywhere we would offer backup or have backup. That’s a good feeling in a foreign country that’s getting so much bad publicity lately. Don’t get me wrong they get 2 thumbs up from me… well, sort of.



Today we had a little directional melt down. We managed to miss our exit twice and added 2.5 hours to the day. Oh yeah, not to mention we had our first shakedown by 2 heavily tattooed Policias with machine guns. Both men demanded money from each vehicle in order to cross the road and drive in the right direction. They were clowns, but it was a little unnerving all the same. If this ever happens, just do your best to keep the price low, pay them, and get on with life.

We broke rule numero uno and drove into the night. There was nowhere to stay along the trans-isthmas highway, Mex 187, between Vera Cruz and about 30 minutes east of Salina Cruz. Glenn and I talked some employees at a grocery store into letting us stay in our trucks in the parking lot. This was in a town just short of Salina Cruz. A little shady without a doubt as prostitutes worked the local bus stops 50 feet from where we parked. I slept with the machete under the pillow to help Jana fall asleep faster.

Dear Diary: After driving 12 hours today we have put over 2,000 miles on the truck in the last 36 hours. I need to stretch my neck and my back.B

Day Two: Gulf Coast

We had our work cut out for us for the day as we wanted to see the El Tarjin ancient ruins. We were only stopped at 1 of the 4 search points. I chatted up the Federali that searched the truck. He was surprised by the organization and the custom drawers under the bed. We gave the crew of 20 year old military kids with semi automatic guns in there grip, a bottle of water each and jumped back in the car to continue the drive south.

After a nice relaxing lunch we made a new friend sitting in a traffic stop due to construction on Mexico Highway 180. I heard a voice outside the car yell, “Hey bro, where you from in California?” Turns out the guy behind us was from San Diego and wanted to know where we were surfing. He was headed to the infamous Mexican Pipeline; Puerto Escondido. We decided to caravan the rest of the trip through Mexico until we went opposite ways.


The caravan travelled into the witching hour of dusk. Unfortunately we couldn’t find our planned destination so we ventured on south another 25km to a city called Guitierrez Zamora. So, we didn’t make it to El Tarjin after all but we did find a “nice” hotel in the middle of town with safe parking. It´s called The Palencia and is in town square. For $39 US you get air conditioning and super secure parking.

Buenos Noches.

Day One. Tex to Mex

We woke up early at Padre Island in Texas about 100 miles or so north of the Brownsville border in search of Mexico. After handling the visa and drivers permit we slipped into Mexico without getting searched by Customs. Needless to say there were quite a few unhappy travelers sitting in the humid heat waiting to continue with there journeys.


We drove through Matamoras which was just as confusing as Tijuana in terms of poorly marked and unmarked street signs. Jana was the navigator and I was responsible for watching out for the shady people and anybody else that may have been of concern to us. Just like in the movies. We made sure to follow the input from other travelers that have made the trip and made sure we learned from their mistakes.



Once we were outside the city vibes and atmosphere changed drastically. Our first destination was La Pesca, a port town 6 hours south of the border. We slept in the back of the truck at a pre planned campground/hotel on the water that was rich with jumping fish and thirsty mosquitoes. We kicked the soccer ball around until it was to dark and made some food before calling it a night.



Note to self: Fix the holes in the screen windows on the camper shell. The mosquitoes had us way out numbered.